Arizona Visitors/Busy Weekend

On Tuesday Dec. 15th, one of John's buddies from the mission called him up and asked if he and his wife could come up to Idaho and stay with us for a few days! Of course, we said yes! John and I haven't seen Donny and Hayley since they got married a year ago in January. They are from Arizona and unfortunately they didn't bring any of the warm weather with them!!

December 17th 2009: Thursday- Donny and Hayley flew into Idaho Falls Airport around 2:30 p.m. Boy, were they in for a shock!! They're not used to the cold weather like we are! :) Right now in Arizona it's around the high 70's! It's a good thing they didn't come a week earlier when the temperature was below zero-I don't think they would have survived! :) John and I picked them up, drove out to John's parents house, visited for a bit, drove up to the Rexburg Temple, and drove back to Idaho Falls to Texas Roadhouse where we enjoyed a delicious dinner. All through dinner, Donny and John would tell Hayley and I stories from the mission (which I absolutely loved!) From their stories-their mission sounded more like a two year trip than a hard working mission! :) It sounded like the two of them had a lot of fun-while teaching the gospel, too! What fun memories to have! After dinner, we took them back to our house to get settled in for the night. John and I were so excited to show them our home! These were our first visitors!

December 18th, 2009: Friday- Friday morning after getting home from my doctor's appointment, I really needed to get my Christmas shopping done! So, I dragged Hayley with me. She needed to get Donny some stuff anyway so I didn't feel all that bad. We went to the mall (which was insane!) It only took us a couple of hours to shop, then we just came back home to find the John had talked Donny into helping him on his pick-up....what a fun vacation for Donny. Later that night, Donny had a Brazilian companion here in Idaho Falls so we all went out to dinner at Hard Hat and got to hear more mission stories...and A LOT of Portuguese!! All the wives just sat back, nodded and laughed like we knew what they were saying! It was pretty funny! We got home around 12:30 that night.

December 19th, 2009: Saturday- Kind of on a whim, we all decided to drive down to Salt Lake City and go see the lights around Temple Square! It made for a long day but we had fun! The lights were so beautiful! It was kind of foggy-but it made for some awesome pictures!

Temple Square:

Donny and Hayley:

John and I

OH! P.S. Why do people tell me that I look cute pregnant when in fact I look like this!!! Don't lie to me people!! All I can say is...WOOF!!!

Wow! Doesn't the Temple look amazing?! It had been awhile since I had been there to see the Christmas lights-I loved it!!


The pictures with the fog in the background are my favorite! It adds a nice touch to the Temple glow...


John and I again


Donny and Hayley

I forget what this building is but I just had to snap a photo!

John and I....again!

Love, Love, Love this picture!

After we walked around for a little bit, we went to the Joseph Smith Building and watched "The Joseph Smith" video. I had never seen it before. It was so good! It was a good reminder of what our Prophet went through to organize our church. Now, I really want to see Emma's Story....what a wonderful, strong women she must have been!

December 20th, 2009: Sunday- Got up and went to Church and introduced Donny and Hayley to our crazy ward! Enough said....We went to John's parents house for dinner with ALL of John's family! Complete Chaos!!! Poor Donny and Hayley! Bombarded with kids and questions!! After dinner, we took Donny and Hayley down Candy Cane Lane-WHAT A BUST!!! So disappointing!!! I guess Christmas decorations arent' like they used to be when I was a kid. We did go driving around some more to see lights since candy cane lane was a "thumbs down" experience.

December 21st, 2009: Monday- John and I both had to work. But, Donny and Hayley were flying home anyway! John dropped them off at the airport, said thier goodbyes, and off to another week of work! John and I had so much fun with Donny and Hayley! They are such fun people and such good friends! I hate that we live so far away from each other and only get together once a year...if that!