feet on the ground

Sunday evening, after a fairly uneventful 11 hour flight, I arrived in Minneapolis.  It felt very good to have my feet on the ground.  Thankfully, I was able to sleep a fair amount of the trip (I was asleep before we even left the ground in London).   My parents would tell you I was quite loopy by the time we stopped at WalMart on our way home. * Going to WalMart is shock to the system of anyone who has lived abroad for three years even when jet lag doesn't enter the equation. I stood staring at the yogurt section with my mouth gaping wide open as I perused all of the new flavors I get to start trying.*  I had slept 2 hours on Saturday night, so with my sleep on the plane I wasn't sure how my body would adjust.  Thankfully, by the time we got home around 9 pm I was OUT.  I haven't had any real issues with early waking like I usually do but have been hardly able to stay awake past 8:30 pm.

Events of the week thus far:

MONDAY:  went to Fairfax to visit the farm my mom grew up on - my Uncle Brad & Aunt Sara (whom I ADORE) now live there.  My mom's brothers run a GINORMOUS dairy operation (my mom grew up on a dairy farm).  At the house, I got to hang out with my youngest cousins, Annika and Nico.  These two melt-my-heart munchkins are always high priority on the "must see" list when I'm in MN.

Leres, you would be so proud.   I read the kids "Hungry Hungry Caterpillar" in Spanish...

playing "let's tie Joy up with a rope"  - considering all I used to do to their poor father (witnessed on home video today), this is quite tame.  Our other games of the afternoon included "Jail" and "Puppy" (I was in jail.  I was the puppy.)

Other Monday events:  bringing my two dress options for my cousin's wedding on Sat. to my grandma's to have her do some altering.  It was wonderful to have some time with grandma and grandpa!

TUESDAY:  I did some studying in the morning and last night my brother Josh & I went to visit our high school youth leader (though I feel like that description doesn't do Pankratzs justice - Lori is more like an older sister and I feel like an aunt to their kids who have grown up like craAAAAAzy - the oldest, twins, will be juniors this year - last night I was remembering memories from when they were toddlers like it was yesterday. what an old woman I am).

Before we went to Pankratzs, my cousin Heather (getting married Saturday) dropped by for a bit of a catch-up.  It was wonderful to see her.  She was my maid of honor.  I'm excited to see her in all of her glory on Saturday.

WEDNESDAY:  Today we ran errands in Willmar.  This afternoon Josh & I have been watching family videos.  SO SO SO funny.  Wow, I was a bratty, annoying kid!  We watched video that was taken in 2002 when we went on a family vacation to Colorado Springs to visit Leres.  WOW - crazy watching this.  I was reminded of how blessed I am to have the husband, mother-i-l, father-i-l, and brother-i-l that I have been given.  I am so so so so so fortunate to be part of such a loving family.  Watching the video definitely brought back a wave of the 16-year-old infatuation with Philip.  I can't believe I get to be that man's wife for the rest of my life.

Tonight the four of us (dad, mom, josh & I) celebrating our last night together (we take Josh to Dordt back to school tomorrow - Josh and I are very sad that our time together is already up) by watching the Cosby Show together - a family favorite.