Notes from me to you

hello friends...

wow.. i would very much like to post pictures of the amazing trip i've had thus far; however, i'm currently unable to locate the charger for my camera.. so its dead.. argh!

my last visit to de witt was great!!! brother b cruised into town on thursday. we celebrated chloe's birthday then i spent some time in town at jaime m's house. it was shocking to me to hear her little girl call her mommy. i don't know why, she's been a mommy for a while.. i guess maybe because we've been friends since we were young, young kids and she hasn't changed a bit! anyway.. it was great visiting with her, shannon, and cathy.

friday was a busy day with preparing to leave. i did get to have lunch with my grandma m, uncle tom, and aunt mary.

that night dad bought and grilled some great steaks and pork chops. brothers dan and brian were there along with meghan and uncle tom, mom, dad, and chloe. after dinner we had a little bonfire at which we were joined by aunt tracey, uncle murl, karin, hannah, grandma, aunt margo, and fletcher. it was great to spend a little time with everyone before leaving town..

saturday morning i met up at the salon in de witt to see cathy, who works there, her son, caleb, that her mom brought in, jamie and ireland (who was getting a hair cut), and shannon and ella (her daughter). shannon, ella, and i went to the new coffee shop in de witt after that.. i had a GREAT vanilla latte.. if you live in the area and you haven't been.. i highly recommend it! i really enjoyed being able to spend so much time with shannon, too... its been too long!!

brother brian took me to the airport to pick up my rental car on his way out of town.. he's such a great older brother.. sad i won't get to see him as much, either, but its been a great few years of road trips, 56 Hope Road shows, cookouts, dinner, etc..

so i drove the car back to d-town and mom helped me pack it up... hmmm.. yeah.. not so fun..... anyway..

i was sad to leave the farm saturday. though its been 8 years since i've lived there, its been nice to be only a few hours (5-6) away. if you haven't heard me say it already, i'm a big fan of my parents.. I actually thought i'd never leave the mid-west because i wouldn't ever want to be out of driving distance from them.. but the time has come. it isn't as though i love them any less, in fact, quite the opposite as with each year of adulthood, my love, admiration, and respect for them continues to grow. basically, i just realized that they're young and healthy (God-willing) and if there's a time to explore, its now! mom is probably the best friend a girl could ask for, so i'll certainly miss her frequent trips up north and spending time with her when i would head south, but we also talk quite often on the phone and there's a plan in place for her to visit this june. dad will also be in CA for business this summer so we'll get to hang out then and the plan is for mom and dad to come out together sometime, too! :) the CA family is going to love the IA fam! and vise versa!

i went to des moines on saturday and had a fantastic time at friend-leanne's house! leanne is also close friend from high school who now lives in DM with her great husband, scott, and lovely little boy, Will (big fan of that kid, too!). Leanne and Scott hosted a lovely evening with a few other high school friends with whom i've not hung out in years. ah.. it was just beautiful. fruits, veges and appropriate dips, patio, great weather, wine, fire pit, 'smores (or schmores.. however you'd like to say it).. great discussions, laughter, memories, etc.. beautiful..

sunday, leanne, scott, will, and i went to mass together. great service.. beautiful church, homily, community... it was the first time i've fully participated in the mass with leanne. plus, i really enjoyed holding will.. seriously, wait until you see pictures of this kid!

we had a little lunch after mass and went to the des moines river walk and explored down town a bit. later we ate at a fabulous 50's diner.. so fun!

and after an eventful sunday, i took off for omaha, where i picked ingrid up at the airport. we headed for lincoln where we stayed with her beautiful grandma! oh i love this woman! i met her last december at ingrid's brother's wedding. her and i just hit it off so it did the heart good to see her again! she had boxed wine and cheese waiting for us.. along with easter candy and dried fruit as gifts on our beds! she was a great hostess and i wish we could have spent more time with her.. but alas.. we had to get on the road as we had a 10 hour drive ahead of us.

so today we drove from lincoln, ne, to grand junction, co.. where we currently reside. we drove through our first set of mountains today it was beautiful and much less scary than i expected, as the driver. and... when you look out the window of our hotel room.. the mountains are right there!! beautiful.

so i suppose its time to rest.. we did gain an hour in the drive west today.. oh, and we named our rental car, Fival. :)

ingrid's been a great road trip partner.. i'm certainly quite thankful for her presence on this trip!!!

goodnight friends.. and thanks for checking in!!

love
laura