Many, many months ago Cody offhandedly mentioned that a friend who moved out of the the ward several years ago was teaching at BYU-Idaho and emailed him and a few others in our ward about a couple of job openings. I instantly felt a peaceful happiness inside, I knew we would move there and this was our future. I played it cool and casually asked if he was going to apply. He said he had no teaching experience and that there was no way he would get the job. I said maybe he should just apply and see what happens, it would be good experience. He didn't seem too excited about the idea. Over the next couple of weeks as the deadline approached, I sort of talked him into it. He revised his CV, gathered references, and he needed a letter from his PI Joe; that was the hardest part. Joe has been extremely good to us and has been a pleasure to work with. I think Joe was hurt that Cody applied for a job that would take him away from the lab. I felt really bad about this, I hate to disappoint people. Cody talked it over with Joe and expressed his gratitude to him, Joe jokingly said he was tempted to write a negative letter of rec so he wouldn't move away. He sent in his application and a few weeks later was asked to have a skype interview. On Christmas Eve he got a call that he was one of the final 3 candidates. He flew up to Rexburg in February and had a long day and a half of interviews. Over the next month Cody fasted and prayed and received confirmation that teaching at BYU-Idaho was where we were supposed to be. Mid March he got a call and was offered the job. He accepted the offer and we started to prepare for this life-changing move. Now we are here and loving it. I am so thankful for the guidance we received even though it is hard to leave friends and a place you know well.
Here we are in front of the house we are renting...
We had a few weeks until Cody had to start work so we took our time getting situated at the house and we took a few trips. We went to Grand Teton National Park first. It was a little hazy from the wildfires so the view of the mountains wasn't the best but it was still very beautiful.
We went to Jenny Lake first. Addie insisted on carrying her swimsuit along on the hike...
We rode the ferry across the lake.
Addie liked it at first
Then she got really scared and whimpered and cried the whole way. She kept saying no in such a sad voice.
We made it to the other side and hiked the trail to the waterfalls.
Cody carried the backpack all around and Addie refused to ride in it. The kids actually did really well hiking to the falls. I was really surprised.
The waterfalls.
Eliza's close encounter with a chipmunk.
I love her face. She just stood there and stared at it, kind of hoping she could pick it up and bring it home.
And then shocked at how close it was actually getting to her, maybe it would just jump into her arms but then scared that it really might.
We really enjoyed ourselves and the kids did great on the hike. We took the ferry back across the lake and Addie was very unhappy about it. We got in the car and drove around the park some.
There was a traffic jam on one of the roads and as we drove by we saw a huge crowd of people out of the cars with their cameras up. Well we had to see what everyone was looking at. We pulled over and walked over and there was a huge bear laying in a tree about 20 yards away. It was pretty exciting. It was just like at the zoo except no fence.
