Back!

We're back! We went away for four days to attend the memorial service for Jerry Sugden. I knew that I wanted to be there for Liz and Rusty, and John graciously used vacation time in order to allow us to make the trip - even though he didn't know him personally. It was an odd feeling, being there. Multiple people made the comment that it kept throwing them off not to see him around because he's "always been there". I knew exactly what they were talking about. The church was PACKED with people and the service was beautiful. We laughed, we cried, we launched a rocket in his honor (yes, you read that right). It was perfect.

While it obviously wasn't the point of the trip, I was able to see so many people that I have not seen in years - at the memorial service and again at church the next morning. Liz was able to make it over from Germany (the passports for the baby were taken care of quickly in order for them to make it over to be with the family - thank you to all who kept them in prayer) and I got to hold little baby Amelie (two days in a row!).

 Isn't she ADORABLE?!

Smiling baby time with Delonna and Lois!

It was an emotional weekend, especially since I ended up having to spend a few hours with my mom for the first time in almost four years (my brother Paul turned 13 while we were there, so it was a family birthday party). My thoughts and feelings on our "relationship" (or lack of one) were not swayed. No thank you. I have many things I could say regarding the few hours that I saw her and none of them would be good, so I'll just keep them to myself.

There were additional activities that I was hoping to do while we were in town (going into Seattle, taking the boys to one of the playgrounds I spent a great deal of time at as a child, etc), but it was almost too hot to have the boys outside for long periods of time and there just didn't end up being a great chunk of time to do many additional outings. But we got lots of time in with my dad, my siblings, and many wonderful friends. I am so glad that we made the trip.