Rexburg, Provo, Victoria

This is what you may find on your doorstep one afternoon if you have a husband who’s obsessed with Lego, and who has his own Lego store to help finance his Lego hobby. 

Fourteen huge boxes of Lego that he bought on sale to stock his store.  I’m thankful his store is working out for him and that his hobbies keep him relatively safe and sound, physically at least.
At the beginning of September, I took a last-minute trip to Utah and Idaho.  Ticket prices suddenly went down the day I wanted to fly, and I was able to meet up with my parents in Salt Lake who had flown in from San Antonio and who were driving up to Rexburg, Idaho, to attend my niece’s baby blessing.
This is my brand-new niece, Madelyn.

She’s such a sweetheart. 

Madelyn fell asleep in my arms as I sat there.  

This is Madelyn with her mom, Brooke.

Emma was fabulous the whole trip.  I was curious to see if she’d be jealous of me holding another baby and she wasn’t at all.
My brother James showed us around BYU-Idaho campus, and I fell in love with it.  He was able to give us a tour of BYU-Idaho’s new conference center where he works.


And he showed us the gardens on campus.

He gave Madelyn a very nice baby blessing.

I love holding babies!
I was in Provo for half a day and I had just enough time to see my thesis advisor and friend, Eliza, and her adorable, bright children.
And I was able to see my good friend, Roxanne, for a little bit.

I wish I could have spent more time in the area so I could’ve met with some of my old college roommates and gone hiking.  Next time.
Two weeks later, my mom came to visit for 10 days.  We took a trip up to Victoria to see the gardens and parks. 

Our visit to Beacon Hill Park in Victoria was one of the highlights of the trip.

I liked the parliament building.

Is it just me, or is Victoria’s a bit hyped up?  There’s the parliament building, the docks, the Butchart Gardens, Beacon Hill, China Town, the Royal B.C. Museum, and that’s sort of it …  We were there for two days and four hours before our boat took off we were scrambling around for things to do.  Well, now I can say I’ve been, and it was a pretty place to see.  It has a European feel to it that was nice to experience again.
I’m so excited about General Conference this weekend.  I’m thankful for a wonderful husband, good friends, and good activities.  I’m thankful for Ben’s job that allows me to be at home with Emma.  I’m thankful for a wonderful family.