Bittersweet

So today marks the final day of our week filled with company. By this time tomorrow Papa and Gramma and big cousin Trig will all be back in Kansas and recovering from their big journey west. Chris will be working and the kids and I will be puttering around the house trying to get used to the quiet again. A week we have looked forward to for what seems like an eternity will simply be in the past. We will clean. We will do laundry. We will eat cupcakes and feel sorry for ourselves. We too will recover from the chaos that has somehow become normal. And although we will start getting back into our own routines, life won't quite be normal...it will be sad and boring.

It is amazing how SO much of the year I do really well out here. I miss home and everything it encompasses like crazy, but I do okay. I don't sit around day after day crying or feeling homesick. I don't dwell on the "what ifs?" I am happy. I have two sweet, beautiful kids who need "all" of me, not just the me that can tune in when I am not feeling sad. We shop, we play, we just "be." We have made great friends out here in the desert and we honestly keep pretty busy. But it isn't home...and it never will be.

It is always the hardest the day friends and family leave. KNOWING that the fun we have had and the memories we have created will soon be just that...memories. I cherish each of those memories and am so incredibly grateful for them all, but a tiny little part of myself is saddened knowing how many more memories we would have if we were just a little closer.

I am sorry to be so depressing here. I was literally FINE until I walked in here and started typing this entry...and then the emotion just came pouring out. We have had an amazing week and one filled with action! We have had the birthday party, late night swims, a picnic in the mountains (up in the "high country" so it was only in the 80s...not the 100s!), a trek to a ghost town, a trip to the splash park, a hike in the HOT mountains by our house, watched the jets take off and land at an air force base, sprinklers, slip n slides, popsicles and a whole lotta fun!!

I promise to update more over the next few days...I literally have hundreds of photos to sort through and edit and of course I want to share! But for today I am going to head back out in the 100+ temps and watch the boys swim with Papa!

Here is one of my favorite pictures from last night at the splash park! Trig absolutely LOVED it and was having a ball with Gentry! It is obvious that they were beyond happy in this moment! A moment forever frozen in time to bring a smile to my face!

(And of course I gave it the vintage feel...there is just something about summer pictures looking faded that I LOVE!)