Our trip to the Land of Thor...

Once upon a time there was an Aunt named Wendy who left home to go to college. First she went to EAC in Arizona, then she came to live with us for a little bit. Then she went back to EAC, graduated and left to China (for reals!) and when she got back, she went to the land of Thor for school. Where is this magical place? Rexburg, Idaho ,it turns out!

Wendy finished her semester and we made a family vacation (a quick one) out of going up a state to pick her up. Poor little Weston got sick- Handfootmouth disease, and now that he's had it he'll never have it again, whew!- so he stayed home with Zach who had to grade a billion papers. We were sad to leave him but I guess we'll just have to take another trip to Idaho!

So, here are the kids with Thor on the campus of BYU-I, self-proclaimed "most righteous campus in the world."

You may notice through-out the pictures that we are all (well, not Wendy) breaking SOME honor code rule of dress. No shorts, flip flops, capris, overalls... Oops.

Wendy took us through the fabulous gardens on campus- who needs Thanksgiving Point when these are for free?

Beautiful!

They even have a Mr. Tumnus statue- watch out for the White Witch!

Cindy and Mom were having a fabulous time, obviously...

And so were these pretty girls- Seriously, it is so fun to see Wendy. We don't like it when she is so far away!

Afton loved all the water through the gardens and just really wanted to go for a swim!

Doesn't Mom just fit on this little front porch? It was surrounded with square foot gardens, sun flowers, daisies... all the things that go with a big gardening hat. :)

Zach is studying up on his pergolas to find a good one for our yard. I thought this would look great in our yard, though perhaps a big large...

There was another whole section of student gardens where the horticulture students got to design and grow their own. Hello! Why did we not have this when I was a Horticulture student? I loved this 'Bedroom' garden... very whimsical.

Maama and Afton were sneaking about in the Dinosaur garden and spying on people- don't worry, there weren't real dinos, just foot prints left about.

And this is the view of the temple from campus- last time I made the trip to Rexburg, the temple was just barely being built. It is beautiful up on the hill!

We also took a peek inside the green houses. It just made me miss my school days!

This is a waterfall in the greenhouse, complete with fish!

The weirdies...

Though, a minute later, these two both had their pocket knives out and were pulling cactus spines out of Bryson's finger. Sometimes they're just cute boys...

Tropical flower

A strange picture of the girls- what am I doing?

These are the hydroponic tomatoes growing in the greenhouse next door. The vines just grow and grow and grow- that's what is wrapped around the bottom. Miles and miles of tomato vines!
After touring around campus we drove to West Yellowstone- yes, that is in Montana. First time!

Here's our little hotel.

And here's my little Afton- she was such a good traveler and didn't need much entertainment. Just give her an empty cooler and she good! She would take the lid off, stuff in her blanket, put the lid back on. Then take it off and climb in. Then climb out put the lid back on and push it around... Silly girl! Tomorrow: Yellowstone!