Family Coming to Visit

W00t! I'm really excited. My brother David and his daughter Shelby are coming out to visit us for a few weeks at the end of the month. David and I always have a good time whether we're discussing computers, movies, Magic (yes, The Gathering,) Dungeons or Dragons, or whatever. Shelby is a great kid, very artistic and deep. I'm going to take a week off to spend some time with them and show them the sites with the girls. After David goes home in a week, Shelby will stay with us for another two. That's going to give her and our girls plenty of time to bond, which is very important to me.

The thing I miss most about living away from Utah is my family. It wasn't until after I got off my mission in 1997 that I really started forming and repairing bonds with my siblings. Stacy and I met that year and were married the next. As happens naturally in a new marriage, relationships outside are neglected a little bit. I may have been guilty of neglecting them more than I should have, I'll admit, but we still got together and had good times while we lived there.

When Stacy and I moved away in late 2000, she was four months pregnant with our first child, Vicki. I felt guilty taking her and our unborn child away from the nest. We have both realized after the fact that it was very good for our family and our relationship with each other. However, our relationships with our extended families have waxed and waned more than they would have if we still lived there. I'm more worried about the affect it has on my daughters and their relationships with their cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, etc.

We visit Utah as often as possible. Less now, we have rising airline ticket and gasoline prices to thank for that. Whenever we're out there, we try to split our time fairly between all of the family and friends we left behind. Some get more than others, especially those that seek us out, but we still make the effort to see everyone. That's one reason why we usually need a vacation from the "vacation" back to Utah.

We feel very blessed when family comes to visit us here. There is time to really develop relationships and enjoy each others' company in a way that's just not possible when we go to Utah. While we understand that it's sometimes just as hard, if not harder, for some of our family to come visit us here than it is for us to visit there, Stacy and I wish everyone would do it at least once. The invitation is always open.

In case you can't tell, I'm really looking forward to David and Shelby's visit this month. I'm also looking forward to Stacy's grandparents visiting in September. They've become my grandparents over the years, too. They even tried to coincide their visit with my birthday. How sweet is that?

Family is important. You've only got one, so treat it with care and love.

Tenth Anniversary Adventures

Anniversary time! Stacy and I had our big tenth this weekend. I took the weekend off so we could spend some time alone together. This will be the first time since Vicki was a baby (now seven) that we've been away from the kid(s). We headed out to Chincoteague Island on the VA shore Friday night. The island's main claim to fame is bordering Asseteague Island, home of herds of wild ponies. While we didn't get to see any of the ponies because of smoke from some mainland wildfires, we had an excellent time.

We stayed at Miss Molly's Inn, a bed and breakfast in an old Victorian mansion. Marquerite Henry wrote the Newbury Award-winning novel about the Chincoteague horses, Misty of Chincoteague, while staying there. Having made our reservations late, we ended up in one of the attic rooms, but even that was great. The whole house was out of square, walking up the stairs was like being in a V8 commercial. The furnishings were antique and books were everywhere. In other words, a place specifically designed to piss off kids. Fantastic!

The next day, we went to the beach. Having perhaps the most alabaster skin this side of a bad poem, Stacy and I opted for the beach umbrella and SPF you-can-swim-in-the-sun-with-this-stuff-on sun block. Stacy insisted on bringing buckets and shovels to build a masterpiece in the sand. Unbeknownst to me, Stacy has never built a sand castle before. We've been to Hawaii twice, she's been three times total, and she's never done it. I feel kinda bad, since we actually didn't get to do it this time either. Instead, we did what all cheesy tourists do at the beach, buried each other. The water was frigid. We swam in it anyway, of course. At least until we couldn't feel our feet anymore. The rest of the time, we just read on the beach. That is the life.

Anyway, here's the pics:



As for anniversary gifts, Stacy gave me mine early. A little background, I went golfing for the first time in my life last month. I had a great time and have been wanting to go again since then. After a few "hints" from me and from a couple of my golf partners, Stacy bought me the only logical thing she could:




Is she not awesome?

For my part, I got Stacy a surprise gift. Gleaning on some hints she dropped months ago, I picked up a top-of-the-line TomTom GPS for the minivan. To throw her off the scent, since the purchase was sizable, I told her I had bought a new router to replace our erratic one. She was naturally confused as to why I didn't install it as soon as it got here. I mumbled something about waiting until FiOS came to our area and she forgot all about it. Earlier in the week, I broke it out while she was at a PTO meeting and had the girls record direction prompts. When I picked Stacy and Vicki up from ballet Friday night to head to Chincoteague, the GPS was installed. Stacy was dully surprised. I think her words were to the effect of, "Scott! You booger!" I love surprising her.

GPS rocks, by the way. Although we did get lost following it to pick up the girls. We listened to its directions even though the road we were on had a "Dead End" sign. I should have gotten the maps updated before we used it. It was a great diversion, however, as we surprised a bunch of high school kids setting up for a kegger at the end of an industrial park alley. It was hilarious! The first couple of kids parked on the side of the road before a small cul de sac just stared at us as we drove by, bald fat guy with a long goatee and chick with pink hair in a big minivan with a Tinkerbell antenna topper. I can't imagine what was going through their heads. I wonder if they scattered after we turned around and left? I tried to get Stacy to call the cops on them. No youth is complete without running from the cops at least once.

Hm. I guess my childhood wasn't complete.

Disney Photos Online Already!

How's that for speed? I think it's a record for me. I've uploaded all of the good pictures from our camera to Shutterfly. Unfortunately, I can't see any embeddable slideshow feature on their site, so here is the link:

Disney Slideshow

The URL to the collection is http://hawksdisney2007.shutterfly.com/

Maybe if I get time at home later I'll make a slideshow on one of them new-fangled myFacebookSpace sites and embed it here. In the meantime, enjoy the "wish you were here" photos on Shutterfly!

Home Again, Home Again, Bloggity Blog

Woo hoo! Back from the world that Disney built. We flew in yesterday afternoon and spent much of the rest of the day getting everything situated. It was a great vacation, but it left me exhausted. I need a few days of work to relax.

Pictures to follow. I'll try to get them up faster than last time.