vaca

Pretty cool double stroller for Agoo to push around.

Kate's all bundled (where is she?), and Aidan's got his belovéd blanket.

We took about 10 days in late July to have a road trip to Lubbock, TX, to visit Amy's mom's side of the family, the Falbos. We also went to Flagstaff for a few days of those 10 on the way home. While in Flagstaff, we took a walk one evening (as seen in the above pictures). The weather was beautiful in both locations. I can't tell you how much I missed my Phoenix, though. I might vacation in Flagstaff, but I want to live here. Family, church, work, beautiful desert landscapes...there is too much to love (yes, mom, that was for you). We had a nice time in Lubbock with the family, but we really enjoyed some time off in Flag (Amy and Francy scrapbooked most of the time). I think we all needed it pretty bad by that point in the summer, especially as school was about to start again in just a week more when we arrived home.This was the sunset the evening of our walk.

yearning

I am back at work today. This past weekend was incredible. I thoroughly enjoyed my family. Having to be back here at school today makes my heart sink. My parents, sister, brother-in-law, and nephew are all leaving today, and I can't be there to take them to the airport, give them one last hug before they leave. I didn't get to print out some pictures for my parents. I didn't get to take a picture of my sister's family. I didn't get to burn some CDs for them of all the pictures we took this weekend. There were so many things to wrap up last night, but we didn't get the chance. My brother-in-law, Joseph, had never seen the Grand Canyon, so we made a day trip with the six adults (one sick and pregnant, Amy, my beautiful bride) and two infants (the cousins, Aidan & JD). It was a wonderful morning. It was only a 3 1/2 hour drive to get there. The sky was cloudy, but there was no bad weather. We got to the Rim, took some pictures in the freezing wind, went to a gift shop or two, and just enjoyed taking our time. My mom, Amy, and the babies went back to the rental van because of how cold it was, but we got some more good pics of Beth and Joe.We got to a stop that was near to Flagstaff and we took a few pictures there, as well. Amy and the babies didn't get out of the van, but the rest of us did. We went back into Flagstaff, ate a great late lunch (maybe a linner? dunch?) at Red Lobster, and headed down the hill at 4pm. We got gas first. There were blizzard conditions just south of Flag on the 17. There were something like 7 different accidents. It took us 4 hours to move 8 miles. The babies didn't enjoy it, but the incredible Van Liew women got them settled and asleep soon enough. Joe and I got out of the car and met a few other guys who were stuck, as well. Doug is an Icee repair man, moving to Colorado Springs soon. Jesse lives in Colorado Springs and was simply headed South. We didn't have a ton of time to talk with them, because we moved a mile down the road and got split up. We threw snow and enjoyed the weather as we could. Munds Park is not bad, I guess, but I normally don't get the opportunity to walk half a mile down the 17 to the Exxon and back again without the vehicle moving down the road even an inch. Okay: 8 miles, 4 hours. I believe that's 2 miles per hour. After we got down the hill further, we finished the remaining 108 miles in an hour and a half. We didn't reach my front door until midnight thirty (for those who don't know Adam-speak, that's 12:30am the next morning). So, all that being said, I was unable to finish the projects that I had for my family. I miss them already. Not only this, but Amy is still sick, needs rest, and she has Aidan to take care of. Just coming to work today makes me feel as if I'm shirking responsibilities all over. I love my family.

fourth anniversary

Amy and I have now been married for a glorious four years. How lucky am I? Go ahead, tell me. Amy's gorgeous, she's able to stay home and take care of Aidan, Aidan's now 9 months old and loves to clap, Kate is maturing in the womb and will make her debut in another 5 1/2 months: life is good. Some fun to talk about regarding the day Amy and I spent together. We've made it a tradition to head up to Flagstaff for our anniversary, ever since our second anniversary. (We honeymooned there, just so you know.) We hit Dunkin' Donuts and Starbucks, then headed out of town up the 17. There was a winter storm warning in effect until noon, according to the 511 service that I called. As we found out on our way up the hill, it was snowing very heavily within 30 miles of Flagstaff even at 2:00 pm. It was snowing so hard that the visibility was down to under half a mile at best. We got ourselves behind an SUV from Oregon and followed them all the way up the hill. They obviously knew how to drive in those conditions, and not many others did, as we passed many Arizona plates on the way up. As we would change lanes, the ice that was building up where no tires had been traveling made it to where we seemed to slide a little. The Lord kept us safe the whole way up, and it was a fun drive, praise Him. I truly enjoyed myself on that drive. Before the snow and the bad weather, just as we were coming down the large mountain that leads to Camp Verde, I was caught by DPS driving 76 in a 65 mph area. The road sign changed to 75 just tens of yards away from where the officer was camping out to catch speeders. I did get pulled over. We pulled off the road in Camp Verde (which we were going to anyway because it was time for lunch). The officer was the nicest man in a uniform that I've ever met. He told me how fast I was going, asked me where we were headed (I told him "Flagstaff, for our anniversary"), and he told me that he wouldn't ruin our anniversary by giving me a ticket. I wasn't afraid at all, and I didn't even have anxiety, and he just let us off. I couldn't believe it. We then went to the A&W/KFC, ate lunch, then headed back up the hill to follow the Oregon SUV. We made it up to the Barnes & Noble (as we do each time that we go) in order to get our regular journal purchase. We got a lot of board books (which were on major sale) for Aidan, and even got a stuffed animal dragon, too. We got some other books, too, like Eragon and a guide to poker (since I'm starting up a regular game, hopefully). I also got to buy a couple journals for me to take sermon notes in. My parents gave us money for our anniversary, so we used that for the purchase. We then went around NAU's campus and took some pictures of the winter weather on the trees and overall campus. It was gorgeous up there. We had a nice time up there in Flagstaff, even though we didn't go up past Flagstaff to take pictures in the aspens which we normally take (because of the weather and safety). We headed back down the hill earlier than any other year, but it was a good idea. The roads didn't get any better with the weather continuing to snow and rain, depending on the elevation. Again, the conditions made it hard to see, and the Arizona plates really didn't know what to do with the snowy conditions, but we were still able to enjoy the road home. It was solid rain or snow the whole way down the mountain: almost 150 miles worth of solid clouds without a break. We got back into town, we to Cucina Tagliani, ordered to go, went to Walmart, went back to pick up the food, headed home, and enjoyed our dinner while watching the Suns battle the Mavericks for a little while. We had left Aidan with the Ogles (my parents-in-law) for the day, very generous of them, and so we went to pick him up when we finished with dinner. The Ogles told us that Aidan was good and slept all of his normal naps. That was great to hear. We told him about what I've told you, and then we headed home. That was our fourth anniversary.