Catching Up

It just seems like there is never really a time to "catch up" and "take a breath" anymore! I have all these great intentions that don't really pan out! But I decided, "Hey, it's 4:00 in the morning, what the heck am I doing wasting this valuable time...I should be blogging!"

Over Spring Break this year, amazingly enough, all three kids had the same days off from school. Since I think the only time I have ever seen PJ "guilt-ridden" (he sooo didn't grow up Mormon!) has been over the fact that he had not been back to Iowa in 5 years, we decided to head to the Midwest for Spring Break! Because really doesn't everyone Spring Break in Iowa?

PJ loaded up the car and started his adventure with Patrick and Mary to drive to Texas to see his sister and her husband, Colleen and Dale. Where we (this is PJ) got to stay in their beautiful new house. On Saturday, after a huge breakfast, we headed out to the World Famous Sweetwater Rattlesnake Round Up, where we saw way too many snakes. It was fun. Mary got a Rattle Snake Head and Patrick got a hat to add to his hat collection. Unfortunately, after waiting in line for 25 minutes to takes some local fried Rattler, they ran out! So we had to settle for sausage on a stick instead (and it was very good!). Even ran into a guy who worked at ISU. After this we went back and Patrick got to shoot a gun for the first time. He shot Dales' Snake gun (a 410 shotgun) at a can. It was fun. We also got to feed all of Colleen's pets - four horses, seven bull calves, two dogs, two cats and six kittens. Mary was in heaven holding Smoothies new baby kittens! It was a lot of fun.

Noticeably absent are Elli and I, but through planned scheduling conflicts...ha ha ha...Elli I and flew to Kansas City on Tuesday since PJ had some meetings there that day, to catch up. Although we were sad to miss the "Rattlesnake Roundup"in Texas...we were glad we could at least meet them in Kansas.

I have really never been to this part of the country so to appreciate it more, Elli and I went to the library that weekend and checked out some books on Iowa. It was interesting to learn more about where PJ came from. Elli's favorite tidbit was that Ashton Kutcher, the meat-pants guy from Cheaper by the Dozen, was from there! (Fort Dodge is the home of Composer Karl King and the Cardiff Giant. We also drove close to the birth place of John Wayne in Winterset - where Pig Boy is from).

Once PJ picked us up from the airport, it was a short hour and a half drive to see his niece, Heather and her wonderful family in Ankeny, IA. I love Heather. She is so sweet and has the funniest personality. Elli thought it was so funny how much she looked and sounded like her mom, Mary Kay, who has been to our house in Scottsdale a few times.

After our quick visit to Heather's it was back on the road to finally get to see where PJ had the opportunity to grow up into the wonderful man he is now, Fort Dodge, IA! Patrick and Mary stayed with his mom while he went to Kansas City, so he was happy to get back to the kids. I was very excited to see his childhood home and experience more of his mom's amazing cooking. He grew up in this great little town where people know each other and stay in contact. His mom has rented the same home from her next door neighbor since before I was born! Although I am sure his mom was ready to have us out of her "space" and not have to cook for us anymore, we sure enjoyed it! Those Iowans sure know how to cook!

We were able to go about 45 minutes away to the farm in Palmer where PJ spent most of his summers from the time he was 9 until he graduated from high school (The Poppens - Allan is shown on the tractor with me). What a great place and great people he had around him. PJ showed us where he helped with the pigs and the chickens. They still have one pig...and that's "Some Pig!" They also frighteningly enough let PJ take each of the kids around on a ride in the John Deere tractor! My dad would have been in John Deere heaven at this place.

We sadly left Fort Dodge after a few days and drove to Ames where we visited PJ's alma mater Iowa State and were able to see his old stomping grounds. It was a beautiful campus and lots of fun. We then headed to Des Moines to see where he worked at Principal and even got to see and visit his old neighbor from where Patrick and Mary were born. We drove to Drake where PJ got his MBA and saw a few of the sights from there.

The following couple of pictures were taken at the new Iowa State Alumni Center.

We then headed to stay with a couple of PJ's friends, Mark (BoBo) and DeAnne Wiltse. They live in this great house in a great neighborhood outside of Des Moines. I can;t thank them enough for such wonderful hospitality and such a great time! They have 2 kids and a great kid-friendly house that was a blast for everyone. I kept telling PJ how "space" jealous I was of their home.

They took us to this fun restaurant where when the kids ordered shakes, the waitress would pour it into a cup the they had placed on their head! It was so fun to watch the kids have a blast. The next night the Wiltses' had a few of PJ's old friend's over (Ken & Kristin Sherman, Lang & Linda Wightman, Pig & Cindy Mitchel). It was so great to see PJ so happy to be around his friends. They were all such great people and it was so wonderful to finally get to spend sometime with them.

The next morning it was time to start heading back...the part I had been dreading! Over 24 hours in the car over 2 days. Mind you, I am not a "road trip" kind of girl...throw that on top of "I'm pregnant" and what a nightmare this was going to be! But to tell you the truth, other than the look I got from PJ every time I said I had to go potty, it was a much better than expected drive back. We stopped in Oklahoma City to see the Memorial which was an incredible experience, and made our stop for the night in Amarillo, Texas. Who would think it would be hard to get a hotel room in Amarillo, TX? Holy Cow!!! Luckily we were able to get a suite at the luxurious Drury Inn & Suites!

I had purchased a little notebook for Elli before the trip for her to keep as a travel journal to write down what she enjoyed about the trip and she figured out that we had been through 7 states on this trip...Arizona, Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico. It was a great experience for all of us.

While we were gone, my niece Carly got engaged to someone who will fit perfectly into our crazy family, Jordan Checketts! She will be married on August 13th and I am praying that I have this baby in June so I have time to recuperate to make it back not only for the wedding, but my 20th high school reunion as well.

When we got back PJ and I went in for my checkup and everything looks great with our baby girl. And finally last night, after a downright crazy work-week, we found out my niece Melissa gave birth to her beautiful Eva Jean Larsen. I can"t wait to see how she topped her awesome son Anders!

So I am signing off. My allergies have subsided enough that I almost feel like I could get another hour of sleep before the day starts.

We miss you all.