Vacation!

Joe and I have been working pretty hard this summer and have both been looking forward to a much needed vacation. Joe has been working days at the writing center and nights working on an e-book he and his adviser are putting together. Since my online course has been over, I have been taking care of Lizzie and helping with renovations in the apartment complex where we live. Vacation started August 5. We flew in to SLC and went to Orem to spend a week with Joe's parents. Lizzie did very well on the flights there, sleeping some and playing some and whining just a little. Here are some highlights from that part of our trip:

Emily gets a drastic change in her hairdo:


Lizzie meet lots of family:



We took Lizzie swimming:





Thanksgiving Point



The mountains! Oh the mountains! (And a beautiful Y.)


On August 12, we headed to Idaho. On the way, we stopped in SLC to visit the new Church History Library where Joe's parents work. We also walked around Temple Square to show Lizzie that beautiful edifice.


Here are some highlights from our time in Idaho.

Giving my mom a quilt that I made for her


Playing games with Mama Swen and my niece Amy


Joe did not get to stay long in Idaho. He had to go back down to Utah on the 14 and then fly out on the 15 (Saturday). He had to work the following Monday. The great news is that in the morning before his flight, he went to a comic book signing with Chris Claremont who in the past wrote for the X-men for 15 years. Considering Joe is writing his dissertation on the X-men, this was a great opportunity to create a potential network for future contacts.

After Joe left, Lizzie and I stayed a few more days in Idaho.

More family came in to town.




I spent some time with some great friends. We all had babies within 3 months of each other: Lizzie, Macey, and Hayden. Lizzie is the oldest.


Although I don't know that I'll ever live in a town as small as Paul, Idaho again, I still love going back home and feeling the peace of a quiet countryside. You just don't get many better views of the Magic Valley than from my mom's front yard.


All in all, we had a great time. We love our family and spending time with them. We're sorry it was so short! This was our first vacation with Lizzie. Although we realize that once a parent, always a parent, even when on vacation, we had hoped that vacation would mean more sleeping in and taking naps. Maybe next time.....