September 2025 Books Read

 Thanks to Susanne posting her September books -- I am going to have to look for that Lisa Genova book that I have not read yet -- I was reminded that today is the last day of September, and I can post about the six books I read this month.

Bruce had his third hand surgery (of this year) today--it was originally supposed to be my day for cataract surgery, but I moved that to December 16, when I have more time to be lazy. I have too much going on right now.

And let me just say--September was a month. A month of hard things.

But...it was also a month of reading some good books.

1. and 2. and 3. were all The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion by Beth Brower (vols. 1 and 2 2019; vol.3 2020)--Josie bought vols. 1 and 2 for me because these books are extremely popular with  her library patrons. Each of the books (there are 8 so far) has about 40 holds on it!! I put a hold on vol.3 and somehow got it right away from the BYU library, but I have holds on 4 and 5 and am still waiting. I think they each had 4-5 holds on them. Anyways! This diary-style book series was hard for me to get into, because I didn't really understand the characters or plot, until I did, and when I did, I was quite taken with it, hence finishing the two I own and putting a hold on more volumes. Here is a little synopsis: Emma M. Lion is an orphan who moves to London in 1883, to her inherited home, Lapis Lazuli House. (Mind you, she does it sneakily, so that her guardian thinks she has a suitable companion, though she does not.) She documents her life in a "self-depracating yet grandiose style." (says the AI overview.) Josie's library is also hosting Beth Brower for an author visit in January or February. Maybe I will go...

4. Aubrey was here by Emily Gurney (2025). Emily worked for me in the early 2000s when she was Emily Mize, so frustrated because it took sooooo long for Brian to propose to her! They used to babysit Josie for me sometimes, when their oldest daughter Natalie was a baby. And now Emily has written a book. It is about all of their family, but it centers around Aubrey's childhood leukemia diagnosis and treatment. Happily Aubrey is STILL here. (I told Emily the title makes Aubrey sound too past tense, but when you read the book, the title makes sense, because Aubrey was here, and here, and here--various times and places on this cancer journey that nobody wanted to take, but that became obligatory. Because what else can you do?) PS Also Nancy, Josie and I are all listed in the acknowledgements section. Us and like 400 other people!!

5. I stayed up practically all night on September 15, trying to finish Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus (2022), but had to finish it in the morning on September 16. This was the day our book group was meeting to talk about this book, which I had been reading at all month, but was too enamored of Emma M. Lion and then Emily's book came...I had to hurry and finish because I had to return the book! Elizabeth Zott was a mighty fine chemist born too soon, into a world where the men in charge cared about her looks, but not her smarts. Her looks get her cast on a cooking show, and what is cooking but chemistry? This is a sad, happy, fun, infuriating look at the sixties.

6. I won't have to worry about not finishing next month's book group book, because I already finished it. The Women by Kristin Hannah (2024) looks at the seventies, and let me tell you, not much had changed. Frankie was a nurse in Viet Nam in a world of men who kept insisting "There were no women in Viet Nam." Her ups and downs and highs and lows were different from the book above (#5) but also a sad, happy, occasionally fun and frequently infuriating  look at the seventies, when finally, finally, USA got out of a war they should have never entered. (IMO).

And then there were ALL THE THINGS going on this past weekend. ARRGH. The last weekend of September 2025 included at least six mass shootings: Grand Blanc, MI. Southport, NC. New Orleans, LA, Eagle Pass, TX. Highland Park, MI. Indianapolis, IN. People! THIS SHOULD NOT BE NORMAL. In a little chat that Nancy, Patrick, Josie and I share, Nancy said, "I think…we might already be at war and not know it. Somehow." That is a sad thought, but IDK. Anywhere can be a war zone apparently. This should not be. 

This week isn't over yet, but almost

 Nope. It is only Friday. 

Sunday was our Fast Sunday, which was a weird week for it, but that was the way the ball bounced, so it was Fast Sunday even though I forgot. In testimony meeting, some weird things happened. One man got up and said something that offended someone else, who stood up and yelled, "No! Stop it!" That was a first in my life time. 

A while later a little child, whose dad took him (apparently unwillingly!) up to the microphone--it was his dad who wanted to talk; the child had no skin in the game--also did some yelling. As the dad (hands full with two children, honestly) was exiting in some embarrassment, the child yelled, "I didn't like that! I didn't want to go up there!

So much yelling. Weird.

On Wednesday Josie had a meeting canceled because one of the librarians had to pick up a junior high age daughter from a field trip because a kid on the field trip shot himself. Wowsers. A field trip to remember for all the wrong reasons. (It was a fatal shot.)

On Thursday, a former student, Richard Williams, came to visit with his son Sam. Richard actually worked mostly for David or Janet, and less for me. But it was still nice to see him.

Yesterday I also got a text from Jocelyn asking for comments for Eric's birthday. She wanted to collect 40 comments or wishes for his 40th birthday.

I wrote "I can hardly believe that Eric is 40 because he was a cute little baby just the other day! Eric was always cheerful and fun to be around when he was growing up, and although I can't speak for ALWAYS, he seems to be fun and cheerful when I am lucky enouth to be around him! Love you, EAT! Happy Birthday!!" (Eric's initials are EAT. And EAT5hams is his email address.)

But Nancy had a much more interesting comment (or few comments): "I remember eating SO MANY popsicles in the summer. I remember four-wheeling with him in the front and he was going to go down into the ditch and I didn't want him to--I was sitting on the back grate thing--but he did and I fell backwards and was clinging to him with my legs. That was scary.

I remember floating down the canal and him telling me something about bears. Everything he saw was evidence that a bear was stalking us as we floated down the canal. And I totally believed him.

I remember going to Waterton and he had asked for...I think it was beef jerky...but Auntie Colleen said no. But she had to make a stop in town, so while she was stopped he ran to the store to buy some and she was so mad!

When we'd hug each other goodbye we would whack each other on the back as hard as we could!"

Those are fun memories to save.

And today was Andrew Boel's wedding! It was lovely, up Hobble Creek Canyon at Jolley's Ranch. (I kept thinking it must be Jolley's Farm because Jolley's Ranch sounds too much like Jolly Ranchers, so that can't be right, except it is right. Jolley's Ranch.)

Here are a bunch of pictures. Josie and Rachel were both wonderful helpers. With setting up and cleaning up. 

"Grandma K" and the two youngest bridesmaids. They were so cute, spreading real rose petals, and then carefully picking them all up again.

Andrew married Sidney Davies. She seems a good match for him. Here they are, bride and groom, with Kelli and Allen.

Just Andrew and these two of his parents. 

All of the parents and the siblings that are on Dave's side. IDK if Andrew invited his other siblings or not--he honestly did not invite very many people. Josie was his only aunt there, and Rachel his only cousin. So that was interesting because his side of the family was assigned clean-up...we would have left sooner, but if we left so did some needed helping hands! Anyways, in this picture: James, Matthew, Alicia and Dave, Andrew and Sidney, Kelli and Allen, Rosie and Ireland, Austin and Oaklyn. Speaking of Austin, the little girls are so excited to see their daddy after two weeks without him!! 

Dave's four children: Matthew, Andrew, James and RoseMarie.

Cute little girlies, Oaklyn and Ireland.

The siblings with spouses and the next generation!

The reception was held at a nearby pavillion -- well about a five minute walk -- and at one point I was suprised to see Ed Austin and his wife. Ed was the head of Folk Dance at BYU when David was a folk dancer, and he has been retired for at least five years or a bit. Only--I couldn't remember his name!! We had a nice chat, and he asked me how I came to be there. And I said that I was one of Andrew's grandmothers. And he told me that he was Sidney's great-uncle. Small world. I would have introduced him to Kelli who was standing nearby, only I COULD NOT think of his name. As we were walking away it came to me...Ed Austin! So I told Andrew and Sidney of our connection, and they thought it was cool.

Anyways--It was a lovely afternoon

PS - One more picture to add! I realized that I had no pictures of me, or Josie, or Rachel. But the wedding photographer had taken some of us. But I don't know if we will even ever see those. However, when she took the picture of Andrew's grandparents, Kelli also took a picture. So that was nice! I appreciated her sharing it with me!

Small Family Gathering

 Rosie, here staying with her dad for a few weeks, wondered if we wanted to enjoy playground time in the evening with her and her little girls. Her dad and Alicia would not be home on Thursday evening because James had a parent/teacher meeting at school. She said she would supply the pizza. I said I would supply water, plates, napkins, etc. 

Rosie asked for park suggestions, and chose Quail Orchard Park. Which is becoming our family go-to because it is not far away and is a very fun park.

Josie and I were running late; Rosie was running late; Bruce fell asleep. So the first ones there were Mike and Carlie, but Josie and I pulled up soon after. When Rosie arrived, and Bruce still wasn't there, I texted "Aren't you coming?" 

Funny thing was, I lost track of time (which I have been doing ALL WEEK!) so didn't have time to pick up what I needed from the store before picking Josie up from work. That made us late, since we had to stop at Day's Market. Rosie went to the new Little Caesar's, which is in the same strip mall as Day's. Then had to run to Day's for a potty visit by Ireland. We didn't know what car she was driving, and my new car (almost 3 years old) isn't well known to Rosie so we were all there! We could have helped her. But we didn't realize!

Rachel was not there at the beginning because she was not getting out of class until 6:30. I ran to pick her up then, so she got to eat cold pizza (but Rosie gave her the leftovers, so that was a win!) Ash had also been invited but had a rough day at work and didn't have the energy to come.

The little girls were very busy playground users! At first, they played (and played and played) in the playground adjacent to our picnic area--but eventually, Oaklyn spied the swings the next playground over, and that was it--she was moving on. Rosie commented that swings are her favorite, so Oaklyn would probably not be easily persuaded to return to the closer playground, so she and Josie went off to join the little girls, leaving Bruce and I to visit with Mike and Carlie.

Mike has been increasingly ill over the past few years. He had to retire earlier than expected, and they sold their home and bought a condo so there is less maintenance. (Even though he is married to my niece, he is only 3 years younger than me.) He has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's, which is a hard diagnosis to get.

Auntie Judy and Uncle Wally could not join us because she is in Arizona with Heather, and he was in Logan, getting sworn in as National President of the Sons of the Utah Pioneers. Heather has been ill--she is in hospital without a diagnosis and the medical personnel are trying to figure things out. 

So--once Rachel arrived there were only nine of us!

I took the first group picture:

Then Josie and I switiched places, and she caught this adorable action shot of Ireland mid-jumping. So cute!

It was only when I saw this photo that I realized I was still wearing my work name tag!! 

It was fun to spend time in this small family group. So good to be together!

What a Week

 According to the calendar, Sunday was the first day of this week, Sept. 7. That was the day that my friend Amber posted that her son had died. What?!! Only a few weeks ago, August 23, she had posted about their family taking him to Cedar City to begin his first year of university at SUU. Micah was in my Primary class in 2013, when we first moved from North Orem to South Orem. Then I was the Primary Music Leader the rest of the time, until their family moved from South Orem to North Orem  a few years later. Micah was a very sweet child; he was well behaved and just nice.

Today was the end of the week, and it was Micah's funeral--well, celebration of life. No flowers. Amber didn't want flowers because they will die in a week, and that will remind her that Micah died. As people spoke about him--his parents and three of his good friends--it was nice to know that Micah was still very sweet and just nice. He had a love for adventure, and unfortunately, that was his undoing. He and some friends were in a vehicle, an SUV, making use of their still adolescent brains because age 19-ish, and well--Micah died. (Frontal cortex isn't fully developed until age 25.) Sept. 7 was the day they operated to remove some of his organs to be shared with others (5 people) and so they took him off life support that day once they had taken his donated organs.

This is the newspaper article about Micah: SUU Student who died after falling from car saves five lives.

I was glad I could attend today and hug his mom, and then his dad, and then his brother. His sisters were sitting down, but I stopped and talked to them. I hope they will remember that their Primary Music Leader loves them and remembers them. His brother gave me a rather fierce hug; I think it was meaningful to him to be remembered. And to know that I loved Micah, and was happy to know young him back when he was like seven. 

I was sad about Micah's death. 

Then, just as I was wondering who would be next, because that seems to be the way of it (death comes in threes...) I got a letter (on Sept. 8) from the new dean of the School of Fine Arts and Communications that the old dean of the School of Fine Arts and Communications had died while on leave in England. What?!! I was not expecting that. There was finally a formal announcement of it on Sept. 11, but not with a date or details or anything. Like Micah, there was a lag between death and actual death. (Or the other way around?) I think there was also an accident? I am not sure. 

Both Sept. 8 and Sept. 9 I had to work late for library instruction in night classes. They went really well. They just made for long days. (And also Sept. 11.)

Then came Sept. 10, and I guess that makes Charlie Kirk's death the third for the week. I didn't even know who he was before, but his assassination at UVU made for a bit of a shock. If young men with underdeveloped frontal cortexes are going to go around shooting someone, I wish they would not do it in my area. In my state. Or be a person from my religious affiliation. This makes it all so much more shocking, and I am very sad about it. Not like I am sad about Micah or Ed, because I did not know this third person, but I am sad that he died in such a violent manner and left small children fatherless.

However, I did not agree with his politics, though I had to learn about them later, because I truly was unaware of him before September 10. (I am not saying that his politics are ALL bad; I am saying that they are not ALL good. I suppose I would say the same of any person.)

I liked what this woman (Shelly Hart-Remmel) had to say about it. I do not know her, but I appreciated her comment:

"One thing that has become really clear since yesterday is that we live in at least two different realities. Talking to a friend who only knew Charlie as a Christian motivational speaker because that's all that ever came across her feed. Showed me videos I've never seen before of him saying perfectly reasonable and empowering things.

 
I showed her videos she'd never seen before of his racism, misogyny, homophobia, advocating for violence against specific groups of people. She was horrified by his remarks about Pelosi's husband's attacker being bailed out and celebrated for his violent act. She was horrified by a number of things that he said, but she had never seen or heard them before, the same as I had never seen or heard the generalized clips of him sounding like a perfectly nice loving man and father.

Neither of us had a whole picture of this man. I mentioned he was a known white supremacist and she thought I was joking. She talked about him giving a speech about finding your purpose and doing good in the world and I thought she was joking.

I saw why this friend was mourning the loss of a person she thought was a good person. My friend, bless her, saw why I feel the way I do about him. We understood each other better. In spite of a multi-billion dollar internet machine specifically focused on keeping us apart. Because we talked to each other with the desire to listen and to learn rather than the desire to change someone else's mind or to be "right".

None of those motivational things he said change my opinion about him because they don't erase the negativity, the subtle calls for violence, the belittling and denigrating of other races religions genders etc. His negative and blaming comments about homeless people, the poor, and victims of domestic violence. His comments about rounding up people who didn't think like him and putting them in camps where their behavior could be corrected. That time he said empathy was a made-up word he didn't believe in. That other time he said the Civil Rights Act was a mistake. The time he said most people are afraid when they get on a plane and see that there's a black pilot. His anti-vaccination rhetoric and his active campaigning against people being allowed to wear masks for their own health. His open support of fascism and white supremacy. To me, all of those are fully unchristian sentiments. Those are undeniable and just one of them would be a deal-breaker for me. All of them together are a picture of a man who was polarizing, enraged a lot of people and rightly so, but even with all of that I would never wish upon him or especially his children the end that he got.

Oh, and my friend had never heard, and God help me I don't know how she escaped the news, but she had never heard of the Minnesota legislators who were shot in June. The husband and wife and dog who were killed, one after throwing themselves over their child to protect the child. The other couple who somehow survived. Politically motivated attacks specifically because they were democrats. She learned about those shootings that happened months ago because I showed her Charlie Kirk's comments about them. The kidnapping plot against a female Midwestern Democratic governor. The assassination attempt against Pennsylvania's democratic governor. All things Charlie had plenty to say about while supporting the Second Amendment and bashing the Democratic party. She didn't know about any of it because we're all living in two different worlds and none of us have the whole story."


So then I talked with my kids about it, and Nancy sent me the Wikipedia Article about Algorithmic Radicalization and I was blown. away. This is a whole new direction for me to take library instruction. We are all being manipulated and indoctrinated and propagandized by the use of algorithms that make it so we don't all hear the same things--most people get their news from Social Media, which means most people hear news targeted to them, instead of hearing general news and then making up their own minds.

I am glad that I have backed off from Social Media (I was only ever on Facebook) but also, if I didn't have it, how would I have known that Micah died? I wouldn't have. It is a conondrum.

Well, this is all to say, sad week.

However, when Jeremy Grimshaw's Music 203 class came for library instruction on Thursday, he brought me a gamelan T-shirt and some fabric from Bali--well actually a sarong--in an M-Mart bag, also from Bali. (I may never go to Bali myself, but I have friends who do!) And he has also promised me a new suling. So that was nice!

And Bruce's brother Ken came over today, and he also dislikes our present administration, which was a nice surprise. He thinks that the wealthy run things anyway, and doesn't know how we can change that. Neither do I. Billionaires are really not very nice in some cases--with a few exceptions. They just don't have the same perspective as most of the rest of us. I wonder what their algorithms deliver to them in the way of news? Probably much different from what I hear.

August Books and Random Notes

 August was an 8-book month for me.

1. Girl Defective (2013) by Simmone Howell. When I found this book on the JUV shelves, I thought it said Girl DETECTIVE. The girl in the story, Skylark, has a little brother, Seagull (called Gully) who is always acting detecive-like, so I was confused by the title a bit, since Gully would be a BOY detective. Then I realized my error. Skylark feels defective because her mother left (she is a rock musician based now in Japan while the family is from Australia) and because she is a teenage girl. It was a good story.

2. Hush (2010) by Eishes Chayil. This story, based in the Orthodox Jewish community of New York City, is written anonymously. The author uses a variant of Eshet Chayil (or Aishes Chayil or אשת חיל) which means “woman of valor.” It is from chapter 31 of Proverbs, which praises the woman. This book is an insider's view and the hush is around Gittel's best friend Devory's death at age 9. The horrible truth of it.

3. Little Cricket (2004) by Jackie Brown tells about the experiences of Kia, her brother, and grandfather as Hmong refugees in Minnesota.

4. Lucky Broken Girl (2017) by Ruth Behar is fiction based on the experiences of Ruth as a child when a car accident put her into a full body cast for an entire year, when their family had newly arrived in the US as refugees from Cuba. The experience is true; details were altered to make a better story. For example, in the book, they think to move the child Ruthie's bed so she can see out the window--in real life, nobody did. She stared at a wall the whole time. It was a compelling story, and the about the author told me that Ruth Behar is an academic, a professor of anthropology at the University of Michigan.

5. The year we disappeared (2008) by Cylin Busby and John Busby is true crime but in our library housed in the JUV section. Cylin was a child when this happened--her father was ambushed in an attempted murder. Because he was a cop, the police department tried to protect the family (it was like they were the ones in jail!) and finally relocated them to Tennessee, where the children finished growing up. 

6. An island called home (2007) by Ruth Behar. This was me, having gotten interested in this author, reading one of her nonfiction books. This was a photo essay, an ethnography, of a trip to Cuba, with photos by a Cuban photographer. I liked it. 

7. A conspiracy of faith (2013) by Jussi Adler-Olsen. This is the third novel in the Deparment Q series. A horrendous crime from the past lands on Morck's desk by way of Scotland where the police got a note in a bottle. This leads to a series of horrendous crimes that had gone unreported, including one presently underway. The opening chapter was...hard...but the book was good.

8. My Oxford Year (2018) by Julia Whelan is a book based on a movie, the screenplay of which was by Allison Burnett. It was actually pretty good, I think because of Julia Whelan's own Oxford year--she knew the place, and so could turn a movie into a credible book. (This was my fluffy book to balance out the more difficult read of Adler-Olsen.)

And now for the random notes of things I didn't write, but wish I had:

1. The crabapples on Lavon's trees were so good! It has been years since I ate a crabapple, so I bit cautiously because I knew it would be sour. So yummy! They were my favorites when I was a child. And Millie and Ethan both loved them, too. Especially Ethan! He would ask for them, but when we were not looking, he was finding ones that had fallen on the ground. David was happy to see him eating fruit because he is a meat and cheese kid, but he got lots of fibre into his diet the day he ate so many crabapples. 

2. Millie and Lavon had a discussion about the toys Millie was playing with. There was a little pink table. Millie asked what it was, and Lavon said "a table." "Why isn't there anything on the table?" Millie asked. Later, discerning that the table was a part of a set, so probably there were some chairs, she asked "Where is the rest of the set?" Lavon said, "Oh, probably in the toy box downstairs?" Millie asked, "Don't you keep the whole set together?" Apparently, she is in favor of toy organization.

3. Millie loved to look at the pictures of Lavon's family. There are many photos on display, and there is also an electronic picture frame that cycles through 1000 photos. She loved to stand on the chair and watch the pictures change. Up high is a large family photo taken when Heather was quite young. So she kept asking, "Where are the kids?" The answer was disappointing: "They are all grown up. They aren't kids anymore." How was that possible? She had their toys! "Where are they?" Millie wanted to know. She did meet a couple of Sara Beth's kids, but not Heather or her kids. 

4. Pat enjoying sharing a special moment with Millie. Pat is a barber, but before that she went to beauty school, so when she saw that Millie's hairdo wasfalling out a bit from a day of playing heartily, she asked if she could redo Millie's hair, and Millie said yes. Pat enjoyed doing it, and Millie gave her a big smile, and sat patiently and didn't squirm and let Pat braid part of her hair and replace her barrette.

5. I learned a lot about Pat from many days of just chatting as we drove for thousands of miles. Just last night I learned that Pat just got her patriarchal blessing a week ago Saturday, at age 81. She is such an example of learning and growing and trying new things, even things that are scary or challenging. 

I am sure there are more things I did not remember to write about, but for now I am glad to be home -- I got home at 11 AM, having driven straight from Idaho Falls to my own driveway. Pat was feeling tired this morning--it has been a long, physically and emotionally exhausting week for her. So she only had to drive herself home today. I hope that was not too much driving for her. Helen talked to Pat on the phone, and let me know that she (Pat) did indeed make it safely back to Sandy.  Good night!

Sunday is a day of rest and Monday is not

 It was really restful to just get up and have nowhere to go until we went to church at noon. Many of the speakers, etc., in the meeting were from the same Layton family, the family of a man named Cheyenne Layton. Dennis introduced us, and Cheyenne pulled up his family tree on Family Search. He fully descends from Christopher Layton while we (well, my husband and kids) descend from Charles Layton, his nephew whom he raised. The son, Isaac, is 11 years old and gave the most amazing talk! About Jesus as our Savior, so full of faith and testimony. The other talks were also good.

Donna Thompson came to visit me at Lavon's ward! She usually attends the Tagalog Branch, but all the Tagalog Branches in the entire region (at least three provinces) were meeting in Edmonton, and she had decided not to go, so when she knew I was here, she attended both the High River Ward at 10:30, and the Sheep River Ward at noon.

Donna sat with us, but then I kind of lost her while I was visiting with my cousin Rod, who also came to the wrong ward just to see me again! So sweet. (Donna was checking out how this ward dealt with the new hymns, because she is the one who does that for the Tagalog Branch.) So, here is Rod with us:

Heather (Adams) took those pictures, so I also had Donna take one of me and Heather together. Donna kept telling me to look here, no look there, raise my this, lower my chin, etc. She was trying to make me look good, and instead I looked like this:

Bahahahaha!

Lavon was making Hawaiian Haystacks for dinner, and Heather's family was in charge of dessert. They had already picked up bananas to use in banana cream pie, but then Sadie wanted to make pina colada cupcakes, but Lavon really wanted the pie, so they made both, and honestly, they were both so good! Like, for several of us, those were the best cupcakes we have ever had. (Lavon even commented that if she had known the cupcakes were so good, she would not have insisted upon the banana cream pie.)

Bananas reminds me that on Saturday, Sara Beth's daughters Anna and Juliette were at Lavon's, and Anna made banana bread. So much baking this weekend! (So many bananas to use, including some Pat brought with her from Utah.)

Back to Donna--I found her in the library where she was discussing the supplemental hymn books with the librarian. We could hear the primary singing most rousingly, including Jesus is a God of Miracles (chosen by Cecily) and Once there was a snowman (chosen by Elayna), both Heather's daughters. By the time Donna finished her hymn book discussion, it was 1:30, and so we went and sat in the hall and talked. It was a good visit.

Back to the Leavitts--we ate all the yummy food, and enjoyed a visit from Sara Beth's oldest daughter Madison and her fiance. And then I took a couple of pictures of the Garrett sisters plus Dennis, who is the most amazing cleaner-upper and helper ever.

Helen, Lavon, Dennis, Pat

Helen, Lavon, Me, Pat

Today we were up and on our way by 5:45. It was a day of just driving. Although we had to drop Helen off at her apartment in Lethbridge on our way. Smooth sailing at the border--very little wait. The only excitement was Pat's traffic ticket, which was not her happiest moment.  But once we got to Idaho Falls for the night, we ate at Jack in the Box, and then did a little sojourn by the river and saw the falls. (Josie, from afar, navigated us back to our hotel! Much appreciated!)