Week One of Summer Fun

This is my first attempt at blogging from my new phone, which we purchased in large part for this very reason... so here we go.  In the midst of our summer fun, I want to make sure that Jason stays abreast on what he's missing out on. He's hard at work in Iowa while we're enjoying a true summer vacation in Utah. It's no fun that we're apart, but we sure are having fun here.

We started our trip with Jason and had a fun and fast weekend in Colorado, during which I took all of one picture.  The kids had a blast with their four aunties, the four dogs, and the relics from Jason's childhood that must be unearthed during our visits there. We went for Emily's graduation and squeezed in as much family time as we could in the short time we were there. I'll have to see if anyone has pictures of the weekend- Leah's lemonade stand? Dancing in the backyard? GI Joe nation?  I thought for sure I had taken at least a few pictures.

We got settled into my parents house on Sunday and had to say goodbye to Daddy too soon, but we've been having an awful lot of fun since we've gotten here.

My brother Jared and his girlfriend Jen took us hiking up to a waterfall in the mountains the first day we were here. I was surprised that Adam, my energizer bunny, was dragging his feet a bit on the steepest part of the incline. I guess the rolling corn fields of Iowa haven't quite conditioned us for the Rockies.

We are especially loving being free from the confines of our apartment, although I continue to feel painfully aware of just how much my kids love to run, jump, climb and yell. Unlike our apartment neighbors, I don't think my parents mind it too much, just when it's near the breakables or at the very moment the sun comes up. Kids will be kids, I suppose.

We had a great time fishing and canoeing last weekend.

And I felt like a preteen again when us bigs girls went to see Taylor Swift in concert.

There is plenty of Memory Lane to be covered while we are here, like checking out our first apartment-

And making our way up to Bridal Veil Falls, a trek that was made a thousand times more exciting when we met up with our good Indiana friends the Benches.

There are lots of happy moments at Grandma's house-

And a few more outings here and there-

We (mostly me) spend a fair amount of time missing Jason and wishing he could be here with us. The kids' recognition of his absence is mostly manifest in their clamoring over other grown men. Emma often points and yells out "A daddy! A daddy!"  It's hard to be apart, but when I think about what's waiting for us in Iowa (a house undone, an apartment unwelcoming, and a husband unavailable- he sent me a text at 7:30 tonight that read "I still have two more hours of planting" and one last week that said "I'm going to Illinois to plant, will be back tomorrow late"- well then I'm even more glad that we have a place to be and adventures to be had and memories to be made in Utah.