From there we left for Idaho, to take Julia to Rexburg and BYU-Idaho. She was excited to get started on this next faze of her life, so when we hit the Utah/Idaho border, we stopped for a quick shot.
We spent a couple of days in Rexburg, shopping, moving her in and getting her settled. We also enjoyed some fun times with our good friends, Lane and Shelley Hanson (who used to live in Farmington). They kindly welcomed us into their home for the time we were in Rexburg. Scott and I enjoyed some time at the new Rexburg Temple. Ahhhh! So beautiful and peaceful.
Once we got Julia settled in her new apt. with her cute, fun, roommates, we said our good-byes and headed off on Phase 2 of our trip. We drove up to Driggs and stopped for a quick visit with Nicole's parents and then headed off to the Tetons and on to Yellowstone. Ahhh! Such beauty and majesty!
From Yellowstone we headed into Montana over Bear Tooth Pass. Wow! It was cold and snowy and it wound on forever and ever. Pretty scary stuff. But, oh so beautiful and majestic!
From there it was down through Red Lodge, MT, to Billings. I had not been back to Billings since we left there at the end of my 7th grade year. I was SO excited to drive through the old neighborhood. Billings itself had grown a good deal, but the old neighborhood looked surprisingly the same, although certainly older and more worn. These are pictures of our old house and the Skinners. Anyone from our family has heard many a Jackie Skinner story...well, these two houses are where all those took place. Fun stuff! Ah, if Jackie had just walked out the door of her house, it would have been perfect.
We drove around the old neighborhood a bit and found my old elementary school, Meadowlark Elementary. And then we headed off to find the new Billings Temple before it got dark. It was built right up against the Rimrocks and was so beautiful in the golden light of dusk. I'll post some more pictures of it tomorrow. It was just so beautiful.
Check back over the next few days...there's lots more to come!
6 comments:
Ah....the Tetons....one of my favorite places in the world.
And the Billings temple is beautiful! It seems like it has a taller/skinnier steeple - very pretty!
Is that really the same siding that was on our house in Billings when we lived there? It hasn't changed one bit except the tree in the front is big.
How many times did I peak in that front window to see how much trouble I was in... hehehe
WOW - all of a sudden I'm remembering so many things. It looked bigger when we were kids, wasn't it??
I sat out on that front porch in June 1969 to look at the moon... we kept going back and forth from the TV to watch the moon landing and then outside to watch the moon.
I know...I was blown away by how much it looked the same (and yet different all at the same time). Broadwater is a pretty busy street these days. I don't remember it being so back then. The whole neighborhood looks quite similar, although the trees and bushes have definetely grown. The city itself seems to have grown by quite a bit. And the temple was so gorgeous! Fun stuff!
you know when we moved there, they had just filled in the canal that ran down the middle of the street and so there was a giant section of dirt road down the middle that from the photos looks to be 2 more lanes of traffic now. That dirt and gravel down the middle when we were kids kept the traffic slower.
and i didn't kiss boys all the time, mostly just nights and weekends. heheheh
I can't believe that Bear Tooth Pass is exactly the same after all these years !!!
Also - that picture of Julia reminds me of Alicia's last day of high school. I had cried almost every morning on the way in to work and school and that last day, I was a little teary-eyed and I was just getting ready to say, "Wow, this is the last day we will ride in to work and school together." And just as I opened my mouth, she said, "Wow, today is the first day of my adulthood." And I was so aware of the dichotomy between my last and her firsts.
I'm sure as Julia's wings are opening and spreading and taking flight there is a part in your heart that is screaming out - SLOW DOWN and BACK UP! ! ! I'm not ready yet ! ! !
LOVE YOU, KID ! ! !
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