My first date I went on with Rachel lasted for almost 12 hours.

We went country dancing in Salt Lake City, and then out to dessert afterwords. It was a fun time. On the way home we started a conversation in the car. That conversation continued at a small park across the street from her apartment and lasted late into the night. Rachel has always been a great person to talk with. Better, in fact, than anyone I have ever met in my life. This has always been an extremely important part to me of our relationship, and I don't imagine we will ever run out of things to talk about.

But then we started to have kids. Don't get me wrong- we absolutely love our kids. But they take time. And they make it extremely difficult to have 12 hour long conversations. I consider myself lucky on some days to even have a few uninterrupted minutes when we give each other quick run-downs of our days before falling asleep out of sheer exhaustion. This isn't the norm, of course, but it is definitely a challenging proposition any time the kids around to to actually have any semblance of a real conversation. This has been one of the biggest challenges for us of raising kids.

That is also why this weekend was so awesome.

Thursday night we dropped our kids off at my parents house, and for the next 3 full days, we talked...and talked and talked. Obviously we did lot's of fun stuff too, but mostly we just talked. It was amazingly refreshing. It was wonderful! I love Rachel so much and I am glad my parents were able to give us this gift of time together. It was one of the best things anyone could have done for us at this stage in our lives. So, Mom and Dad, if you are reading this, then THANK YOU. 

Day 1

Upper Mesa Falls

We hiked the mile down to the Lower Falls also. When we got there, Rachel stayed at the canyon rim and I climbed down to the river level.

 After we hiked around the falls, we drove up to Mack's Inn and went to the dinner theater there. It was a fun evening filled with good food and entertainment. After the show, we drove to Driggs.

Some random fishing hole outside of Driggs where we spent the night. We had taken out the seats of our van and replaced them with a mattress. It was actually quite comfortable.

 Day 2

We started the day off by driving to Jackson Hole and having an AMAZING breakfast at a local restaurant. After breakfast we went to the town square where they had their annual Western Days celebration in full swing. We watched a parade, visited booths, saw some street performers, and listened to live music. We also walked around and took in all the art galleries/Western shops which characterize downtown Jackson.

After all the walking, Rachel needed a little break. As it turns out, Jackson has the largest public bouldering park in the country. So while Rachel relaxed, I got a little climbing in. This is only one of the three boulders they have set up. There is also a climbing/mountaineering memorial. It's a pretty neat place.

After our break, we drove to Alpine Canyon and hiked down to look at some of the rapids. The river was running higher than I think I have ever seen it, and the amount of debris in the water was incredible. 

After our hike to the river we went back to Jackson and had a really good dinner at another local restaurant (but not as good as breakfast). We were planning on going to the rodeo that night, but it started raining, and since we are only fair-weather rodeo enthusiasts we decided to go to a movie instead.

That night we drove to the Trail Creek Trailhead (on Teton Pass) and spent the night in our car again. Also, about half way through the night the clouds all blew away and the sky was absolutely brilliant with all the stars. It was a beautiful reminder about how amazing our universe is.

Day 3

We got up and drove to Idaho Falls were we had another wonderful breakfast.

After we ate, we walked along the pathway next to the river and appreciated the beauty around us. Also, I saw a duck fall off of the waterfall and that was pretty funny.   

Around lunch time we headed down to Pocatello where Rachel's brother (Brandon) lives. The rest of her family came up too, and we had a good afternoon of conversation and games. Also, Brandon grilled dinner for us and it turned out really, really good. Late that night we drove back to Rexburg.

The next day we went to the Zoo in Idaho Falls with our kids, my parents, Allison and Clayson, and Al's roommate who's name I can't remember. Evelyn's favorite animals were the giant tortoises. 

Well- that was our weekend. We are feeling good and refreshed and ready for real life to begin again.

Have a good week!

Some updates: Summer is beginning and we are taking full advantage! Today's update will be a bunch of pictures.

 Evelyn and I went to see CYT's production of Rapunzel. The kids did a great job and Evelyn LOVED it.

For home church we did a family talent show. Evelyn was very proud of her picture (her talent was art). Addy did some exercises for us. Jack showed us his skills on the climbing wall. I played the guitar. Maren sang. Rachel did sign-language to a song that we all sang together. It was fun.

We went to the "Dog-d'alene" Lots of dogs. Lots of people. Lots of fun.

Parenting of the year award: "Look mom- I was hungry but then I found this corn on the ground and it is super good!" Um.....yeah.

Rachel and I went to see Wicked in Spokane. It was an amazing night out with an amazing woman. 

This is from last week when we spent the day in Spokane. This is at a petting zoo we went to. That same day we also went to a parade and a kid's fair.

Yesterday was our 9th wedding anniversary. It has been nine wonderful, crazy, sometimes-stressful, always fun, and in some ways totally unpredictable years since we committed our lives to each other. Since then, I have only fallen more in love and enamored by my amazing wife. I know that by now I should stop being surprised by how awesome she is, but whenever I think I have her figured out she goes and does something else that renews my sense of respect and admiration. I could not have married a better woman. My children could not have asked for a better mom. Rachel- if you are reading this, then please know that I love you more today than I ever have before.

As for our week- it was good.

We went to Evelyn's Kindergarten singing thing. She had fun and so did we.

We had a Cinco de Mayo party at our house. It was great because someone else planned the whole thing- we just provided the venue. I love our house/yard and I think it will be the location of MANY summertime celebrations.

We climbed trees at the park.

A movie from last week of Evelyn dancing. Pretty good!

Maren made a friend. They came up with this game without any adult supervision.