8.10.2008

Coming Home

"There's nothing half so pleasant as coming home again." ~Margaret Elizabeth Sangster

Natalie, the kiddoes and I had a wonderful trip to Lethbridge to celebrate my parents' 60th anniversary and my dad's 85th birthday. We arrived later than everyone else simply because of scheduling -- it was not possible to leave here before we finished up with the play. That made it so that we only really just ran into a couple of family members and wished there had been more time with each of them: Elizabeth, Bruce and baby, Sarah, Rachel, Adam and Tib, but it was one of those things where we just did the best we could do.

It was great to re-connect with family members that we love dearly and miss more now because we've had some time with them again. Mostly for me it was wonderful to see my parents and reflect on what great examples and friends they are to all of us. They made arrangements for all of us to stay at a hotel in Lethbridge that has its own water park -- and the kids loved it. Even I got a lot of time on the waterslide and had a blast. We had a fun day up at Waterton, a place I love to be, and enjoyed the beauty there.

We had time to visit with my sister Val, her husband Keith and their family, with my brother Brian and his wife Karen, and with my brother Ross, his wife Lisa and their family. These are all people I love dearly and it just reinforced my gratitude for the gospel and the knowledge we have that we can be together forever. I love that!

After all that visiting and catch-up time, I was so glad to be home again. It's so nice to be able to visit and catch up on the lives of loved ones, but it's wonderful to be back home. Our son Chris started his MBA this past week through UT, so he was here doing that and I got to see him for a few minutes yesterday before he headed back to Dallas. We got to visit with our Matthew last night over dinner, and we watched Chris Cottam compete in the Austin Ice Cream Festival ice cream eating contest [he won last year, and nearly did it again this year -- and now he really won't want vanilla ice cream ever again!], and had a few minutes with Chris's brother Sam and sister-in-law Jessica. All in all, this has been a great family week.

But I love being home again.

[photo via flickr]

12 comments:

Christina said...

Sounds like you had a great week, but I'm glad you're home, too! Your weeks have been packed and left little time for blogging. It will be nice to have you back. :)

Ashley said...

spending time with family is the best. welcome home!

Rebecca said...

Welcome back! I'm glad you had a good time!

hoLLy said...

so glad you are back! sounds like a wonderful trip. can't wait to hear more(and see pics!)

Nat Lud said...

Welcome home! Hope you get to relax a bit now. Sounds like a lot of fun. Nothing beats going home!

The Liddells said...

Sounds like you had a great vacation. You definately deserved it! The play was so awesome. I absolutely loved it. I wish I could have gone to more of the shows!

Natalie Scott said...

There's no place like home! So glad you're back. What a busy summer it's been, no? Hopefully now you can take it a little easier ;)

Mia said...

I am glad that you got to go and have a good time and see some family. I am also glad that you are back home!

Unknown said...

it was a great week! thanks for taking us with you! we're glad we didn't miss out!

jaacs said...

I love that you are back!!! I'm so glad you had such a great trip but am selfish and glad that we get to have you back in the blogosphere again. :)

Hacking it up said...

Sounds like you had a great trip! Maybe NOW you can take a break!!

Marilee said...

Oh my goodness! You drove right past my house? When you were driving home from Waterton(hopefully before dark) did you see the white block house on the left as you went through Leavitt???? That's me! Were we really that close? Crazy!