The Lander Whitings: Idaho Temple Tour Part Two

Sometimes you have people in your life that are such a wonderful, positive support that you want to have them with you as much as possible. That is how I feel about my fabulous 2nd Year Rick's Roommates April, Amy, & Mary. April and I were already friends our first year at Rick's and decided to be roommates our 2nd year. We knew we would be assigned strangers as our other 2 roommates, and we were nervous and excited about who they might be. Boy, did we get lucky! Amy and Mary were so much fun and so easy to get along with. We had the BEST YEAR EVER!!! They are 3 of my best friends for life. They each make me want to be a better person.

Right after Rebecca was born in 2004, we had a Roommate Reunion in Utah. We met at the Olive Garden (of course) on a Friday night to visit with each other, and then we met with our children (and James -- he was the only husband that could come!) the next day. This time, five years later, we decided to have a Roomate Reunion that was just us... no kids... no husbands. We decided on Boise because 1) it was about halfway between Amy (Idaho Falls) and Mary (Oregon) and 2) I hadn't been to that temple yet! As you know, my goal is to attend all of the temples in the United States. Boise was one that I had not checked off my list yet. We thought it would be fun to be roommates for one more night, so April booked a hotel room for us and gave us specific directions to both the hotel & the Olive Garden (of course). April lives in Boise so she knew the best place to stay that was close to both the OG and the temple. Great job, April!

After I went to the Rexburg Temple with Michelle, and ate lunch at the Olive Garden (of course), I dropped Michelle off at her home and drove 5 1/2 miles to Amy's home to pick her up. Then we drove the 4 1/2 hours to Boise! We had such a great time talking and catching up. When we four get together, it is as if no time has passed -- we are instant best friends once again in only moments. We were able to check into the hotel without any problems, and we headed to the Olive Garden and waited for the others. When I left Lander, we hadn't heard a definite confirmation from Mary yet, so I didn't know if she was coming. When we left IF, Amy and I both hadn't heard from Mary so we were pretty nervous that she wasn't going to come. We wondered if we ought to drive to Oregon and find her (we didn't have a phone number for her -- only her email address!). Soon April arrived and she had heard from Mary, who would arrive shortly. The three of us were seated and started to catch up a little and then Mary arrived with her cute little baby Brooke. We were finally all together again! The drive was surely worth it!

After a very delicious and highly nutritious meal at the Olive Garden (of course), we headed to Walmart so the Easter Bunny could pick up some needed supplies. The Easter Bunny was really hoping to make it home in time for Easter morning because the Easter Bunny's husband had assured her that he would not be assisting in the Easter basket efforts. Luckily Walmart had plenty of Easter items still in stock. Then we went to our hotel room. We looked through my Rick's scrapbook. We ate snacks. We each figured out how to use the timer on our cameras for the first time. We took fun & goofy photos, including one with our toothbrushes in our mouths (injo). We stayed up talking until very late at night and then April fell asleep and the rest of us still kept talking (sorry April!). Poor Mary was up quite a bit with Brooke, so we felt bad that she didn't get much sleep.

When we rolled out of bed in the morning, we headed downstairs for breakfast and then went to the Boise Temple for a session. It was so much fun being in the temple with my roommies! Isn't it great to know that we are still sisters in the gospel? After it was over, we needed to say goodbye and we were all sad to. We need to get together more often than every 5 years! I miss you guys way too much! Thanks for being my true friends. Thanks for being such great examples. Thanks for making it such a wonderful weekend. Thanks for being you!