Celebrating Our 9th Wedding Anniversary

This year for our anniversary we decided to go to the temple. We haven't been able to go to the temple since we moved here because it is an 8 hour trip and making arrangements with kids etc. just hasn't worked out so it seemed like a great idea. Jake decided to take the LONG SCENIC route to Idaho Falls so we could stop and take pictures. Well...that was a great idea until I realized I had forgotten my tripod attachment for my camera and all long distance shots were going to be impossible. Anyhow....I did take this one shot of Big Sky Ski Resort which turned out OK so here it is.....

After that I didn't take any pictures until we got to our hotel in Idaho Falls. We had a river view room and so I took these pictures just out our balcony. After we got all unpacked and I took a few pictures we went to the Olive Garden for dinner. It was very nice. We only have a handful of restaurants here so going somewhere we haven't been in a long time was wonderful. After dinner we ran around town looking for the attachment I needed to mount my camera on my tripod, but after going to 5-6 stores and no luck I chose to bag the idea. After that we went back to the hotel and went and sat in the sauna and the hot tub and just relaxed for the rest of the evening.

Saturday morning we got up and went to breakfast (we finally found a hotel that serves a nice breakfast). Then I had Jake rush me to Seagull Book because they were giving away a free game to the first 100 people who showed up for the sale they were having. I am happy to say I got the free game and I purchased several other things that were on a great deal. After Seagull book (where Jake's back gave out by the way so he had to sit in the car and wait for me to take him back to the hotel) I had to run to Walmart and pick up a few things and then headed back to the hotel. Well...this was the part where Jake and I were going to go to the Idaho Falls Temple together, but I ended up having to go alone because Jake's back was acting up. Well....it was so nice going to the temple again. I hadn't been in so long and it was great being there again. I had never been to the Idaho Falls Temple (Jake took his endowments out there) so it was really neat going for the first time. The only thing I wasn't expecting was the session I went to ended up being a Spanish speaking session so that was different, but it was wonderful for me to experience what those from other countries feel like when they come here unable to speak our language. After the session was over I hurried back to the hotel to pick Jake up because we were supposed to meet our friends Sid & Lyzze at the Rexburg Temple at 4:30 for a session so off we went. While we were waiting for them I decided to take some pictures.

What a beautiful temple the Rexburg Temple was. It was so special being able to go with our friends. We hadn't seen them in quite a long time and so it was so nice to go and spend this time together. Afterwards we all decided to go to the Olive Garden again for dinner. The evening was so nice sitting and chatting about anything and everything. We really appreciate them coming out of their way to visit with us. So....after leaving the restaurant it was very late so we went back to the hotel and hit the hay. Sunday morning Jake's Dad called early telling us a big snowstorm had hit Helena again so we better be careful coming home. Here are some pics from that trip.

These were taken passing through Island Park. When I say passing through I had to stick my lens out the window and take them because the roads were already bad enough that Jake wasn't going to stop the car and get stuck.

Jake always tells people that the roads were fine and that we could see the whole way and that is soooooo not true so I decided to take a pic of what the roads and visibility really were. This wasn't even the worst of the trip this is just when I realized I should take a pic so I could prove he is lying!!!
Here's the WORST part.....we made it through all the bad roads and we couldn't make it up the driveway. Jake and I were laughing our heads off. We tried 4 times to make it up the driveway and it was a no go. So we finally decided to park it and leave it. The funny thing is that when we were talking to Jake's parents we learned that they couldn't get our van up after church either so they ended up towing it up with their truck. It's amazing how slick it was out there. The kids actually sat in the window watching us try and try and try to make it up the driveway. Jake's Mom says they were actually betting back in forth if we would make it or not. Silly kids.

So...in the end it was a wonderful vacation. It was so nice to go and just hang out just the two of us. We really enjoyed the opportunity we had to get away from it all. Happy 9th Anniversary Jake!! I have really enjoyed the past 10 years we have spent together!!