Take Me Home, Country Roads

OK, so it was mostly interstate, but we traveled back to Storm Lake this weekend. We hadn't been back for awhile, and had all kinds of good reasons for making the trip at this particular time. On Saturday my (second) cousin Kayla and her new husband Matthew had a celebration honoring their marriage, which took place on July 7th in Sitka, Alaska. It was fun to see them and hear about their lives in Sitka and their beautiful wedding ceremony, which was held on a boat. We also got to catch up with other members of the family. Kayla and I attended the same high school, so there were some other familiar faces as well, including my good friend Laura and her two kids. It is always fun to see them!

Saturday also happened to be my little brother Justin's 22nd birthday, and he decided he would come home to celebrate. My brother Jason and sister-in-law Chrissy came over as well, and we relived our younger days by making homemade pizza with the family (we used to do this every Sunday night as kids). We'll have to do this again sometime when Josh and Abbey are home too. It was fun to see Jason and Chrissy, who are expecting their first child the end of this month. Chrissy has a nice big belly and I think she's ready to get things moving!

In the midst of all the action on Saturday night, my friend Amy and her little boy, Jace, came over for a visit. I can't believe how big he has gotten! This was the first time my family had met him, and they had a ball holding him and playing with him. Good practice for the soon-to-be new parents and grandparents!

Today was a pretty low-key day...we relaxed this morning, had lunch with my parents, then headed back. We returned around 5:00, then unfortunately, I had to go into my office to do a little work for a few hours. It's going to be a crazy week, and I just wanted to get a leg up. Makes for sleeping easier tonight. Here's to the start of a full week!