Idaho

My two week+ trip to Idaho was........ how do I say it Les? I can just say honestly I am glad I was there. But it was frustrating, emotionally. We had a good drive there. Then it all started.

(1)We got to Leslie's apartment and it was a MESS. There was food on the wall in the kitchen, the walls needed to be painted. The shades were messed up. The carpet was all stained. It just felt dirty. Come to find out they pay the girls that clean like $12/hour (I think Les?) and they have to buy their own cleaning supplies. The manager said that usually they did a good job when they first get hired but after that start slacking. YEAH!!! I would start slacking if that was my job too. What a RIP! We couldn't stay there the night. So Teresa (Les's Mom) got us all a hotel for the night. By the time we got settled it was pretty late.... too late for two little girls.

Then (2) we are driving back to the apartment and we pass brandly new constructed apartments. We stop in, check them out, and Leslie decided to rent from them instead. This apartment was so nice! It had a big living room, nice kitchen with granite countertop, a washer/drying in the kitchen (no coin op like the old apt), stainless steel appliances. After the hassle of changing apartments we finally get to start moving in. We were so exhausted. That was Wednesday. School starts the next day. We had no internet. Supposedly it was going to be running by that Friday. That was about the 8th of September and it is now the 4th of October and they still have no internet.

Then (3) Amelia started cutting FOUR teeth! So the whole purpose of me being there was to help Leslie move into the apartment and to watch Hallie while Leslie was going to school. Usually Amelia is THE happiest little girl ever. But with the four teeth coming in all at once she was so clingy and sad and miserable.

Leslie, at one point in all this and missing Jake after not seeing him for over a month, said "What's next? Could it get any worse?" Well it did....

(4) The mouse. HAHA. That was actually pretty funny. We were visiting in the living room. The couch is angled toward the kitchen and I could see, out of the corner of my eye, something run under the stove!!! A MOUSE! Then it ran from the stove to under the fridge. EEKS!!! Feet were off the floor. We had to act before it got out of the kitchen. So Leslie has this shelf that is about 5 feet long. We made a "coral" from the corner of the wall to the front door. We had to use a few picture frames, the stroller, and a chair to make it work. So then the mouse ran from under the fridge to under the door to the washer/dryer. So we opened the doors, turned on the washing machine to "scare" the thing... and it was a fat mouse. It wouldn't come out so I grabbed a broom and started hitting the machines. Eventually it ran out through the coral and out the door. I had to scare it along with the broom. We thought there might be more because there was a hole behind the stove. I stuffed it with some cardboard and we decided to go to bed. Leslie did not like the idea of sleeping on her bed on the floor in Hallie's room. She's a brave one though. She decided she was just going to get over it and go to sleep. And she did.

(5) Jake gets his shoulder CHOPPED to the bone by the airboat prop out moose hunting with my Dad on the 14th (or was it the 13th?). It was a terrible experience not only for him obviously, but for us to be so far away. I can't imagine how miserable Les was from missing him so much, looking forward to him coming home, then having that moment postphoned because he was in the hospital due to a horrible accident. He is back in Rexburg now and doing pretty good it sounds like. He is taking care of Hallie one armed while Les is in school. I know that Les has to work pretty hard to run the house and go to school but she sounds so much happier to have her husband home. I talked to her today and she thinks he will have full recovery eventually. She was so strong through the whole ordeal. At one point I remember her saying, "I feel that he's going to be ok."

So never ask "Can it get worse?" Because it can.

FYI: Donations for Jake's many hospital and medivac bills can be deposited at a Wells Fargo Bank. They should be able to look up Jacob Songer Donations or something like that.

The girls had fun together. I know Amelia is missing her cousin. I loved having them both on my lap reading to them. The both LOVE books. They loved taking baths together (minus the poop). Some days I tried to have them both on the same nap schedule. But other days when they needed one on one time I would spend time with one while the other one slept. Hallie missed her mommy when she was at school. I tried to make her happy, and succeeded most of the time. It was so cute to see her face light up when her Mommy came home. I loved it.

Auntie Leslie tickling Amelia. Amelia's first haircut was in Rexburg. I cut a little over an inch off the back. She was starting to get a rattail. I should have taken a before and after picture.

Sweet little Hallie. I can't believe she's already one. She is so good about leaving ribbons and hair clips in her hair.
She is quite the character. She was making the funniest faces. I hope Leslie puts some pics up on her blog of these faces. She was so good to Amelia. Sometimes when Amelia was crying she would go over to her, make a face, and Amelia would start laughing.
Note the yellow Care Bear... FunShine? Hallie LOVES this Bear. I repeat LOVES it. If you wanna see her face light up you just give this thing to her and she is immediately happy.