Practice Run

Since Megan will soon be leaving home, I thought I'd do a dry run and see how it feels.  I took Megan down to Idaho yesterday and left her and

it made me feel weepy!

I felt better seeing how cute Brinlee looks wearing the 1/2 lb she has gained since I've last seen her.

It also was fun to eat at Cafe Rio with Backmans (and Meggers)

and Pearsons.

However, after checking out cupcakes at The Cocoa Bean, I decided we should stick to frozen yogurt at Kiwi Loco or Twizzle Berry.

On the way  down to Idaho, Megan and I spotted an adolescent bear playing around right at the edge of the road. I pretty sure it was a black bear (not a grizzly), even though he was brown. Unfortunately this isn't him. Traffic was heavy, there was no where to pull over, and we didn't see him in time to snap a picture as we passed.

As I drove back home, I looked everywhere for him.

I searched high

and low

to my right,

and left, even stopping at the exact spot we saw him. I called and called him, waving a roadkill skunk to entice him, but he didn't appear. I was so disappointed.

 Stan promises there will be wildlife next week on the Jones family Alaskan cruise. Some of it will even be the kind of wildlife I can take pictures of....

In the meantime, Nanny Jones, remember not to make eye contact, smile, or exchange phone numbers with Idahoan males!

Strictly Business

Stan had a business meeting in Brigham City on Thursday.  As we looked at our calendar, we saw that Megan had no school on Thursday and Friday.  Most amazingly, Amy happened to have Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday off of work, meaning we didn't have babysitting duties.  We recognize Karma when we see her (him?).  We realized this convergence of free time was a sign we needed to take a trip down to bother visit the Idaho children while Stan continued on to Utah.

It's hard to put into words how much Megan was anxiously looking forward to spending all that

 time in the car with her parental units.

AND Megan could use the car time reading that Honors book that's due.

We left Wednesday at noon.

Of course, the first hour Megan had to eat lunch.

Then, obviously, she needed to fill the next two hours texting P. Dubya.

The final two hours were spent in dreamland.  I guess Barbie Kingsolver and her Poisonwood Bible will have to wait till another day to be sped read.

The weather was beautiful, the scenery was gorgeous,

and there was no snow to be seen--a real rarity for this late in the year.

Stan remembered to bring his TTF (traditional travel food)---pickle flavored sunflower seeds.

We arrived in Rexburg just in time to go to dinner at Rexburg's finest Chinese restaurant--New Fong's--with the Pearsons.

Thursday Stan continued on to Utah and Krew let us girls take him to lunch at another fine foreign restaurant--Cafe Rio.

Next, Krew insisted we go shopping, so we decided to look for a Twirp dress for Megan again.

Krew helpfully offered his opinion on the best dress choices.

On Thursday evening, the Backmans and Stan and I agreed to drive Megan to Pocatello.  Megan somehow arranged to meet up with that cute EFY Pocatello guy.  And that other cute EFY Pocatello guy.  Fortunately the 500 mile rule was in effect with P Dub--you know, the "out of sight, out of mind" thing.  HE'S in North Carolina.  Megan believes in that other rule "collect before you select". 

While Megan was reminiscing about the good ole EFY days, Stan and I and the Backmans continued the international dining experience and visited another Idaho fine foreign restaurant--Red Lobster, which as you know is Swahili for "Fish Food".

Krew has been sick and throwing up all week.  He helpfully showed us exactly how much his little tummy holds as he threw up all over Jessica and the restaurant floor shortly after we ordered.  Jessica wasn't feeling much better than Krew.  So we finished our meal, and

Princess Party Pooper declared the evening over and decreed it was time to end Megan's fun, pick her up, and make everyone go home and go to bed.   

On Friday morning we picked up Megan's dress from alterations and headed home.  It had been taken in by several inches, shortened by several inches, and is no longer strapless.  It looks adorable on Megan.  Of course, we've learned Megan looks cute in anything. 

(Check back November 6th to see the Twirp pictures.)

Who knew we could have so much fun in 54 hours?

Thanks for letting us party with you, Backmans and Pearsons!

ROAD TRIP!!!!

The new school year is almost upon us, and I realized it was the perfect time to take a quick trip to Idaho to visit Jessica, Ashley, and families before everyone got too busy for such things.

To my surprise, Megan immediately volunteered to come along and keep me company.  I was even more amazed when she actually popped out of bed at the crack of dawn and got ready to go without any encouragement from me.

Hmm.  You don't think Megan had an ulterior motive in wanting to come, do you?

The trip through Montana is really beautiful.

I've never seen things looking so green in August.

Whenever Mom drove up to Billings to visit us, she always said the drive was so beautiful she didn't need to go to Germany anymore.  She just needed to make that drive.  Then she went to Germany anyway. 

They scenery is so gorgeous, the pictures even look appealing when taken through the dirty window or with Megan or my hand randomly aiming out the open window as we zipped down the road.

After suffering through the required wait for road construction,

we finally made it to Idaho

and to the Backman's cute little mansion in Idaho Falls.

I made sure Megan got plenty of dog-lovin' time in so that I don't need to get her a dog of her own.

This is the real reason I wanted to come to Idaho. 

And it was fun to see Jessica and Jorden, Ashley and McKay, too.

I even brought Krew a I-want-Grandma-to-visit-more-often-she-brings-me-stuff toy.

I'm glad Megan wanted to come, too.  It gives us an opportunity to shop for a twirp dress in a place where dresses are sewn using more than a half yard of fabric.

Megan tried on a lot of pretty dresses.

Megan is so cute, she would look good wearing a paper bag.  But she didn't find a dress she liked.  Megan  doesn't care for "poof", pink, or little jacket things.  That, and the fact there aren't a lot of tiny young women sizes out there didn't leave much to choose from.

By the way, if you haven't been prom dress shopping lately, you can buy a small country for the cost of one prom dress.

This is my favorite, which explains why Megan crossed it off her list.

Krew was having a good time being the only male in the dress shop.

After shopping for formals for hours, we got a little distracted about what it was we were shopping for.

This new shopping was a lot more fruitful.

Krew seemed bored by this turn of events,

 but luckily Uncle McKay appeared and provided a shoulder to snooze on. 

We finally called it a day and amazingly, Megan's friend arrived to entertain and feed her for the evening.  I wonder how he knew she was in town? 

This is my very favorite kind of young man. 

 The kind that lives several hundreds of miles away from my daughter.

Jorden was good enough to give him instructions and curfew information.

Thanks, Jorden, for doing brother-in-law duty.

Without Megan there to pick on, we were forced to go out to entertain ourselves.

Ashley and McKay even brought their rent-a-baby.

After a quick but fun two days we headed home. 

Amazingly, the scenery going back was just as wonderful.

Thank you, Backmans and Pearsons, for letting us come have fun with you!

And thanks, Megan, for being soo willing to unselfishly take that road trip with me!