Travelogue: Some Time Away, Some Time Here But Lots and Lots of Family Time

The last two weeks have been busybusybusy for us.  We had some big, very special family events; 6 birthdays (some more or less belated), a graduation, a wedding, 2 receptions, 1 wedding anniversary and very sadly, a funeral.  There was a lot of cake to be eaten, even a turkey!, two dozen Krispy Kremes, thousands of pictures snapped (mostly not by us, for once), lots of 'helloiloveyouitsbeentoolong' hugs followed by 'goodbyeiloveyouitsbeentooshort' hugs, loads of hastily done laundry (as in, 'ohshootthedressIneedtoweartomorrowisdirtyandstillpackedinmysuitcase'), many soggy tissues from tears shed in happiness and sorrow and many, many shared laughs.

We were in Albuquerque for 5 days, home for 1 day, in Lincoln for 4 days and home again on Memorial Day and then unexpectedly sick and (trying to) work(ing) for 3 days before the next wave of family events.
We had a wonderful time on each leg of our trip and will have some very good memories from this time.

Some of my personal highlights have been:

• Sharing a cheese plate with Ryan that included a cheese that "tastes like a haunted house".  His words, not mine.  The man has the heart of an English major.  I've known it all along.
• The giddy "I'm home!!!!!!!!!" feeling when the plane touched down in Albuquerque. 

Albuquerque

• Hearing my aunts and uncles reminisce about my grandpa who died when my parents were only newlyweds.
• The day I spent roadtripping with my husband and cousin through beautiful mountain roads and towns, ending with a visit to my grandpa's grave site in a beautiful national cemetery.

Haagen Dazs in the Santa Fe plaza

• The look on my brother-in-law's face as his bride was coming to him down the aisle.
•  The quick and tearful (on my part) hug I shared with my new sister-in-law moments after she became a Mrs.
• RUNNING (in heels) to see the "fireworks" that turned out to be real and not a ruse to get the newlyweds out to see their decorated car...
• Sitting in our bathtub with every single pillow we own in a heap beside me, waiting for the insta-almost-tornado to be over and texting my sister updates from the radio.
• Grilling for my mother-in-law's birthday and then having all the siblings sitting around for a cozy after-supper chat.

There were infinitely many beautiful and dear moments from this last week and I'm so glad for each of them and glad for the family I have.

But my introverted self is craving serious alone time...maybe like the rest of the summer...after the next couple weekends, of course!  We have more very special family/friend things to look forward to soon!