10 Averagely Cool Things You can do in T-Rex, Idaho

Lebron James took his talent to South Beach (and then back again) and my family took their talents to Rexburg, Idaho. In July, my mom informed me that my dad was going to be interviewing for a job there, but this didn't bother me too much. I figured that my dad would never take a job in Rexburg because he would have to make the connection that if he worked in Rexburg, he would have to LIVE in Rexburg. Not that Rexburg is a bad place, but you would think that my family couldn't even bear the thought of leaving the state where I was continuing my education, right? Wrong.

Within a month, my dad was offered a job in the middle of nowhere, my family packed up the house that was in the middle of somewhere, denied a humble but sincere offer on the house made by a beautiful, intelligent college student (you would have thought that they would have remembered that my birthday is coming up. Also, $50 is a pretty good deal for a house with carpet that my sister and I accidentally painted), sold the house to someone that was not me, and proceeded to move to the middle of nowhere. In the middle of all that, you could find me sitting at the kitchen bar crying, "What if I need a Halloween costume?! What if I need a sleeping bag?! What if I need art supplies?!" It was then that I learned that apparently when college students need something, they usually just go to the store and buy it instead of travelling home and stealing everything that my family owns. This is a novel idea, which I may try someday.

Before classes at BYU started, I decided to make the trek up to T-Rex to see the city before my family officially moved there. (Yes, I now call Rexburg T-Rex for obvious reasons of coolness.)  Sometimes a small town is described as a one horse town. I think a more accurate description of T-Rex would be a one pony town. Or maybe a one guinea pig town. Or better yet, a one potato town. It's true, on the first glance, there's nothing there but BYU- Idaho and a bunch of fields. On the 80th glance, that's probably the same thing you'll see. But with 4 days to spend in T-Rex, my mom and I were determined to see the sights. Like what I would do if I were going to visit Venice or London, I googled the best things to do there. With only 4 days there, I didn't want to spend my precious vacation time at any boring places. So I did my research. I was actually pleasantly surprised at what I found. There were hikes, waterfalls, sand dunes, craters, and plenty of places to explore! I began to think that not only should my family move here, but that I should probably transfer to BYU-Idaho, buy a "Idaho is my Ida-HOME" t-shirt and set up camp for the rest of my life. Upon further research, however, I realized that my google searches didn't bring up things to do in Rexburg, but things to do NEAR Rexburg. Things to do CLOSE TO Rexburg. Things that were in the same STATE as Rexburg. NEARBY REXBURG AND CLOSE TO REXBURG ARE NOT THE SAME AS BEING IN REXBURG, FOLKS. Quite frankly, I am surprised that someone didn't claim that the Eiffel Tower is something cool to see in Rexburg, because technically Rexburg and the Eiffel Tower are on the same planet, and Rexburg and France both have a 'R' in their name. So I did more research and found an actual article of things to do without leaving T-Rex. The result had my mother and I laughing so hard we were crying, unless they were real tears, because some of the suggestions were so hilarious: Go to the gym. Take a bubble bath. Drink hot chocolate. Do service. Yes, these are all great ideas if you are bored, but you could also do any of those things in the Sahara Desert, if you really wanted. So instead of sitting in the hotel reading articles about T-Rex for the entire week, my mom and I decided to go see what the town has to offer. I have now created my own list:

 Averagely Fun Things to Do in T-Rex

 

 1. Eat lunch at the Madison Middle School parking lot. When we first got to T-Rex, we had our sack lunches and nowhere to stay, so we had our lunch here. There was a great view of the parking lot and probably the best view of the highway in Rexburg that anyone will ever have. An added bonus is that people will probably stare at you because you look homeless.

2. Buy ice cream at Dairy Queen. My mom usually makes after-school snacks, but since we didn't officially have a kitchen yet, Dairy Queen stepped up to the plate.

3. Go to the Madison County Library. Not only do their computers have internet, but they also have a thrilling anime book series about a prince of tennis that I found as my siblings did their homework. Also the library features a bathroom, which will be useful to you in case you move to Rexburg but you don't officially have a house yet.





4. Stop by Rexburg's appliance store, Bingham and Son's. Because I am a super rich college student, my main hobby is shopping for refrigerators. I spent at least half an hour helping my mom pick the best fridge. (False. My mom researched refrigerators, and I went around the store opening the doors of each fridge, praying there was actually food in one of them.)

5. Visit the Rexburg LDS Temple. This item actually belongs on the 'Awesome' list instead of the 'averagely cool' list. No matter where you are in the world, you can always feel the Spirit when you visit.

6. Drive down Pole Line Road. This road is the epitome of middle of nowhere. One minute you're driving by houses, and the next minute you're surrounded by hay bales and can see fields for miles.

 7. Shop at your neighborhood Wal Mart. Among other things, I found a great locker chandelier. I only wish I was back in high school so I actually had a locker to hang it in.

 

8. Eat breakfast at the local hotel. Every morning I went down for breakfast, there were mini Nutella packets to put on your bagels. This is by far one of the best things that T-Rex has to offer, and we took full advantage. My brother took the liberty of spreading Nutella not just over his bagels, but his ham, sausage, and eggs as well.

9. Pick an apple from the orchard on the campus of BYU-Idaho. I felt just like I was back in Provo since there was no parking on campus, but the orchard was beautiful. One of my favorite Greek Proverbs (also probably the only Greek Proverb I know) says that "A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in."

 

10. Visit the newly established Hardy household. This one also belongs on the 'Awesome' list. My mom's cooking is the best, my dad will give you great advice, and my siblings will make you laugh so hard you can cry. There is also a literal cupboard under the stairs, which is apparently my room, which I share with the Christmas decorations.

If you did everything on this list, it would probably take you AT LEAST 39 minutes, so you would probably also have time for other cool things that I failed to mention such as going to the gas station and squinting through the fields to see an actual mountain. Unfortunately I was only there for 4 days, so I could only complete things list approximately 57 times. As much as I like to tease T-Rex, the really great thing about the town is the people. From the person that helped install the blinds to the landscaper, each person welcomed us here with a kind smile. I hope they appreciate that they just inherited even more great people this month.

Batman's Gotham City = Rachel's Sports Camps

Last month I said a sad sayonara to something I love with my whole heart: BYU Sports Camps. Those who spend time with me are no doubt praising the heavens, because apparently that is the only thing I know how to talk about. Not only was it sufficient to tell my roommates a hilarious story from camp, but then I'd also have to tell my parents. Then my neighbors. And then I'd tell my roommates a second time, because if they didn't laugh as hard as me they must not have heard it.

There are a few things that made this summer of Sports Camps particularly wonderful:

1. One of the best parts of my job was ensuring the pizza was delivered to 7 Peaks before the campers arrived. Every week, it was just me and 100 pizzas, hanging out. I was in heaven.

2. The day that our boss decided to dump orange jello down Derek's shirt. Also the day that he decided to light the ends of Derek's hair on fire.

 

 

3.  The campers who thought it would be a great idea to catch seagulls by covering a camper with a beach towel, and then placing pizza on the beach towel. What the next step of their plan was, I will never know.  

 

 

4. The time that a game of 'Red Light Green Light' turned into the campers tackling their innocent counselor.

     

 

 

5. Deciding who had to do lunch duty by determining who was worse at Super Smash Brothers.

 

 

 

6. The time when our catered lunch was delivered to the wrong place and the NFL's Chad Lewis and all the 8 year olds started a riot.      

 

 

7. Spending time with campers that I was a counselor over the previous year.

 

 

8. Coming up with excuses to go out onto the football field. Rumor has it that Bronco Mendenhall would like to recruit me, but I can neither deny or confirm that statement.

 

9. Finding Derek asleep under our table after a long day.

 

 

10. Making some of my best friends ever

 

 

11. People finally calling me by my correct name.

 

 

12. Being able to work in one of the prettiest places ever

 

 

 

 

Obviously it was a summer that I loved. One of the things that I loved most, however, was how needed I felt. This may seem strange, but Sports Camps was able to happen this summer because it was something that the people in our office had been preparing for almost an entire year. Sports Camps needed Derek and me because we hired all the counselors. The counselors needed us because we helped assign them campers and made sure they got paid every week. The campers needed us because we were planning activities and making sure they were being taken care of. I decided that just like Batman looks over Gotham City, I would look over Helaman Halls. Gotham needed Batman, Sports Camps needed Rachel Hardy.

 

However, that's not exactly true. Anyone could have done exactly what I did for Sports Camps. In fact, tons of people could have done a much better job than me. Luckily, though, Heavenly Father is mindful of each one of us. He wants us to grow and become more like him. Sometimes we grow through trials we are asked to face, but sometimes there are simply experiences, not trials, that He gives us to grow. Sports Camps was that for me. I am so grateful that Heavenly Father saw the areas I needed to grow in and let me do that through Sports Camps. Because of the experiences I had, and people I was able to associate with, I became more humble. I learned how to work hard, and be more selfless. I was able to grow closer to my Heavenly Father as I asked him for help to be a better person every single morning, and every single night. I was able to feel his love more fully in my life.

 

No, Sports Camps didn't need me. I needed Sports Camps.

As the summer was coming to a close, I felt the lonely feeling of not being needed anymore. No one would be calling me in the middle of the night for medicine anymore, and gone were the days of frantic parents who were worried about their child. I loved the feeling of being to help others whenever I could. It took me a little while to realize that I still WAS needed. Heavenly Father still needed me, and he needs each one of us. The reason I loved Sports Camps so much is because I was able to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ by word and example every single day. I was able to testify of my Savior Jesus Christ and influence the lives of others, and Heavenly Father still needed me.

In one of my favorite General Conference talks, Jeffrey R. Holland speaks about the time after Jesus Christ was Resurrected and visited the apostles still on the earth. The apostles had gone back to their fishing, as they were fisherman before the Savior had come to minister. The Savior asks the apostle Peter if he loves him. Peter answers, "Lord,...thou knowest I love thee." (John 21:16)

Elder Holland continues the story, "To which Jesus responded (and here again I acknowledge my nonscriptural elaboration), perhaps saying something like: “Then Peter, why are you here? Why are we back on this same shore, by these same nets, having this same conversation? Wasn’t it obvious then and isn’t it obvious now that if I want fish, I can get fish? What I need, Peter, are disciples—and I need them forever. I need someone to feed my sheep and save my lambs. I need someone to preach my gospel and defend my faith. I need someone who loves me, truly, truly loves me, and loves what our Father in Heaven has commissioned me to do. Ours is not a feeble message. It is not a fleeting task. It is not hapless; it is not hopeless; it is not to be consigned to the ash heap of history. It is the work of Almighty God, and it is to change the world. So, Peter, for the second and presumably the last time, I am asking you to leave all this and to go teach and testify, labor and serve loyally until the day in which they will do to you exactly what they did to me.”"

 

 

Our Heavenly Father needs me, and our Heavenly Father needs you. He needs us to love Him and live like it. He needs us to be better disciples and to be better friends. Just like he needs us, we need Him.

 

I am so grateful for the experiences I've had over the past year that have increased my testimony of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. And even though it's over, every night I still quitely pray, "Heavenly Father, thank you for letting me be part of Sports Camps."