Wow, I've let an entire month go past without a single post! Now that I've learned how to post pictures, I feel like I'm not living up to my potential to post without any. But we've been so busy we haven't been able to download any photos and process them yet!
This past month we have had quite a bit of travel, and I'm looking forward to telling and showing you all where we have been and what we have been up to. Our first trip was to Hamilton, Ontario in Canada to visit the wonderful McArthur - Wilson clan. Andrew and Joanna are among our most beloved friends, and it had been far too long between visits. Visiting with them is like visiting home, we always feel so relaxed and welcome. Galen and Raynham are both taller, cuter, smarter, and even more charming than ever. They hold such a special place in our hearts.
After this relaxing interlude, we headed to the wilds of Montana for a week. The first part of the week we got to enjoy Glacier National Park. It has been by far one of our favorite parks. It is full of stunning vistas, and we tried to take in as much as we could in three days. I got to fulfill one of my major life to-dos when we went fly fishing on the Flathead river. We hiked somewhere around 20 miles in 3 days, and there was still more we both wanted to do.
From Glacier we headed back to Great Falls, where Jay's family was awaiting us. We got to spend some time with our grandmother, dad, step-mom, and brother and sister-in-law when everyone gathered for our niece's wedding. Jay and I have been flying Jess (our niece) in for a week-long visit with us every summer for the past 7 years. This is the first summer we haven't had her with us. It has been exhilirating watching her grow into a beautiful young woman from a little girl. This year she graduated from high school, and decided to get married. She and her new husband Tom are moving to Germany as I type this post, where Tom is stationed with the Air Force. While we feel that she has grown up far too quickly to suit us, we love her and wish her much happiness. We have already decided that next summer we will be heading to Germany to see her. So watch out Jess, you haven't gotten rid of us yet!
Between all of this we have both been very busy with work. I got an NIH NRSA award that will fund the next 2 years of my post-doc, and Jay has been working some lucrative deals in the business world. At least I assume that's what all those phone calls, emails, business meetings, and so on mean. And then there is the usual work associated with travel, we are behind in laundry, house work, shopping, you name it!
In fact, some of our friends have had children in the last month without me getting a single baby gift in the mail! A big welcome to the world to Lily Fox and Amelia Lerch - I am looking forward to many pictures. But no worries, I still have another 5 children on the way to buy gifts for... wow, the world is really growing!!
