2,000 miles plus

Its hard to believe, but summer has flown by and it was time for Jacob to return to school. He really wanted to return to some of the areas he served in on his mission before he returned to BYUI. It was such a privilege to go with him and meet so many GREAT people and see why he loved his areas so much. The ONLY downside of the trip was sitting in the car so much (although I did enjoy visiting a lot with Jacob). We drove from Washington to Orem and spent the night at Sherrie and Dave's home. They got in late from Atlanta that night so we only got to see Sherrie the next morning for a few minutes at 6:30 am before we drove to Monroe, Utah to attend church. We attended two different wards and the members were so excited to see Jacob and you could feel the love they had for him. It was a TOTAL payback day as a parent to hear all the good things everyone had to say about him. It was special to see him confirm a little girl he had gotten to know on his mission that had been baptized the day before. We visited several people after church and then went to Brent and Julie Parkers home for dinner. Julie Marsh brought a fabulous dinner over and the Elders who are serving there now (one was Jacob's last companion) came for dinner also. After dinner Jacob and I went to visit a few more people he got close to and as we started the car and headed down the road he said something was wrong with the car and the power steering was gone. A "light" came on the dashboard so we stopped and looked it up in the manual. Come to find out the serpentine belt broke, which basically runs most things on your car and you CAN'T drive it. Talk about a small town, within minutes we had at least 5 different people stop and ask if we needed help. One person called their AAA to come and have it towed, another let us use their car to go and visit people & they told us to "just go" and they would wait by our car until AAA came. I was so overwhelmed by everyone's kindness!

This is Bishop Peterson & his family that Jacob grew to love and was a great help with the work in Monroe.

This is the Barney family. Riley is sitting next to Jacob who he was able to teach on his mission & saw baptized. Jacob loved this family!!

Because of the car breaking down we spent an extra night in Monroe. The Parkers were so great about putting us up for two nights instead of one. I loved getting to know them and wish we lived closer. We got up early one morning and went for a walk around Joseph, which is right next to Monroe. It is truly a beautiful area.

On our way to St. George Jacob and I stopped at Cove Ft. and had a quick tour. It was raining most of the time so I didn't get a good picture of the outside. I'm really glad we stopped. President Hinckley's grandfather built it and it was really quite interesting. These trees are close to 150 years old and the man that gave us the tour said they will probably cut them down soon due to safety issues.

This is Kelly & Mike Anderson who we stayed with in St. George. They had a beautiful home with a view that was gorgeous of the St. George valley. They were so warm and welcoming to us. Jacob is standing on the roof of their home with Kelly.

This was Jacob's mission President for the last year of his mission. The Centers are from Ohio. When Sister Center saw Jacob at the church she ran across the chapel and threw her arms around him and hugged him. It was so cute. I wish I could have gotten it on video. I can see why Jacob loved them so much.

One day we drove to Zion's National Park and hiked to Upper Emerald Pool. It was the day after it had rained really hard and the Park had been closed the day before so there was lots of red mud all over and some of the trails were closed. Its a beautiful place.

From St. George we drove to Price and visited several people there. One of them was Paige and Aaron Dimmick & their little girl. Jacob taught Paige & was honored to baptize her. It was so sweet to see the love they had for Jacob!!

From Price we drove to Blackfoot, Idaho to Lindsey's where I was able to spend two nights with her. 

After we moved in all of Jacob's stuff to his new apartment at BYUI we got to visit Crystal and see their beautiful home they built.

Lindsey and I took the boys to the Idaho Falls Temple and walk around for a while. Tytyn was really excited to go and enjoyed doing the scavenger hunt you can get at the Visitor Center.

CUTE boys!!!

We were able to see the beginning of Tyrel and Lindsey's future home.

It was a short visit, but its always fun to see my kids and grandkids:)

I was so happy to be able to be back in Salt Lake for John and Jan's homecoming on Sunday. You could really feel the spirit of their mission and the love they had for the people of Israel. I loved being able to see many of my nieces, nephews and their families and catch up on their lives a little. I felt the absence of my sweetie though and was soooo excited to see him the next day!! Ten days is a long time to be away from my BEST friend.