EMPTY NESTS ARE QUIET NESTS . . .

Well, we are back from Texas . . . and what a LLLOOOONNNNGGGGG, exhausting trip that was . . .

Still, it was also FUN . . . The kids traveled amazingly well . . . especially considering that they were wedged into a VERY crowded car with virtually NO wiggle room . . .

We will treasure the past year and that car trip forever . . . It was a tremendous blessing to have S and her kidlets here with us . . . We absolutely LOVE how well we know them . . . and how well THEY know US . . . I know I sound like a sappy, doting gramma . . . but our grandkids (and that includes my neices and nephews children, as well) are SO amazing . . . adorable . . . smart . . . funny . . . brilliant . . . beautiful . . . and OH so LOVED . . .

It was good to see how thrilled A and D and S were to get home to their OWN house . . . their OWN daddy . . . their OWN doggy (I am not positive I have the order correct there . . . They REALLY love that doggy!) ;0) B looked equally delighted to have his family back . . . Long separations are HARD on children and marriages and families . . . but having an eternal perspective helps . . . and having everybody focused on being a forever family helps a lot . . .

We got in late Saturday night . . . and then got to all get up bright and early Sunday morning to get ready and over to the church for C's blessing . . . We got there late, but still managed to get him blessed . . . and it was WONDERFUL to have a chance to see B's parents and sister . . . to meet MA's beautiful fiance (they are getting married late next month!) . . . see and hug DAM (LOL . . . what initials, huh?) and her precious little daughter (still tucked safely inside) . . . see and hug MAR just days before her adorable little son made his appearance (YAY for safe arrivals!!!) and her husband and cutie pie two year old N . . . and to see and hug TA . . . who felt invisible, ONLY because I expected her to be seven still, and she has instantaneously (it seems) blossomed into a gorgeous young woman (HOW does time go SO fast for THEM, when WE stay such cute young things forever?!???) It was a FUN day, even though it sure would have been nice to have been able to catch our collective breaths before pulling off a dinner party . . . LOL . . . but life is just like that . . . and I wouldn't have missed ANY of it, for the world . . .

Monday we managed to squeeze in a trip to the cutest (and maybe HOTTEST) zoo ever . . . lunch . . . an awesome museum . . . and even a rather reluctant (though delicious) BBQ dinner . . . and then M and I got stomped in a game we played late that night when we were all beyond exhausted, mostly because we knew once we went to bed, it was going to all be over . . . =o/

It was very hard to leave them behind when we headed home early Tuesday morning . . . I think I cried the first 200 miles . . . even though I KNEW they were where they needed to be, and it felt very right for their family to be reunited . . . The ride home was certainly much quieter than the ride out . . . and we made fewer potty stops . . .

It helped a lot to be able to spend a couple of hours in Tucson with D, going out to lunch and to see "Prince of Persia" (an expensive nap for D who had been up since 11 pmish the night before . . . He WANTED to see the movie, but with a belly full of delicious Italian food, and a dark theater, he simply passed out. When the movie was over, he looked over at me, and said "Is it just my imagination, or was that movie like ten minutes long?!??" LOL . . . Now he will have the fun of going to see it AGAIN . . . for the very first time . . . ;o)

It also helped to stop in Phoenix and spend a little time playing with two other ADORABLE grandsons . . . G even SMILED at me . . . WHILE I was holding him!!! =o) YAY for grandkids who don't think we suck!!! LOL . . . I know it is just the age he is . . . little ones go through a stage where they are VERY aware of who is 'us' and who is NOT . . . and they don't always see us enough to realize how cool we are . . . ;o) So that needs to change . . .

Now we are HOME . . .

WOW . . .

The house feels SO empty . . .

D2 is here . . . and on the weekends and late at night, when he gets home from work (if we are still up) we get to visit with him . . . and inbetween those times, we have his dirty dishes in the sink to treasure as evidence he still lives . . . but this is definitely going to take some getting used to . . . especially for grampa M, as I leave again for Utah this time . . . He gets almost two weeks of what B lived with for the past year . . .

I hope it isn't TOO lonely for him . . . and that it makes him REALLY really REALLY miss me so that he is very glad to see me when I get back . . .

I think after this Utah trip that it will really sink in . . . all these changes . . . and then we can get busy adjusting to our 'new' life . . . sans adorable, cherubic little noise-and-mess makers on a daily basis . . .

I THINK we can do this . . .




Guess we will find out . . .