Home Means Nevada To Me

I'm in Nevada right now. I'm sitting in the truck wash that my brother owns and my other brother manages. That's a little bit unsettling to me because I still think that my brothers are high school age. It's a nice place though. I'm proud of my brothers (and appreciate the free computer time).

My children are at the elementary school (the same one I attended) participating in the Missoula Children's Theater for the week. It's sort of like a day camp and the kids are learning a play and then they'll perform it on Saturday. (Let me know if you want a ticket...whoever sells the most tickets gets a free t-shirt and Braeden wants to get one.)

We left the clouds behind when we crossed Snoqualmie Pass and I've been deliriously happy with all of this sunshine. The landscape got drier and drier as we drove and now I'm here in the high desert, loving life.

Sunday we celebrated Father's Day together. We had stayed in Boise the previous night (we're way too wimpy to drive all the way in one day). We were dressed in our church clothes and hurrying to make it to Wells in time for church. Breakfast at our hotel was a madhouse so we decided to hit a drive thru somewhere instead. Adam decided to grab some breakfast for everyone except himself--he's that kind of good dad--because he couldn't carry everything. We stopped at Costco in Twin Falls, ID for gas. I took Mark in to the bathroom and bought Adam a hot dog. So there I was in a dress and heels, schlepping around Costco with a hot dog on Sunday morning. It was a first. It was also a first for a Father's Day brunch for Adam. It may become a tradition though and we'll swing into Costco every Father's Day on the way to church for a hot dog and coke. Happy Father's Day.

We all convened at our parents' house after church. Everyone was there except my brother Enoch and his family because his wife is about to give birth. We gave my dad his birthday present early which is a book we compiled of family stories. We sat around and read the stories aloud to each other and laughed and cried and laughed some more. For me, my wickedly funny siblings equate with pure joy. Some of us inherited the crying gene from our tenderhearted dad so we had to read each other's stories instead of our own or we would cry too much. Gathering ourselves up for more of my mom's amazing banana cream pie kept things from getting too sloppy.

Other highlights of the trip (so far) have been painting flowers on my nieces Clarissa and Liberty's bedroom wall, taking early morning walks in the morning sunshine (nothing can top the scent of willows and sagebrush in the morning), watching Emma and Adam walk through the field holding hands while visiting the horses, zooming my nephew Ruben around his house with his arms outstretched like Buzz Lightyear, seeing the glow in Mark's eyes when he returned from my dad's shop with a small piece of metal with "Mark" stamped on it. Mark is named after my dad which is thrilling to no end for Mark. He proudly said, "I got this from MARK in his shop. There were two Marks in the shop."

Later today we're going to Elko to go swimming, go to the museum, then out to dinner at a Basque restaurant. I'm having a dangerously good time. I'm not sure I'll go back to Seattle.

When you're in paradise, why would you leave it?