Small town USA

It was time to visit one of my very favorite BFFs of all time which also meant a trip down memory lane. That's right. Snow College. My how you have changed in fifteen years. Fifteen years ago 2,000 people called Ephraim home and when school was in session the town swelled to 4,000. It was a sleepy place where cars meandered down Main Street. Walmart arrived my second year and street traffic became busy enough to qualify for one stoplight which made headlines. Being a country girl who enjoyed education, I loved my time there. It was absolutely fantastic for me. By the end of my second year I even got used to the stench of the turkeys though I never enjoyed it. So imagine my shock when I see a bustling city bursting with commerce and four lanes of traffic. I had countless near misses with various vehicles though that was in part due to all the rubbernecking I was doing. I drove around Ephraim hollering, "Holy cow!", "No way!", "That's incredible!", and "You've got to be kidding me!". The kids got caught up in all my excitement and joined by loudly echoing everything I hollered. The town is bursting at the seams. And Snow has undergone a facelift and is looking quite collegiate. Very impressive. I have already begun encouraging the children to embrace their futures as Badgers.

Then

Now

So we make it to my friend's house only to have one of the best days ever. We got to take the jeep out three different times. At one point J patted the side of the jeep and said with breathless wonder, "We have to get one of these!". We got to visit and laugh while all the kids played well together. They jumped on the tramp and swung on the swings. We hiked the bear trail. They played dress up and ate popcorn while watching the new episode of Wild Kratts. We drove out to the farm to see the cows and pigs and then stepped through a barbed wire fence to the pond where the kids squished in green algae and found slimy mollusks. The kids loved watching the chickens run around the yard. Not big fans of the dogs, but you can't win 'em all. M smothered the kittens with love and feeding a baby cow was out of this world magical. We got to bring home a dozen farm fresh eggs that could stand up and look at us. (Not really, but it's a saying down there.) Thank you for a perfect day! My kiddos cannot stop talking about it.

Jeeping.

They are not disinterested, but engaged in the process.