Day Trip to Rexburg

Today after our schooling was finished, we headed into Rexburg, the town of my childhood. I meandered past several memorable locations of my youth, acting as a tour guide and explaining my favorite memories. We also visited sites in town that are significant from our family history, pointing out ancestral homes or telling stories from the life history accounts I so often peruse. It was so delightful to feel connected to our past a bit more. We also stopped and played at my favorite parks.

Later we stopped at their Great-Grandma Nelson's home for a surprise visit. What a treat this was! So many fond memories of my childhood were formed in her home. It was almost like stepping into the past- so much of her home is exactly the way I remembered it. The children enjoyed playing in her toy room while I enjoyed chatting with Grandma Nelson and cousin Bryce.

Later Grandma served up some of her famous homemade bread. It's the fluffiest and most tender homemade bread I've ever seen, and the kids couldn't stop exclaiming in delight over the taste and texture. I remember eating warm bread fresh from the oven in the same kitchen when I was their age, so I couldn't help but take pictures of them enjoying the same recipe in the same place.

Later we were tempted outside by the lovely weather, where the children played and played with Bryce and cousin Ryan. Bryce and Ryan are actually my cousins, and are near my age. So we persuaded the children to call them Uncle Bryce and Uncle Ryan. I think everyone was happy with the arrangement.

Ryan and Bryce were eager to play with our Littles, rough housing all over the back yard, swinging in an awesome hammock, playing tag, climbing on the roof in their games, having Tickle Wars, and a Nerf Gun war.

It was all such fun and I laughed until my sides ached. Oh how dearly I love spending time with fun relatives!

Ryan also taught the kids how to climb onto the roof, where they all played for some time.

Sarah loved her perch on the roof, where she could easily collect stray bullets and stay relatively out of danger. 

Ryan easily talked them into trying a silly perspective shot where it looks a bit like Daniel is holding Ryan up:

Grandma made a delicious dinner that fed our bodies and spirits. After cleaning up from dinner, we recruited even more relatives and headed to Porter Park for a huge Nerf War, armed with plenty of dart guns and oodles of ammunition.  I had a hard time trying to catch images when everyone was running so fast and over such a large area, but here are a couple:

Joseph was eager to play, but he kept losing his bullets any time he pointed the gun down (which was almost always!). So he contented himself with gaurding the ammo pile and loading his gun over and over again.

What a memorable day to spend! They ran and laughed almost until the sun set, then several of the children fell asleep on the drive back to the Muir Farm.