I found out that Fall Semester at BYU-I doesn't even start until September 18th. But still. The thought of starting another semester, even if it's still a month away makes me want to throw up. Really. Actual vomit.
There have been moments here and there when I start to get extreme anxiety about not doing my homework. Then I remember that I don't have any homework. And then my heart relaxes and happiness returns to my core.
That being said, we just returned home from a long, tiresome, blissful "vacation." Because I have had about 5 days off between semesters the last 2 years and because Dustin started up a small business and seriously could NOT take off work for more than four hours at a time, we haven't seen the Pacific Northwest for 2 1/2 years. It still felt like home crossing over the 205 bridge and even though everything has changed... nothing has changed at the same time.
We left our house on Friday, August 2nd and headed straight to Bear Lake (Baby Bear Lake, as Jack calls it) where we spent Friday-Sunday at the Miller immediate Family Reunion. We ate delicious food, swam, played on the boats and jet ski's, and talked and talked about nothing and everything.
We got to my parent's house on Sunday at 11pm and spent the next four days picking blackberries and making 12 pints of blackberry jam, celebrating 3 Birthdays, school-clothes shopping in Portland, eating at Burgerville (multiple times), playing at some parks, going to the beach (eating at Mo's), spending 6 hours at OMSI, spending time on NW 23rd with my long-lost bestie's, and Dustin even got in a couple of long bike rides at sea level elevation.
My sister, Rachel, got married on Friday up at the Alderbrook Resort, South Puget Sound area. The wedding was beautiful and the weather was perfect. It was a good learning opportunity to teach our children (*ahem, ourselves) about what to do when you see 4 forks and 3 knives and 2 spoons in front of you. There were so many courses I can't even remember some of them. But we loved the clams, muscles, tri-tip steak, roasted vegetables, gnocchi, and all the drink we could handle. Lillie's favorite part was the dance floor where she earned herself two blisters! That is how fun it was.
We stayed at a large fancy lake house for Friday and Saturday nights. Saturday we drove to Seattle only to find that the 405 was closed which made I5 INSANE. We spent the afternoon at the American Girl Place (not
as cool as LA, but still incredible for any doll-lover) and after my mom took the kids back via ferry, Dustin and I enjoyed our long-awaited 7th Anniversary date at the Mariner's Hall of Fame game where Ken Griffey Jr. was inaugurated as the seventh member. All of the Hall-of-Famers were there including Randy Johnson, Jay Beuner, etc, and we were in heaven during the ceremony before the game began. Besides the lady in front of me slithering straight sauerkraut into her mouth for about 10 minutes, it was awesome.
After our never-ending drive home via I-90 (15 1/2 hours), we were surprised to find we had both gained weight, but not really surprised at the same time. Thankfully we found out that the majority of that was water weight (if you had only seen how swollen my feet and ankles were. They had rolls. Actual rolls.) but it's still motivation enough to start buying Yoplait Light and fat free milk for a while. The next time I hop on the scale at the Doctor's office is going to be a doozie, my friends.
The funniest smile I think she's ever made.
