This weekend I took Claire, Ammon, Madilyn, and Emma and we drove North to Idaho Falls, ID to visit Jan's mom and celebrate her 90th birthday. It was a quick trip up on Friday and then back on Saturday. It was good to see her. We don't get to visit much since she lives in Idaho but it was good to have a quick visit. We stayed overnight in a hotel that had a pool and the kiddos and I went swimming Saturday morning. After we saw Jan's mom we headed back home. We stopped in Pocatello ID at a Jack in the Box and picked up some tacos. Perhaps it is the memories of college but both Samantha and I like their tacos. They don't have a Jack in the box in northern UT so I just walked in and said I wanted 20 tacos. I exited a few minutes later with two bags of tacos determined to get them home without eating them. Emma needed some driving experience on the highway so I said a prayer and let her drive the entire way home. I was impressed. She has come a long way.
Today was somewhat quiet. We went to church, I took a nap when I got home, we ate dinner as a family, and I wrote a letter to Dylan who is serving as a missionary in Florida. It was all fairly low key. This evening I looked out my window to see our neighbors just spending time outside. We have a lot of neighbors that spend a fair amount of time outside. The summers here in UT are much cooler in the evening than it is in TX.
Speaking of TX... I am preparing for a BBQ at the end of the month. It should be good. I tried my first attempt at making burnt ends and man were they good. I saw a recipe for Texas Twinkies which is a standard jalapeños wrapped in bacon and stuffed with cream cheese wrapped in bacon but with a BBQ twist... they also have brisket stuffed inside. I'll give it a shot.
On some sad news - we had to relocate our dog, Maggie. She was a ball of furry hair and while my attempts at keeping the hair under control it didn't help much that she was peeing every time we caught her some place that she shouldn't be. Our neighbors down the road took her and I feel like their fenced yard is much more conducive to a dog than our new home that doesn't have a fence. It has been a very rough time for me to acclimate to her being gone. I miss her still. I do get to see her on occasion and that is good.
Until later -
