Ryker spent the summer living with Dustin and Sara and working construction for Sun Roc. The reason for this was because he needed to be there to gain Utah residency so he could pay in state tuition for school. It was a bummer to not have him home this summer but he liked being at Dustins and bonded with their family which I love. Dustins girls loved him like a big brother and would tease him and torment him but it was fun for all of them. I think Dustin liked having another guy around and I like that they were able to bond more as well.
Ryker is an RA in the dorms and had to go back to school 2 weeks early for RA training which he hated and felt like it was such a waste of time. The only good part about it was the free food and they were fed really well with having different restaurants catering. Move in day for all the students was August 17th and Kefford and I drove down on the 16th to bring Ryker his mini fridge, take him grocery shopping, help him with his last minute RA duties and most important, spend some time with Ryker.
When we got into town we needed to check in to our hotel and Kefford surprised me with a room at the Anniversary Inn. We have talked about going to the Anniversary Inn in Boise since we were married and have never done it so this was a fun surprise. Kefford booked the Swiss Family Robinson room and it was something. The theme was cool and all the stuff they had in there was pretty cool but it did smell and feel a little like a cheap motel to both of us. The bed area was upstairs which made both of us nervous about having to use the bathroom in the middle of the night and navigating the stairs so we left a light on downstairs which was not the best to sleep with. The ceiling also had twinkling lights to mimic the stars which was cool but again not the best for sleeping if you like it pitch dark.
The shower and sink faucet were cool and it was fun to try out this experience that we have talked about for 25+ years.
Some of Rykers duties as an RA were to make name tags for the dorm rooms, make an about me for his room and set up the bulletin board for his floor. Ryker is the RA for the first floor residents. Ryker did a Star Wars theme and designed Light Sabers for the door name tags which looked really cool. When we got there he had a lot of things made but he needed help cutting out the door name tags and that is what I helped him with Friday night for a little bit. The next morning we got the tags finished and taped them to the doors. Ryker spent the night printing out the stuff he needed for his Bulletin Boards and when Kefford and I came over Saturday morning we helped him put it all up on the boards.
All of the RA's do their own door name tags and it is tradition to have every RA give one of their designs to all of the other RA's and they put them all on their doors. I like Ryker's light saber the best but the other designs were pretty fun. Ryker has a little white board on his door and he had the idea from a friend who was an RA to put a question of the week for the residents to answer on his white board. This week's question was on theme with his floors decor and when I asked him a couple of days later about it he said he got a lot of answers on it.
One thing the RA's have to have is an about me board put up. The bulletin board for Ryker to use was next to another residents door which was weird and annoying so he just put an arrow pointing to his door with a note saying what room he is in.
Once we were done getting things set up Kefford wanted to go on a hike so Ryker took us on a hike to the Wind Caves. It was a hard hike for me but Ryker was super helpful and encouraging and helped me a lot. He kept telling me once we got to the wind caves that it would be worth it and once we got up there he asked me if it was worth it to which I said it was a beautiful view but I have no desire to ever do it again. I am glad I did it and that I survived it and it really was a beautiful view.
Ryker had to do the obligatory make it look like I am falling off the cliff picture.
I added my answer to the bulletin board and took one last picture of Ryker before Kefford and I left for Meridian.
Ewok #2 :)
Ryker got a letter from Audrey and sent us a picture of it. It was so sweet and I really love the relationship he was able to develop with his Cousins over the summer.
