Vacay

Hey all! Yes, we made it the 2 month mark without blogging! WOO!... (I am writing that in the hopes that you will think our break from blogging was intentional... did it work?)

We sure have been busy (NO, NO BABIES YET). The month of March flew by as we got settled in with our new car, new furniture in main living room, cleaning out plumbing lines, and working working working! I am sure some other stuff happened, too.

April was filled with visitors, auctions (we got 1/4 of a cow!), visiting others, and working working working!

We decided to take a vacay to rest from our exhausting lives. First up was Oklahoma City (Jeff's cousin was getting married). Our arrival in OKC was certainly notable. We decided to take Duncan with us on our 10 day whirlwind tour of the midwest, and our hotel in OKC would not allow pets. We had to drop him off in Doggy Daycare... the only problem was everything had been booked online and took us by surprise when we arrived in OKC. For instance, I probably would not have selected that particular daycare knowing that windows would be barred in the neighborhood, or knowing there would be that many broken down and busted out cars would be sitting there. In any case, it was a tearful goodbye as we left him in the garage of a shady looking establishment. I spent all weekend making Jeff call them to ensure he had not been sold, had all of his teeth replaced with gold or silver, and that they were actually taking care of him.

When I finally was able to stop crying (mostly) upon arrival to the hotel, I promptly locked our only set of keys in the car. Welcome to the first day of our vacation.

As we were checking in at the hotel, me with tears still streaming and Jeff looking upset because of the car issue, Jaye mentioned we were in town for a wedding and the clerk began looking at me as if to ask if I needed assistance in escaping from a kidnapping. All too funny.

In the end, Duncan was returned to us in perfect condition. He even smelled better! And the grand total for Doggy Daycare for an entire weekend was the same as our KC Doggy Daycare fee for 1 day: $22.00. I am still grateful we were able to get him back before he was sold.

The next leg of our trip included a journey to Western Kansas. Spearville and my folks are great and it was wonderful to spend time with them. Duncan enjoyed the football field next to the house and spent much of the time chasing tennis balls and pondering the meaning of life... or something. He just seemed really happy. I also got to see some of my friends from high school, spend the afternoon in the park with my niece, and beat my Mom in Scrabble a few times. :)

Liberal, KS, aka my birthplace came next. We have been trying to get my baptismal certificate updated since August. Jeff and I decided that we would arrive at the parish of my baptism and remain until the certificate was updated. Boy were we wrong. They would not update it with the materials I had available, and I was not able to get the "necessary" items while there (did you know that a marriage license, even though signed by a priest, would not work as proof of marriage?!... and in fact, neither would the paper mailed from the Archdiocese at the time of marriage indicating that we WERE MARRIED?!). So we spent all to brief a morning there and still dead-ended on getting the certificate completed.

On to Colorado! We spent a wonderful time with Jeff's family in the Denver area, had some wonderful home cooked meals, and even got to see a movie. We met with my cousins 1 evening for dinner and saw the prettiest sunset I think I have ever been privy to.

We then loaded up the car and prepared for a LO-O-O-O-O-O-O-ONG trip home. Overall, I calculated we spent 30 hours in the car simply driving from KC to OKC to Spearville to Liberal to Denver and back to KC. I can't imagine what the total would be if we were to add in all the driving we did while in these locations to go to the wedding, sightsee, and visiting friends and family. I am sure it would probably double!

***Rant alert*** On a connected note, I do believe that when we travel Jeff and I will start holding visiting hours at a public location. For instance, if we are in town from Sunday night to Wednesday, we will be at a restaurant on Monday from 4-8 and Tuesday from 9-2 (maybe not even the 2nd day). Anyone who wants to see us can stop by, and if they are not able to make it we will be happy to see them next time. I became pretty frustrated with the amount of driving to see others. People who lived out of town and drove through where we were could not be bothered to stop, but we were expected to then drive out of town to see them, tacking on an hour in additional travel time (and time away from our family). Yep, I do believe we will be letting people come to us in the future. We spent waaaaaay too much time traveling during our travels to spend time away from our families for people who would not take the time to stop and see us (other mama in dodge: this is not about you).

In any case, we love all of you, am glad to be back from vacation, and can't wait to see what the future holds. Hope all is well with you and yours. :)