We're Back!

Well, to all you readers out there - all 12 of you - I apologize after-the-fact for my lengthy no-warning hiatus. Alec finished up school on the 9th, so we left town to see family and friends before he had to be back to work. It was a three-legged flight [cheaper than driving!] that gave us plenty of time for the stuff that really mattered. We spent 10 wonderful days in Phoenix, followed by 4 relaxing days in Heber and 3 too-short days in Logan. Here are some highlights from the trip:

Ethan doing computer stuff with Dad.



Ethan hanging out with Grandpa.



Cousin Savannah REALLY wanted Ethan to play puzzles.



Just another bath picture, but the look on his face is priceless... and you can see the water in motion - pretty cool, eh?


Meeting our friends, the Call's.



Napping with Mom [finally!]



Uncle Austin's high school graduation.



Meeting Ethan's great aunt Helen.



Uncle Jason being a GREAT babysitter who let Ethan sleep [really!] while Mom and Dad packed.



Mom's view from her window seat... Southwest really should pay her and make this into an ad...



Having fun on the plane.



Meeting Uncle Austin.



Chillin' like a villain with Grandpa LaBau.



Game time with the boys.



Ethan's new favorite pastime: chewing on his bib and fingers.



Wishing Mom would stop taking so many pictures.

A City of Culture & Friends

So... After posting last night, I remembered a few things I had meant to include but forgot about...

Living in Kansas City has really been good to Alec and me. There is so much culture and so many things to do here. Over the last 3 weeks, we've been able to see a show a week - and luckily for us, we have connections so we haven't had to pay.

First we saw The Lieutenant of Inishmore which the university did as a co-production with one of the theatres in town - the Unicorn. (No, they don't do children's theatre). It was refreshing to see new faces and new content than what we were used to in Logan.

The following week, we attended Who's Afraid of Virginia Woofle?, which was being produced by the professional theatre company one of Alec's professors founded. There was some pretty amazing talent that night! It was definitely worth staying up late for!

And this last week, we went to the Kansas City Rep's production of Doubt. Ever since it came out in 2004, we've been wanting to see it. When we took our spring break trip to New York that year, a bunch of our classmates went and we felt really left out. Well, this one was worth the wait. I didn't love the actor playing the priest - not because of what he was accused of - but just because... Although the actress playing Sister Aloysius made up for it many times over. She was amazing!

We are so lucky to be here. It was definitely the right decision for Alec to continue his schooling here. The program is wonderful and the opportunities are endless.

***

Today, we also had the chance to see some old friends of ours. Melissa (Thorseson) Godfrey, who graduated with me, and her husband Matt were in town to see the Garth Brooks concert (jealous, jealous, jealous) and we met up for lunch. We haven't seen or talked to each other since 2005, so it was fun to see them. They're living in Omaha, a mere 2.5 hours away, and they're also expecting a baby at the first of the year, so we'll have to make it a point to see them more often.

As I was getting today's picture off the camera, I came across these. This is from when my sister, Erin, and her husband, Matt, came down from Des Moines over Conference weekend. Yes, that is both of our couches crammed into our office - soon to be nursery - because we had to watch it streaming online because we didn't have the right channel in our cable package that we thought we did.... Those were good times!