Great Weekend with Friends

We had the best 3-day weekend! To begin with, Saturday was the baptism of one of Dan's best friends, Braden. It was great to be part of his baptism and then to hear his testimony. Braden is the type of friend that everyone should have: always there when you need him, adventurous, smart, a great sense of humor, and just an all around good person. It was also great to see so many friends. Dan has many friends and they are such a blessing to both of our lives. After the baptism, we headed up to Idaho Falls with some of our friends who came into town for the baptism, Steve and Jillian. We arrived later that night and the plan was to just hang out with Steve and Jillian. Earlier that day, they got a puppy, and when we all got to their house, we let him out in their backyard to play for a bit. We were busy talking and getting ready to eat some pizza when we realized we hadn't heard the little guy for awhile, so we went to check on him. Apparently he had escaped through a small hole in the fence, so we began our search for a puppy without a name or a collar. We looked all over for about a half hour, trying to follow the tracks in the snow, but we couldn't find the dog anywhere. It turns out he ran to the neighbor's house across the street and they took him inside until they heard us calling for him. Afterwards, we had dinner and ended up talking until 2 a.m. It was really fun hearing Dan and Steve talk about old times. I also realized that I am too old to stay up that late because I sure felt it the following morning.Sunday we got up early and headed to Leadore, ID, about 2 hours north of Idaho Falls. One of Dan's friends from his mission was blessing his baby girl and they invited us up to be part of it. They live on a cattle ranch, and we love to visit them from time to time. We spent the afternoon with them in their cozy ranch house and played games and talked.

Monday, we made the long drive home (5 hours!) stopping every once in awhile to break up the monotony. I've once again been reminded how great friendships are. I love the Gospel and appreciate how it brings friends together.