You Don't See That Every Day

Dear Mom, We made it. 11 days. Oregon to Idaho to Utah to Wyoming to Colorado to Montana to Idaho to Washington to Oregon. Over 3000 miles. Our first two days were just driving, hours and hours of driving. There wasn't a lot of "amazing" sights to see but the different terrain was interesting. The endless miles of road construction were not a lot of fun, but being able to drive 70 mph, or 80 in some places, made up for that. We pulled into outskirts of Denver late Friday. The Boy had taken a flight there and arrived a couple of hours earlier. So he and the uncle, aunt and cousins went to dinner. They were nice enough to bring back some ice cream to the hotel for all of us. I was so wiped out from 2 days of travel that I just stayed in watching "Fixer Upper with Little K," while the others went swimming. On Saturday the 'fun' times began. We went up to Red Rocks Amphitheater and took in some touristy action. The theater was pretty incredible. The

Halfway through summer! Here are some of the adventures we've had so far McDowell Creek hike with the whole crew:  And a sweet treat at the end of the trail - Silver Creek Falls - The Boy has to work now, so he doesn't always get to go with us: And no summer is complete without swim lessons: We also had a mini-golf day, but the competition was fierce so we didn't get any photos. We've got loads more planned for the second half of the summer, but I'm afraid we might run out of time before we get it all done. Which means, we'll just have to extend our summer into September .. at least those of us at home can!

Dear Family, By now you've heard the news about our cousin's death. Monday morning when the news reached me I felt like I was punched in the gut. It lasted all day. Even when I went for a run, trying to grip reality in my mind, my stomach clenched and tears rolled. I kept going, just hoping no one going by would notice. (On a plus note it's the furthest I've run in a long time.) This cousin was my best buddy when we grew up. We are both the youngest of ten, girls with older brothers (and sisters) who annoyed us and yet also spoiled us. We were pen pals in different states. We were Bert and Ernie. We spent weeks together in the summer, and camping together holds some of my favorite memories. In high school we started going our separate ways. Our choices in college and beyond took us in opposite directions, but we still managed to talk occasionally. Then she ended up living just 15 miles away from me in our adult years. And yet I still feel like I didn't do e