Well, I'm back…which might interest you if you knew I was gone. That's right, I've been on vacation for a while. We took a trip out to Idaho, Utah, Colorado, and other interesting western states. We were going out for three family reunions, all of which were on my side of the family. My family is Mormon, and so there are a lot of them. For example, at the one for my mom's parents and all their offspring there were 63 relations, and there were still some grandkids missing. My immediate family members tried to scare my husband beforehand by saying things like, "it's a good thing you guys got married before you came out to the reunion, or you might have been too scared to go through with it." Of course people were acting pretty normally when we were there, so he didn't really get the full brunt of it and now thinks that WE'RE crazy.

My brother was trying to talk his girlfriend into coming. This is a girl he's been dating for 7-8 months or so now. Perhaps it's a good time to introduce her to his parents, but the whole extended family? I can't really imagine wanting to meet a hundred of any of my boyfriends' weird relatives at that point in the relationship. Heck, meeting one or two of their weird friends was more than enough for me, so I wasn't surprised when she decided not to come. Apparently she said she needed to work or something, but I'm not buying it. Still, it would have been interesting to meet her. This is Brett's first real relationship. He also went on his first formal recently, and he brought pictures. The poor guy's tux jacket came down to his knees, and he paid $150 to rent it. Still, he looked pretty cute and I'm glad to see that he is getting somewhat of a life. It is amazing how much he has changed since he has gone away to college. He used to be this weird little kid who would do things like ask me what the title of the 51st episode of Star Trek was, and then imply I was the stupidest person on earth when I didn't know. (I really really hope that he doesn't do that to his girlfriend.) Now he's grown a goatee, gotten a California tan, has lots of friends, and is probably ten times as cool as me. And I'll bet he still knows the title of the 51st episode of Star Trek.

In a similar respect, it was really strange to see a lot of my cousins that I haven't seen in a while. A lot of the ones I remember as little kids are teenagers now. And then there's a whole bunch that I've never even met before. I don't know how my grandma manages to recognize them all, let alone remember their names.

I wonder what the family reunions will be like in 20 years or so. I get a little teary-eyed thinking about it. (As I get older, I get sappier...I even cry at sentimental songs on the radio now.)

We also had fun with nature on the way out. We stopped in Nebraska and went on a horseback ride up into the buttes. (I love that word…buttes.) In Wyoming we set up our campsite in the dark and in the middle of a swarm of biting ants that liked to jump, blitzkrieg style, off the tree above the picnic table while the rest of the troops crawled inside our socks. Just about every piece of camping equipment we own got sprayed with Raid that night. In Idaho we camped at Bear Lake, which is very beautiful, but gave me an ear infection when I swam in it. And because of the drought we didn't even get to have a campfire. (Pyromania is the best part of camping.) Thankfully on the way back, Christian's boss offered to get us a nice hotel room in return for technical support at her conference in Vail, Colorado. Hopefully someday I'll become a professor and get to spend the state's money on conferences at ski resorts.

Well, in closing, I give you a funny picture that I stole off the internet several years ago. I don't even remember from where. (If it's yours…please don't sue.) Later I'll have some pretty vacation pictures to put up.