There And Back Again

So far summer has been a blast and filled with crazy activities.

I have approximately two cavities and one is from being negligent in flossing. I am ashamed.

My parents and sister came up for two weeks and we had lots of fun. We saw my dad's favorite cousin (mine too, :) You love me the most now, don't you Wendy), ate good Mexican, found an awesome bakery in downtown AF, had fun with the Nursery aged kids in church, and went to Strawberry Days. Mmm, those strawberries and cream stands are the best. Thank you PG for having such a wonderful basis for a town carnival/fair/rodeo.

We just got back from Knoxville, TN. I am in love. Brian grew up in a small town west of Knoxville and I just wanted to stay there forever. Yes, it's a small town, but yes, I love small towns. Plus Brian's friends, and my new friends, live there and they are amazing. I would use them to shelter myself in my romantic notion of what small town life is. Old houses, lots of Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians and those who attend the 7 factions of The Church of Christ, nowhere to really go, hicks to make fun of, lots of green, ridiculously huge lakes and rivers - doesn't that sound fantastic? Well, it should.

While in Tennessee we saw Brian's old hometown and the Kroger and Food City and the area where the rich people live and saw the trailer parks and the lake and river that have lots of ash in it from the steam plant. Then we went east to Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge where we enjoyed a Saturday at Dollywood and downtown Gatlinburg. I had a lot of fun. I think Sean did, too - there were a lot of interesting people to look at. And lots of fiddling groups around the town. We were definitely in the Smoky Mountains. Then we went to Knoxville and spent some fun times with Brian's brother, his wife and their child. They got me liking some new games and addicted to a new book series. Aren't they so kind? :)

Sean did great on the flight there, but the flight back was awful. There was much gnashing of teeth and screaming and stuffing food in his tired mouth. When the plane landed in SLC there was much rejoicing and praising God and His mercifulness in not making the flight last forever.

And now we are here. At home. Ready to celebrate Independence Day and avoid cleaning our house. I will post pictures when I'm done avoiding things I need to do, like downloading pictures from our camera to our computer.