I HEART REXBURG

We only been here for 3 months now, but we love, love, LOVE Rexburg!!! We love everything about it. I can't wait to see what the other seasons bring, because winter has been great!

Oh wait. There is something I can't stand. I can't stand the static I get here from the dry air, and I could do without the dry skin and chapped lips, and the obnoxious eczema on my kids. I even have rough, nearly-calloused knees now! 

But aside from the effects of our coastal-acclimated skin drying out in the high desert, we love it here, and we love that it feels like home. We would love to settle here ultimately!

We love that there's snow in the winter. It's a fun, bright change after so many years of dull, brown, rainy winters. Yes, it has some SERIOUS cold snaps (I'm talking -15 for 2 weeks straight), but you just stay inside and watch movies and drink hot chocolate and you'd never know it was cold outside!

We love how friendly everyone is here.

We love that we never see anyone pulled over or getting a parking ticket or boot on their tire. So very little crime, too!

We love that there are a million things to do in every season (BYUI on-campus events AND city events...most of which are free), even in a city with a population of less than 30,000.

I love that I can take free fitness classes on campus since I'm the spouse of a student!

We love that it's close to Reeds Dairy and their fantastic chocolate milk (which contains potato flakes), and other dairies as well.

We love that it has a country feel, with cowboy stuff going on everywhere (we happened upon a high school rodeo competition today...such a blast!)

We love that it has Walmart and Les Schwab in town! It's only missing a Costco, which is about an hour and a half away, or Sam's Club is a half hour.

It has a Deseret Book, a temple, an impressive Deseret Industries, a craft store, a distribution center (I can finally buy garments without traveling to Utah!!), a tabernacle that has orchestra concerts and tours. It has a couple of dollar stores, Kmart, tons of clothing stores, 2 grocery stores (one that delivers for free), a great hospital and a candy store to die for!

We love that it has amazing sunsets. We never saw anything like these in Oregon. (I didn't take this picture though.)

We love that it has bike/walking trails! Lots of trails! And they're plowed in the winter so they're bare and you can use them.

We love that it has a fairgrounds and a race horse track.

We love that it's so close to Yellowstone, Jackson Hole, the Tetons, Craters of the Moon, unscented hot springs, and more!

We love that it's such a family friendly town. Not one single person has looked twice at the number of kids I have or how close they are in age. Back in Oregon, I was stopped EVERYWHERE I went because my family shocked people.

We love that it has great food. We've only had a chance to try out a couple of places since October, but they were GOOD! Craigo's Pizza (to die for...a higher quality Cici's substitute, which Hyrum has always loved), Bajio's Grill (like Senor Sam's, but better) and  Fong's Chinese. There are a ton of great places we haven't been able to try yet. There's every type of fast food too, plus Little Ceasars for cheap date food.

We love that the mailman delivers our mail to our door if I have to sign for something, rather than just leaving the note in my box and making me drive to the post office for it like at our last place.

We love that you can have a high quality of life with a low income and large family. The town is made of families and college students, so things are cheap for a reason!

We love that there are a TON of people our age with kids, so now we have more than just 2 families of friends to hang out with, and they live close enough to hang out with regularly!

We love that this area is so agriculturally based. There are farm and ranch stores in town!

We love that we don't have to leave Rexburg for any type of shopping, and Idaho Falls in only 30 minutes or so away in case we want to hit a Target or mall or some such place.

We love that there are so many parks (5 within walking distance of my house), and that it's illegal to smoke or drink at the parks. There is even a skate park and a year round campground (what do they do, build igloos in the winter?). Amusingly, there is a campground outside of town called Beaver Dick. Hmmm.

We love that there is a FREE water park and a cheap carousel.

We love that there's a walking path by a duck pond with ducks and geese eagerly awaiting your arrival, and your breadcrumbs.

We love that our ward encompasses only a handful of streets, so we can walk to anyone's house in our ward, and the church is near. Less than a mile away I'd guess. Rexburg is actually 98% Mormon! It's definitely a change.

We love that a river flows through town. It's neat to see it frozen over in winter. People even build igloos on it and in the university football field.

We love that we have the opportunity to do some winter recreation, like snowshoeing or snowmobiling, though we haven't taken advantage of that yet.

We love that we're so close to our Johnson relatives now. We actually get visitors. (Though we have yet to ever see a visitor stay in our house for longer than 3 nights in a row...ever in our marriage, unless they were living with us. I guess maybe that says something about us. Hmmm.)

We love that there is an ice skating rink! Bowling alleys! Anything and everything you'd want for recreation, within a matter of minutes! And no crowds and traffic.

We love that there are 2 dirt cheap theaters, plus a huge, new one with current movie releases, and arm rests that flip up (for snuggling). There's even a historic one being renovated.

I loved the school when I went here 16 years ago (can it be that long ago??!!), and I love it now, for different reasons, since I'm not a student anymore. Hyrum loves the school too. It's completely different, and twice the size from when I attended it.

I could go on and on!!! We love small towns, and this feels like a small town, but with the conveniences of a large city! It's so perfect for us.

On January 30th, they had a Snowfest at a park near our house (one of the many free city activities), so we took our strollers and walked down there to join in the fun.

There was ice bowling

Polar bear swimming (with a hot tub dip afterward and beanies for all participants).

Free hot chocolate (no coffee served!).

Wagon rides.

 

Sledding and more. It was great to just be out in such a family friendly environment. They even had a free movie night at the theater that evening. Did I mention we love it here?

One thing I don't love: how my hat makes it look like I have forehead cellulite after I take it off. Is there even such a thing? I need to make myself a fleece hat.