Keeping Up with the Jones'

I know it has been so long...and it seems like so much has happened...where to begin?

The rest of July was a good month. I celebrated yet another birthday - so I guess that's a good thing. Although, I really don't feel that old. On the 26th of July, we were able to travel to Twin Falls and with Allen's family, toured the Twin Falls Temple. It was so neat to see and we feel so blessed that our children have had the opportunity to see two temples this year. It has generated a lot of great discussions about the gospel and families - so hopefully they will remember it!

After the temple we had a little reunion with Allen's family and it was so great to see everyone. It is hard keeping up with them all and their happenings! One funny thing about this trip, we pulled off in Burley to get something to eat, and while we were driving, we got pulled over by a cop. Allen thought the speed limit was 55, but apparently that was "back in day" as it is now 45. He let us off with a warning because "everyone was buckled up and the two younger ones were in their booster seats." The funny thing about this was that very day we were fighting with McKenna about why it is important to be in her chair and have a seatbelt on. We told her we'd get in trouble if a cop pulled us over. Now she knows we aren't bluffing!

So far, August has been great too. Tyler finished up another soccer season. They won all but two games and hopefully he had fun and enjoyed it! Tyler also began riding his bike by himself. I am amazed at how well he has done. In just five days, with the help of his Grandpa, Tyler learned how to ride his bike. Now it is his favorite everyday activity. I guess I should get my bike in working order!














Last week Allen and I went on his yearly retreat with his work. This year, we all loaded up on the bus and we went to Grand Targhee. We were at this same location two years ago, and as Allen and I thought about it, we realized that there were only 4 couples that were present at the same retreat just two years ago. As a side note, at that retreat, President Clark and Elder Kerr focused a lot on change and how change is good. Change is nothing new to us here at BYU-Idaho as it has evolved from Ricks College. I guess we didn't realize how much had changed until there were only us 4 couples who remember how we were strucured just two years ago.

Last years retreat was extremely intense and meetings all of the time, including the bus ride home. This year the comment was made by the V.P. that people complained last year about it being too intense and not enough free time so they took care of that problem by getting rid of the person in charge last year! (Actually he was transfered and made an associate v.p. -so they didn't fire him or anything). He then said, "so this year, we bring you up here on a bus, with only two stores and hours of free time!" The advantage of having gone two years ago and remembering the place - and seeing how much free time we were going to have, we decided to take the wii with us. It was great! I think Allen only won one round of tennis...ha ha! Anyway, it was good and we were well fed and made it back down the mountain alright. I wonder what next year will have in store!

Anyway, that's it for now. Sorry this one is so long!