The End of a Grand Adventure

Since we last checked in, we have gone through four time zones (a night in Columbus, a night in Lincoln (where we were lucky enough to see Micah and share a hotel room), a night in Salt Lake, and then flying to California the next morning), and two countries (a visit to Mexico while in California). Between driving back to Utah, flying to a family reunion at Oceanside, coming back for my brother Joe's wedding, each of us getting a nasty stomach flu, and getting back to Provo for a full week of orientating the new 1st year MPA students, oh, and moving . . . the last two weeks have been a wild ride. It's been great, but we do look forward to a steady routine in Provo this year. Little Abe has been the best! Even when he throws up, he just smiles, points at balls and shouts, "Ba!" calls for one of his mamas (he calls Ariel and me "Mama"), and moves on. We're planning a future reel of Abe doing the signs and other tricks he's learned. Stay tuned.

We also celebrated our third anniversary and Ariel's 24th B-day in the last weeks as well. There's clearly too much to catch up on with this post. Here's a smattering of pictures from the last weeks. Let the good times roll!

We'll sure miss the Evans family! Abe misses his sisters and brother a whole lot! Living with them offered the best of fun, food, and company. Thanks for everything! As you can see, Neil and I became particularly close over the summer (note the hands).

Eating crab at the Chesapeake Bay one week . . .

Drinking horchata in Tijuana the next.

And of course checking fanmail in the motels on the way.

Congratulations to Joe and Melissa! What a fantastic addition to the family she is! Looking forward to kicking it with you more back East next year!

Lots of cousin time, both in California and in Utah! Yay for Sammy and Hammie!

We're glad to be back in the security of the Rockies, but we will miss beautiful Virginia! It's been quite a summer. From Hawaii to D.C. to Oceanside to Salt Lake. Thanks to the generosity of our Marshall and Galli parents, the Evans family, GmaV and Grumpy--you made it a memorable adventure of a summer. We love you all! A lot!

A final note: we will miss Richard as he studies at Rice in Texas, Joe and Melissa in Virginia, and Abby when she leaves to serve in Brasilia. The seed of Stephen scatters across the earth. What could he expect with ten kids? And of course, we continue to miss the Reesors in California and the Flemings in Indiana.