It's so insane to me that I graduated high school a year ago. Honestly, it feels like it was yesterday and then other times it feels like it was a different lifetime. And SO much has changed. Life is crazy. After my grandparents dropped me off in Rexburg Thursday night (after my car had a mental breakdown on me), Mama Laura came and picked me up then we drove home to Jackson. I unpacked my nanny bags, finished writing my talk for church in Belfry on Sunday, took a shower, climbed into my own bed (bless), woke up and packed my bag for the weekend, and drove with Mama Laura back to Rexburg for my cousins' graduation on Friday.
They had over 350 students in their graduating class! It was so big they held it in the BYU-Idaho Center and it felt just like General Conference- they even had an organ and an opening prayer. Both of these twinner are heading to BYU-Provo in the fall and I'm kinda sad that I won't be just up the freeway at USU to hang out with them. But I'll be back later to party. After graduation, the twins went to their graduation party that the school puts on for all the graduates that lasts all night so Anna, Brynnie, and I watched Cheaper By the Dozen and then fell asleep. Grandpa wanted us to be awake with the car loaded by 6am on Saturday so Laura, Eliza, Grandma, Grandpa, and I could drive to Bozeman to watch our other cousins (Johnnie and Katie) compete in their State Track & Field competitions. It was really early but that didn't scare Grandpa away from giving us quizzes.
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| Johnnie, Eliza, me, and Laura FREEZING in Bozeman but cheering Katie on anyways |
The twins pulled an all-nighter last night, so once there was a little break between Johnnie and Katie's events, the twins and I went and took an hour long power nap in the warm and cozy car. We headed to Belfry, MT after the races were all done for Johnnie's graduation party. It was in this cute little barn and the twins and I ate almost all of the Costco cinnamon bread there because it was so delicious. Then we went to John's house and I don't remember anything else but falling asleep really fast that night.
On Sunday, we went to church in the Belfry branch where I spoke about the Holy Ghost. If I was way more tech-savvy, I could post it for you but it's kinda long (my uncle Bruce, the branch president, asked me to speak for ten minutes). So if you really want a copy, text me or something. Eliza spoke before me and then Laura and Johnnie played a musical number after me. It was like the meeting was run by eighteen year olds. After church, Johnnie drove us out to their new property where we got to see their brand new foal that was the cutest little thing ever. Then it was time for John's graduation which was TWO AND A HALF HOURS LONG even though the graduating class of Red Lodge was only 38 students. Like, what. But I sat through the whole thing on those super uncomfortable bleacher seats because I love Johnnie. Go family.
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| We didn't know if we were going to make it. |
John will be joining the twins (and Anna and Soren) down at BYU-Provo in the Fall. Again, we will have to party when I come back. Hopefully they wait until I come home from Alaska to get married. After his graduation, we went back to his house and ate dinner then played board games until it was time for John's school's graduation party so we had to say bye to him because he would be gone all night and Grandpa wanted to leave at 7:30am Monday morning for the cabin.
When we headed out of Red Lodge in the morning, Grandpa had planned for us to drive to the cabin in West Yellowstone by way of the Beartooth Pass but when we passed the sign before the pass, it said that Beartooth was "temporarily closed" due to snow on the Wyoming side. So I called "YOLO" on it and we drove to the top. But when we got there, there was a whole lineup of cars because the gate was closed and locked. So we sat there for about ten minutes before Laura and I climbed out of the car and started running around in the billowing wind and snow. It was so cold, but looked a little bit like Alaska so I wasn't mad. Almost an hour later, we found out that they were not going to be opening the road all day so we got back in the car and headed back down then had to drive through Cody and then Yellowstone to get to the cabin. It just gave us some extra time for quizzes from Grandpa. I honestly think that we took almost a thousand quizzes this weekend.
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| *pretends to be in Alaska already |
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| WE ARE SO DONE WITH THE BACKSEAT |
We finally got to the cabin around 3pm and then I hiked up to the Rocky Knoll with Anna. She's the coolest.
We had dinner and cleaned up then headed home. I was at the cabin for a total of like five hours. Sad, huh? I love the cabin. It's one of my favorite places on this entire planet. But I'll be back. |
| #explainthecabininonephoto |
So that was my Memorial Day weekend. It was a lot of driving and a lot of graduating. I'm so excited to be in Jackson for the next little bit while I get ready for my next big adventure!
Love, Caitie
