Travel Comes To An End

Then it was time to head north.  Ryan remembered hearing about the Brigham City Tabernacle, and from what I could see online, it looked like a cool building and worthy of a look.  We couldn't find any specifics on tours, but any website we found said it was open for tours during the summer months.  

So imagine our disappointment to find the building locked tight.  There were no signs saying tours, or times it might be opened or closed, or anything.  So I guess the "tour" was simply us walking around the old building trying all of the doors.  

 At least the neo-Gothic architecture is cool on the outside.

 Across the street was the temple.  We had the girls counting the number of temples they could see from the freeway in Utah, and we were all impressed.

 At least there was grass for our picnic lunch.

 Emma refused to turn around once she new I was taking pictures.  Again.  Geez, mom.  Get a life.

 We finished driving to Kimberly, Idaho where we were going to spend the night.  Our friends and neighbors back when Ryan and I were newlyweds said we could crash at their house for the night.  We haven't seen Brandon and Christa since... Elizabeth was a baby?  (I think we decided it was the last time we went to Yellowstone.)  It was nice to catch up in person, and show off the twins.  :)

Annie was in quite a bit of ear pain by this time.  I snuggled her on the couch for quite a while.

 Christa has 4 boys, ages 11-16.  She doesn't get to do a lot of crafty things with her kids, so she was excited to borrow mine.  She made pillowcases with the girls.  She's so sweet.

 Of course, then she coached the girls to say that visiting her was the best part of our vacation.  I assume that's so we'll come back for a visit before another 10 years goes by.  But even if that doesn't happen, the great thing about good friends is you can pick up again where you left off.  Even after a week-long vacation of not enough sleep and a sick kid, so you may be a little less than your usual exciting self.

Brandon made us cupcake waffles for dessert while most of the boys were at mutual.  Maddie really was more excited about this than her face suggests.

 Annie had some better energy after her nap on me.

 Still plugging away on those pillowcases.

 And they are done!

Dusty was happy to play with the girls while his big brothers were gone.

It was a nice way to end our vacation.  Christa kicked her boys out of their rooms, so Ryan and I had our own room for the first night in a week.  We thoroughly enjoyed it.  Brandon and Cody left early for work in the morning, but we were still able to eat breakfast with Christa, little Brandon, Bridger and Dusty before heading out on the last leg of our journey.

We came home to a hot house, the A/C having been off for a week, and a whole lot of weeds.  But it was good to be home and in our own beds again.