9/13

On Sunday I took no pictures. I walked to church (around the corner) with Laura and David and then we walked home and we all napped. Seeing them as an old couple with their recliners and their quiet house (Oli was gone for the weekend) was a glimpse into our future in 4 years! Pretty wild!

They made orange chicken for dinner and cherry came over and it was a nice family dinner. Then I texted Mindi and she was free so she came and it was so good to see her! I was so glad she made time for me with zero notice! We made plans for Monday and that was my first quiet Sunday without my Adi. 

Adi sent me her freshman first meal pic. 

And also she and Delaney FaceTimed and I was blessed with this gem. 🤣❤️

9/12

 We watched movies in the morning and ate brekkie in our room and had a nice leisurely morning.

We went big girl grocery shopping at the Idaho falls Walmart and it was much less busy and picked through. I was had meal planned and knew mostly what she wanted. 

We unpacked some more..:

And toured her apartment amenities. 

Then we walked her schedule. 

Friday had been crazy windy. Like anxiety inducing windy. And in the halls of her apartment it sounded like a wind tunnel and I hated it, but I acted cool about it. 🤣

Saturday was much nicer. ☀️ 

Her classes are close to each other, all about 15 minutes from her apartment. She is seriously talking about getting a scooter. 🤣

I am so excited for this girl! She is amazing!

She is talking about possibly changing her major out of public health, but that’s to be expected. 

Like a real college classroom!

The same apartments (just a different name) that Lexi and Christian moved into their first years!

We were *starving* so we ate at the taco bus which is always a good idea!

Everyone wanted to know how our girl was doing!

Even surprised Mia! 🤣

We had to pick up a few last things at the Rexburg Walky and then we failed epically at an escape room. It was so hard we eventually just gave up. And the new temple is right across from the Wally. 

INight was that night and they have games and food and movies, so I really wanted her to go to that. Only when we got back to her apartment no one was there. So we got her all unpacked. 

Clothes and everything put away and ready for Sunday. 

Our plans were fluid, but we finally decided that I would drive her to inight and leave from there. 

She got ready and I dropped her off and it was kind of perfect because neither of us could really cry.  

I mean, I cried as and after she walked away, obviously. 

Driving out of town it was such a beautiful night!

I die!

I called Matt and gave him the whole low down and then Lexi and Christian and then Amy. I talked all the way back to Laura’s. 

When I got home I got the best update that our brave girl made a friend, got ooocorn with him, he walked her home, and then on Tuesday they went to the devotional together. ❤️ This made me soooo happy!

Also when I got home I spotted this. 

Fav shoes underneath the chair in our guest room! I thanked them for their service and threw them away. They’d seen better days. 🤣

9/11

 Friday was the big day and we were ready! We got our beemer packed up Thursday night and got to sleep early.

Because we had a 4:30 wake-up to be able to make it up to rexburg in time for orientation. 

A little car preening before I walked her to her orientation and then walked to mine. 

It was different than it was 10 years ago. 🤣 they had info tables set up with all sorts of clubs and services and swag. 

And then there were 3 sessions we could choose. I went to a mental health, financial aid, and letter writing - I only did that last one because the others were full. 🤷‍♀️

Then we all went together for the night opening with the Meredith’s and the new student welcome. It was really, really good. I cried like 8 times. I’m just so happy Adi is there and happy. 

Woot!

After that we headed to her apartment. Move-ins started Wednesday, so we were coming in late and she was excited to meet everyone!

And then we got there and there was just one girl there and her room mate thought she was gonna have her own room so she had moved into both sides, so that was a rocky start. But they are very nice - at least the 4 I met. 

Adi checked out the piano as we unpacked the car. 

We unpacked a few things, but willow still had a lot of stuff on Adi’s side and we decided to break for lunch. 

Cute green theme!

I guess we got her iCard before lunch. 🤣

The new temple! Straight down the street from the operating temple. So cool!

We ate at Curry Pizza which has been featured on Diners, Dives, and Drive ins, or whatever that show is called. 

We did a little more unpacking and planned our night. I wasn’t sure if Adi would want to stay at her apartment or stay at the hotel with me, but I was happy when she decided to come to the hotel with me for one more slumber party. . 

We got treaties at Walmart and watched movies in our room and went to the pool and also someone tried to come in our room and it was terrifying. 

And then the front desk guys grilled me on why we were in that room and it was wild. And also not the nicest hotel, but fine enough. We were sups tired and the beds were sups comfy so it was a good night!!!

10/5 & 10/6

 Yesterday started spirit week. Each grade had a theme - Delaney’s was sci-fi and Frankie’s was western. D wanted to paint her face green but we couldn’t find any at Target and I threw ours away very recently - which is why I struggle with throwing things away. Anyway, D settled for a foil hat and franks with the camo.

I got a text that morning that Joni was in town! We met up at Sarah’s and got to visit for an hour and it was such a fun surprise! I miss her!!!

I made plum chicken for dinner and got my whole list plus a lot of extras add-ons done throughout the day. 

Today I had an hour long call with Ginny about all the things and then a call with one of our stake comms people who has a food truck next week that I’ll be helping with. This calling has been such a huge adjustment and learning curve, and as far as coordinating councils go - DC North is a tricky and very busy one since we have DC, the state capitol, and the temple & visitors center within our boundaries. 

I walked over to Sarah’s for Inklings and stayed chatting till 12:30. It was so nice just to sit and spend time with friends. 

I’m slowly decorating for Halloween, organizing girls memory boxes, and helping Frankie clean out her closet. It’s national taco day, so I made chicken tacos and beans and rice and I packed a plate for Frankie. I picked her up from school and took her straight to piano. 

I got to talk to all my people today and everyone is doing really well. Adi said she’s a 7/10 and I say that’s pretty darn good for the first month of college!

9/10

 On Thursday we went to the Orem temple to do baptisms. I wanted to take Adi to the temple and Laura had some family names so it worked perfectly. Then Adi had just done her hair so Laura and I did the baptisms while Adi was the witness, and then we all did confirmations. We had 2 different people point out the dragonfly in the stained glass near the baptistery. The second guy told us that inside the dragonfly was blue, but from the outside it looks red, so we verified and it was very cool.

We really should have taken pictures before we got our hair wet, but you know. 

We had plans to meet up with Lily after her classes, so we did some more shopping. Laura spotted this skull king expansion pack and I’m nervous and excited to play it!

We got to see Lily’s cute apartment and meet some of her cute roomies. 

We went for pizza and got the lowdown on Lily’s first few weeks and it was so good to see her and see how well she’s doing!

These cute besties all grown up!

Laura got a picture of me getting a picture, always lovely. 

My emotions were/have been high as we prepared to help our girl on her grown up journey. And then memories pop up that twist the knife and 😭😭😭😭.

Traveling without all of my kids means missing out on lots of things, like football games. Their first away game of the year!