Weekend Trip to Idaho

Friday, I took a day of personal leave and we drove to Rexburg, Idaho, almost 250 miles north of where we live. The purpose of our trip was to take Josh to see the campus of the college he will start attending in July - BYU - Idaho. While we have been to Idaho before, and even to the town where the college is located, we have never been to the campus of BYU - Idaho. Josh has already applied and been accepted to the school, but he wanted to see the college in person.

Our drive to Rexburg went well. We arrived early Friday afternoon and immediately checked into the motel where we stayed, AmericInn by Wyndham. It was a nice place with large rooms and a great indoor pool and hot tub which Josh made use of Friday evening and Saturday morning before we left.

After checking into the motel and unpacking the car, we went over to see the apartment complex that Josh plans to live in. I didn't take a picture of the interior because management actually showed us an apartment that is occupied. I assume the the tenants receive some sort of rent discount or incentive if they allow management to show their apartment. The apartment was nice and large with all new appliances. Josh will have his own room, although there are six bedrooms in each apartment, so he will have some flat mates.

Josh had made a late afternoon appointment for a tour of the campus, so after seeing his apartment, we went over to BYU-Idaho to see the place up close.

We started the tour at the Hyrum Manwaring Center. This the place where students can gather for all kinds of fun activities. The student bookstore and food court are also in this large building.

BYU-Idaho is a Christian school run by the church we belong to, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I love the reminders of faith in God throughout the campus, like this flat that reminds students that Christians are disciples of Jesus Christ, who believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and strive to follow Him.

I love the focus of BYU-Idaho - Discipleship, Learning and Leadership.

We started our tour in this building, where many religion classes take place and where the main chapel on campus is located.

This is the interior of the large chapel.

I love this relief of Jesus and the children just outside of the chapel.

Our tour guide was an attractive young woman who, coincidentally, used to live in our area and attended a high school about two miles from our home, before moving to Washington and then to Texas with her family. Here are some pictures from the parts of the campus that our tour guide took us to.

This is the library.

This is the tutoring center.

This is the gym.

There is a large pool, several pickle ballcourts, and basketball courts.

This is the BYU-Idaho Center, where weekly devotionals and graduation is held. It has a seating capacity of 15,000.

There are some beautiful paintings of scenes from the Savior's life just outside of the assembly hall.

I love all of the representations of Jesus and his life all across the campus. Here are some more scenes of the beautiful BYU-Idaho campus.

The beautiful Rexburg, Idaho temple is not part of the university campus, but it is right across the street.

After a busy afternoon touring the BYU-Idaho campus, we enjoyed a delicious dinner at the Applebees near our hotel. I had a classic cheese burger with fries and it was delicious.

The hotel where we were staying offered breakfast. There was plenty of food and it a good way to start the day. We left Rexburg mid-morning on Saturday and got back home to Utah mid-afternoon. After unpacking, we had leftovers for dinner. Charly and I managed a walk after dinner, but then I was pretty much out of energy and exhausted after our quick trip to Idaho.

Sunday was another cool, cloudy and rainy day. All of the rain we have been getting, coupled with cooler temperatures have made everything around here lush and green.

After church, I took a nap. Last week was super busy and that coupled with the quick weekend trip to Idaho, meant I was more tired than usual. In addition, the cool, and even cold, wet weather means my arthritis has been acting up, so I didn't feel great on Sunday. A nap really helped. When I got up from my nap, I got all of the postcards we got in Idaho ready to send to our grandkids. We always send postcards to the grandkids whenever we take trips. It's one way we can try to keep in touch. 😊

I also got Mother's Day cards ready to send to my birth mom and aunt.

Sunday dinner was an easy favorite - country fried steak, mashed potatoes and country gravy, steamed broccoli and green salad.

Looking for a good audiobook to listen to while I exercised downstairs after church on Sunday, I found and checked out this book, Another Gospel? by Alisa Childers, which I have heard many good things about from other bloggers including Susanne over at Living to Tell the Story. It's an excellent book, and I am enjoying listening to and learning from it.