uPdaTE tiMe...

So it's been quite a while since I've really given a good, thorough update on my blog. Actually, I can't remember when the sole purpose of a post was to give an update on life! So here goes!

Spring was busy for Nathan and I. We had youth in some evenings, and life in the other! Thinking back, I'm not sure exactly what we were busy with, aside from work, but I remember that we were really looking forward to summer when life would slow down a bit and we could enjoy long summer evenings playing tennis and having fires with friends.

So now it's summer. More than halfway done July. We haven't had a fire yet. We haven't played tennis yet. We've only been at home for 10 sleeps since summer has begun! The day after grad (we HAD to be around to see our youth graduate) we packed up and left for holidays at 6am. We drove 19 hours to Idaho Falls where we spent our first night of vacation. The next morning we got back in the car and drove another 14 hours where we camped just outside Reno. (It's a beautiful place, compared to the dessert we drove through that whole day!) Then, the next day, we began to drive only a few hours a day and see the sights. We spent a couple days on the beach, but it was cold, so we ended up wandering through tourist shops and walking down the beach in pants and hoodies. It was relaxing, but not quite the beach experience that we were hoping for! We also had fun taking great pictures all along the way!

The next real stop was Las Vegas. We camped a night in the dessert between the beach and Vegas, but all I have to say about that is that the "oasis-like" campground that we found only got down to about 30 degrees celcius at night and was already 32 degrees at 8am when we pulled out again! Whew...what a warm experience! I don't recommend it, unless you enjoy "glistening" in the sun. Vegas was an interesting experience. I expected it to be obvious that people were gambling away their life's savings and expected the feeling of depression to be quite strong. Now, I'm sure people were gambling away all their money and I'm sure that causes lots of depression, but mostly it just seemed big and huge and fake. There's nothing natural about Vegas. Everything is concrete and lights and man-made. And it was HOT. I'm sure it was up to at least 45 degrees celcius while we were there. We walked in and out of casinos all along the strip just to escape the heat. But while it was warm, I would take that dry, dessert heat over more humid, less temperature heat any day! It was hot, but not hard to breathe. It just felt like your skin was literally burning, like standing too close to a fire. I've decided that I'd rather just burn my skin and be able to breathe, than choke on the thick air and still die of a sunburn. We didn't strike it rich in Vegas, but for a $3 invetment into slots, we had our share of fun. At one point, we were up 23 cents, so we actually had $3.23 of fun, for a $3 cost. Pretty good deal!

After Vegas, we had a few more longer days of driving. We headed home across Colorado and Nebraska. We almost couldn't handle the humidity through Nebraska because we were so used to the dessert, but we made it. We decided to detour through Minneapolis on the way home and spent an evening at IKEA and Mall of America. An evening was definitely enough. Nathan and I both enjoy shopping the same way...wander through, buy what you buy, and get out. None of this all day in the same mall stuff for us. I love that I am so compatible with my husband when it comes to shopping! How many women can say that?

The next day, we drove through Albertville. There are a bunch of Outlet stores there and we found some good deals. Then we headed on to Grand Forks, which is only a short distance from home, but we figured if we spent our last night there in a hotel, we would finish our vacation relaxed and that would be alot nicer than ending with a long day of driving and arriving home dead tired. So that was our holidays. Best holidays of my life, I'm pretty sure. I'd love to do it again, but I'm kinda sick of driving. At least it took a good 50-60 hours of driving before I/we got sick of it! By then we were almost home!

This past weekend, we took a bunch of youth to Sonshine, a Christian music festival. It was fun. Good weather. Good music. Good people to hang out with. And that brings us to today. For the next couple weeks, we are still pretty booked up. Nathan leaves for camp speaking in two days and is gone until Sunday. Then he heads otu again on Wednesday for another two days of speaking. Then, he's home for two days and then we leave again for a week of leading VBS in St Laurent with a group of youth. But then, when that's done, we're HOME!!! We'll be home for a whole month before heading off to Saskatchewan for Nathan to take a seminary class at Bethany...but we'll not think about that quite yet. We'll just enjoy being at home for a couple weeks. Enjoy our bed. Enjoy our house. Enjoy our puppy. Enjoy life and maybe enjoy some of those long summer evenings with friends around a fire or playing tennis. Who knows?