#50 Babies.

Let's set the record straight. Only 24% of BYU-Idaho students are married. (According to this news release from the school, anyway.) But you see them everywhere. How can you tell? They have their kids with them. And it's the sweetest thing in the world.

Today one girl in my journalism class had to bring her one-year-old daughter to class. The 96 percent or so of us in the class who are single and female were just enthralled.

I love that people here follow the counsel of prophets to not let the expenses and stress of education get in the way of establishing their families. I bet more campus would be as happy as we are if there were more babies (with married parents, that is).

#47 FHE Groups

Being away at college, you can't exactly have family home evening each week. So the college wards organize everyone into home evening groups to achieve (more or less) the same purpose. And I have to say, I have a really awesome group this semester.

Take tonight, for example. My roommates' parents live nearby, so they ditched me to go home this weekend. I hate being home alone, so when I couldn't stand it anymore, I paid my FHE sisters a visit. It was a major lifesaver to be around people that time of night, especially ladies awesome enough to yell at reality TV with me.

#43 More Efficient Health Care

I'm sick. My roommate took me to the student health center, but I wasn't able to get an appointment anytime soon. The girl at the desk advised us to go to urgent care. As we walked back to the car, I suggested that we go home first for books. In California, a trip to urgent care means waiting at least two hours in a miserable and crowded room before you're called in.

My roommate looked at me like I was nuts. She said we could go back if I wanted, but she doubted the wait would be too bad. And she was right.

In the time it would have taken me in California to wait to be called up, I was seen by a doctor, tested, given a prescription, picked up that prescription, and went grocery shopping. Maybe I've just got low standards, but that was impressive.

#40 People who REALLY live in the middle of nowhere come here for a good time.

A friend of mine from high school, Heather, goes to school in Montana, just two hours away from Rexburg. Occasionally she gets these awesome four-day weekends and sometimes she uses them to come see me, like she did this weekend! The town she lives in is so small it doesn't have a Wal-Mart. There is nothing to do there. Rexburg may not be the most exciting place to live, but I'm grateful to be here knowing it could be worse. Some of the places we've gone don't have their own post yet, so I'm going to do that now.

#38 As Universities Go, BYU-I is fairly small.

   I went to a large high school, at 3,800 students and almost 900 in my graduating class. I wasn't really thinking about size when I decided to come here because I only got into one of the two schools I applied to.

   My classes here are smaller then they were in high school. Even in my large foundations classes (it's different from general ed, I promise, but when I find out how, I'll let you know), the largest class I've ever had was 50. There are less than 30 in my english, french, and journalism classes this semester.

It can be easy to feel small or neglected in a big group of people far away from home. But it always makes me happy to know that I'm at a place big enough to meet new people, but small enough to run into old friends often.

This is my Idahome.

I went into this blog looking to point out to others (and myself) the good things about living here in Rexburg and going to school at BYU-Idaho. I'd say mission accomplished. I love it here, and I think that it's time for me to be done with this blog. I won't take it down, but this little space has served its purpose. I started school a little upset I wan't going somewhere else, and with the expectation that nowhere else could hold a candle to California life. Now I'm starting my junior year and the only thing I hate is the snow (and even then, it's okay sometimes).  Thanks for taking this journey with me!

#33 Little Reminders

I was walking across campus the other night when I walked past the Gordon B. Hinckley Building. The lights were on inside and I could see in. I noticed something I never had before. The statue of the praying  Joseph Smith on the first floor faces the Christus on the second floor. How cool is that? 

I bet that was on purpose. It's a little reminder that The First Vision really did happen. That made my day.

#32 The sidewalk outside my apartment is lined with a vegetable garden.

#24 It's Strangely Beautiful in March.

All photos by me while going about my day today.

#23 President Clark

Tuesdays and Thursdays I'm lucky enough to have my classes separated only by 15 minutes and one flight of stairs. I usually take my time going to math, and today I saw something that really touched me-- Kim B. Clark, the president of the university, casually chatting with a couple of girls. 

How neat is that? I thought. Someone as busy as him taking a few minutes to interact with the students like that. When I asked some friends who are at other schools what they knew about the presidents there, most didn't really know anything about them, much less see them around campus. 

So today I'm grateful to go to a school where the higher-ups care so much about the students.

#18 I Have Family Here.

Today my cousin Michelle and her husband Christian had planned to go to the temple (and finding it closed, they just went on a date). 

My other cousin Linda (Michelle's sister) and I got to watch their son Patrick. He's is such a momma's boy, and he was so tired, but it was fun to spend time with him and hang out with Linda. 

It's been really neat to have them close by! When we were younger, we rarely saw each other (them growing up in Texas and me growing in California and all.) And I get to make use of my rudimentary Los Angeles gringa Spanish talking to Christian. I love my family.

#16 Frequent Opportunities to Hear from Apostles

One of the highlights of last semester was hearing from Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in devotional. His talk on religious freedom reaffirmed my testimony of the Constitution and its place in the Restoration. And reminded me that my parents did a good job picking someone to name their firstborn son after.

But this past week the students of BYU-Idaho were especially lucky to hear from two apostles in one week. Elder Russell M. Nelson spoke on education in devotional on Tuesday. There was a special fireside held yesterday where Elder M. Russell warned us about secularism in the last days. (I'd link to it, but there's no transcript yet.)

We're incredibly blessed in Rexburg to be led by God's chosen seers and to hear from them often.