FORT RUNNING BEAR 8/23-??/2011

August 23, we arrived here at our Coast to Coast home park, Fort Running Bear.  This small RV park located at 5,033 feet above sea level out in the high desert, 25 miles NE of Mountain Home ID, is a beautifully peaceful place to unwind for a few days.

  Here, nestled among the sage brush and wheat fields, we will celebrate our 37th wedding anniversary......

 ... go for walks out in the desert......

 ...read and write....

 ...and just absorb the peace that comes from the solitude of being at the end of a road in the desert, in the end of the RVing season, in a recession.

 As we sit at our dining room table and gaze out on Little Camus Reservoir....

...and watch the deer come in to graze in the evening.....

...we will contemplate how long we will stay here before moving on to Bend and Redmond OR to visit another son and his family.  It has been over 4 years since we have been here, so we may stay a little.

BURLEY,ID - MOUNTAIN HOME ID 8/23/2011

Leaving Burley, ID, we headed west on Hwy 30, once again choosing the red roads for a slower pace.  We stopped and read many historical markers along the way and eventually ended up in a small community named after one of our grand daughters.  Or so it seemed.
I put two shots of the same picture below.  This first one just has Ann in it and she is looking downward.  We usually set the camera on a tripod, set the timer for 10 - 20 seconds and then I run to get into the picture.  The reason Ann is looking down is because I slipped and fell as I ran to get in this shot.  I am on the ground, out of sight.

 I managed to not slip on this try!  Anyway, Kimmy, this one's for you!!

 We then, as we were headed towards Twin Falls, stopped to view Shoshone Falls on the Snake River.  They are beautiful and even though they are dammed, the engineers did a good job of preserving the falls.

 We drove down a very steep and narrow road to get a closer view.

 This land is so full of beauty.  It feels good to be back in the Pacific Northwest.  This is home and familiar to us, even though we have never seen these falls before. 

 We then drove into Twin Falls, ID and across the Snake River.  We have been here before and it felt good to be on more familiar territory.

After crossing the bridge, we stopped for a walk down below the bridge.  It was so peaceful here.  We spend 30 minutes or so just absorbing the peace of the Snake River Canyon.

 We both commented, as we stood there, that this view reminded us of a bridge crossing the Colorado River that we crossed a couple years back and saw a couple condors.  It also reminded us of the bridge north of Redmond that crosses either the Deschutes or John Day River.  Beautiful, eh!!!

Absorbing the peace of the Snake River.

BRIGHAM CITY, UT 8/22/2011

As we headed north towards Idaho on I-15 we noticed a temple rising from the small community of Brigham City.  Not remembering there being one there before, we pulled off the freeway and drove into the small little community.  We fell in love with the community immediately.  We so much more enjoy small communities to large ones.

As we drove towards the temple building, we found a beautiful little home for sale for only $137,000.00.  We did not buy it, but oh how tempted we were.
We found the temple and saw that it was under construction.

As we walked around it, we learned that it will be completed in late 2012.

It is a beautiful building, kind of reminiscent of the Twin Falls and Salt Lake Temples.

 Then, across the street from the temple we saw a beautiful building and it said it was open for tours.

So, we walked up and took a tour of this beautiful building.  It was built in the late 1800's and has served a s a chapel for the church ever since.  It's structure inside and out reminds us of the St. George Tabernacle and a smaller version on the inside of the Salt Lake Tabernacle.

We spent about an hour here.  It is a peaceful little community!

 Then we got on our horse and headed, once again, north.  Along the freeway we saw this old cement building decorated with graffiti.  Only in Utah would graffiti cover the walls welcoming home two missionaries and supporting our military troops.

Finally, after stopping for dinner in a small diner in Snowville, did we reach Idaho.  We then drove on to Burley, ID, where we spent the night in Camp Wal-Mart.  It was pleasant to be on the road again, exploring and seeing our country.

POV FAMILY 8/22/2011

We left Kevin's family on August 22.  We drove to Salt Lake City and met up with our friends, the Povs.  We served with Chinn on our mission in Oakland.  He is from Cambodia and is now a legal immigrant here studying nursing.  After being accepted here as a legal immigrant and while beginning his schooling, Chinn met and married a wonderful young lady, Sarah, and together they are developing a life here in the good ol' USA.

We shared a lunch together and had fun visiting for an hour or so before they had to both run off to work.

 We are so proud of Chinn and Sarah.  Chinn is pursuing a life here in the United States and in a couple years will be able to become a USA citizen.  Chinn grew up in a hut on stilts in a poor family in Cambodia. He left home and lived on the streets of a large city, shining shoes for a living.  He then met the missionaries of our church, found a better way to live and joined the church.  A year or so later he accepted a call to serve as a missionary in Oakland, CA, where we met him.  After his mission, he was required to go back to Cambodia. He did not want to go.  He was so afraid he would not be able to come back to the USA.  But he wanted to follow the laws of the land, so he went back.   While there, he struggled and worked to be accepted as an immigrant to America.  Finally things lined up for him and he was able to come here, where he has worked, struggled and began college.
Chinn is living proof that the immigration system works well in our country and if a person from another country wants to come here and better his or her life, there is already a good system for doing so.   We are proud of Chinn and Sarah for making good choices and for working so hard to improve their lives!!!

LAST DAYS 8/17-21/2011

So, the month we spent helping Kevin and Megan get settled in babying and teaching has come to an end.  While we were here, we did lend a hand, but we also spent time doing things in and to our trailer.  We also spent some time doing other things too, especially the last few days before we left.  It was though, quite amazing at how busy we were just helping out.  We forget, as we travel, how busy life is with kids running around.  Whew!
We also were surprised at how rapidly Pineapple changed and grew!  She has gone from being a newborn with little interaction to the outside world to cooing and watching us, as well as interacting with us.  Amazing!

 Batman has amazed us with his physical abilities.  He's quite the little jungle gym rat!!  He has grown too in our stay!

 One day we spent just with Megan and the kids.  It was nice to be able to get Megan out of the house a little.  We think it is easy in the busy Mommy stage to get locked up at home and forget about the outside world.

 It has been a long time since we have had to worry about car seats, diaper bags and such in preparation to go somewhere.  It brought back memories of when we celebrated the first time we could go somewhere without a diaper bag.......so many years ago!

 Kevin and his friend, Angel, decided to run a 5 K run on Saturday.  It was fun to be there and support them.

 Here they are, ready to start.

 Right in the center of the pack!

 While they were running, Batman and Grandpa hit the air bag jumpy thing.

Batman was really good at telling the other kids what they were doing wrong.  He is learning slowly that he is not in charge of  everybody!!!!

 Grandpa and Batman wore the same kind of hat most of the time we went out in public.  Megan said that Batman had had the hat for a few months and refused to wear it, until Grandpa showed up and he saw how cool Grandpa looked in his.  After that we did not go outside without our hats!!

 After a little wait, we saw the runners begin to come in.  The 1 milers, 5K and 10K runners all mixed up together.

 Our boys finished strong and together!  The clock shows the time for the 10 K runners.  Our boys started 10 minutes later, so deduct 10  minutes for Kevin and Angel.

 Grandma's favorite activity in the whole world is being with her grand children.  She spent so much time taking care of Pineapple and Batman.  She was a great mother and now is a super grandmother.  Grandpa tries really hard to be as wonderful as his eternal companion!

 On our last Sunday together, we spent the after church time relaxing....

 ....and Grandma presenting to Pineapple some booties she knitted for her.

 Oooops!  Well, hopefully she will fill them soon!!

 That afternoon we went for a walk together and while we walked, Batman and Kevin braved a little woods exploring.

Papa and Batman!

Thus we ended our stay in Provo, UT.  We left the little family to begin the school year and their life as a bigger and busier family.  We now head off into the wild blue yonder to visit more sons and their families, do more family history research, sit in campgrounds and explore this wonderful country of ours.