Thanksgiving Trip to Provo, Logan and Broise

We are so excited to go to Provo and Boise for Thanksgiving.  We were able to get Robert out of school for two days, and Betsy has the whole week off!  We arrived into Provo on Saturday in the afternoon and headed to Cafe Rio in Springvale so avoid the line in Provo, but it also had a long line.  Long line or not, it was delicious.  Devon had to work so we are meeting him at the Marriott Center for the BYU basketball game. 

Thumbs up from Mark

Since Devon couldn't eat with us, we brought him food

The game

So awesome:  Mark, Devon, Robert, Jessica and Tate at the game

Buds back together again

 BYU won the game - YEA!!!  It was so exciting.  Jessica was able get us seats down in the student section for the second half!  IT was awesome.  We are so close!!!

After the game, we were on our way out and we saw Cosmo!!!  Awesome! I have always wanted my photo with Cosmo!

On Sunday we went to Jessica's church in the morning, and then we went to Devon's church in the afternoon.  It was a long day but wonderful.

Mom, Devon's roommate, and Devon at church on Sunday
His brother is serving his mission in Kentucky

 Monday was supposed to be a great day hiking to the Y but the fog and haze set in making it unhikable.  Instead, Robert did college visit - we took Jessica and Tate to lunch IHOP.

Robert leaving the admissions office

A photo for Marissa 

The Provo City temple

The whole crew at the Theater.

Since we couldn't hike the Y we went to go see the movie "Fantastic Beasts."  Jessica and Betsy loved it - it's a Harry Potter plot.

While in Provo we also go to see the Bosco family.  So fun to see them just before Jeremiah leaves for his mission.

The next day we drove to Logan to deliver presents to Marissa.  We first stopped at Target to do some last minute shopping.  We than went to the campus so Robert could tour the accounting department.  The entire time we were on campus I was looking for her!!!  I didn't want her to see me, I just wanted to see her.  We then drove to the mission office.  It is much smaller than I expected (I don't know why).  We met some super nice senior Sisters that assisted me in bringing in everything for Sister Lowe.  We dropped off a Thanksgiving Care Package that we stuffed with all her favorite treats, cereal, crackers, kisses, pretzels, etc.

We also left her the 12 days of Christmas presents, and her presents from the family.  It was so so so hard to be in Logan and not see her.  I was in silent tears most of the time that we were in Logan.  It was so hard to be so close and yet not be able to find her or see her or even say Hi.  Torture!!!

We then drove up to Boise.

We played games in the lobby of the hotel until late at night.

 I got these great candid shots of Devon, Tate and Jessica having some fun!!!

The next morning we all got together in our room before heading to meet Jordan and Michelle Lowe and Brittney and her kids at a Hawaiian restaurant, Island kine Grinds in Nampa.

Jeff, Brit, Jordan, Michelle, Phoenix, Devon, Ricker and Betsy, Mark and Robert

Brothers:  Jordan and Mark

Riker and Devon

After lunch we went was to the family that wrote us a letter about Devon (the bacon story), but they weren't home.  

We visited a family (only the dad was home) of where Devon lived with Elder Jones.  Devon said she was very strict about keeping everything very clean.  He was a super nice man and very talented.  

We visited with a few families including Gladice - Devon's first convert.  We had a wonderful time talking with her.  She talked about Devon with such love and admiration.  She showed us all his hard work in her garden.  

This is the spot of one of my favorite photos from Devon's mission - so we did a then/now photo.

We also stopped in at the Boscoe family to say hi, but had to hurry out for dinner with the Carsons.  The Carson's have a beautiful home.  It was very casual - a big salad and a big pot of homemade macaroni and cheese.  Delicious!!  Elder Bodine's parents joined us there.  They had moved to the area!!  Actually, they were going to move there from CA but then Elder Bodine got his mission call there, so they had to wait two year - how crazy is that.




 We dropped Dad and Robert off at the hotel to play games with Jordan and Jeff while Devon took me to visit with more families.  Our first stop was to Erik.  Devon taught Erik over and over about the gospel.  Erik was a hard, determined Atheist but has now been a member of the church for a year!  He loves serving.  He shared with us that he had to give a talk in church on Sunday and invited us to attend.  Since we were not going to be there, he share it with us then - it was amazing!!!  Such a privilege to meet Erik and his family.



This sweet couple served as office missionaries while Devon was on his mission.

 It was late but Devon insisted that this family wouldn't care.  We stopped at the Crane's house.  They have a daughter, their first, serving a mission in Brazil.  They were such a fun couple to visit with.  They had nothing but wonderful things to say about Devon.  Their house was decorated to the max in Christmas decor.  It was so festive.

On Thursday, Thanksgiving day we drove to Temple Rock to hick with Jordan and Jeff.

We passed the Boise State Arena - it has blue artificial turf. 

Robert, Betsy, Mark, Devon, Jordan and Jeff

It didn't seem like a bad hike, but we deviated from the given path, going on a more vertical hike - oh my gosh it was tough.  The boys did it no problem, and made it to the top in no time.  Jordan struggled, and so did I a bit - just trying to keep up with them was too much.  BUT, we all made it and had a great time.  It was very windy at the top.  We took the easy way down - Betsy was even able to run it - wow, that made huge difference.  The steepness of the climb was the biggest factor to get over.  There has to be a spiritual analogy to this.

This is a look down at the way we came up - I'm not sure if you can tell how quickly the elevation rises.

On the way back we stopped at the Boise Temple.  It's beautiful!!!!

We also stopped at the mission office.  It was surprisingly unlocked, but no one was there.  We looked around, and then left.  

On our last day there, Devon took me to meet a special family to him.  He grew to have deep appreciation for this family because they were raising a little boy with autism.  He told them, right before he left to come home from his mission, that he too had autism.  They really loved and respected that Devon shared that with them.  Seeing Devon on his mission gave them hope that their son would also have that opportunity and would develop and grow into a fine young man like Devon.  

I felt so close to them!!!  

The next day we had to get on the road back to Salt Lake.  We visited with Alan and Susan for a little bit, but stayed at a hotel since they had a full house.  What a great trip!!!