In No Particular Order...

When we stepped out of the airport in Salt Lake, something happened that I never expected. I could actually smell the clean mountain air. I caught a hint of the pine trees, and whatever other lovely smells come from the mountains. My sense of smell is often allergy inhibited, so catching a few breaths of that "mountain air" was amazing. And it made it feel like we were really home. Since that night, we have almost literally been bouncing around between Idaho, Utah and Arizona. So far, I think 5 nights in the same bed is our record. So this post will be, in no particular order, a brief travelogue of our first month back in America:)We spent a few nights in St. George on our way back to Idaho, and stopped to see Nate's Grandma, who was nice enough to give Will a ride on her walker, and to not freak out when he came running in from her kitchen holding a very breakable figurine of Jesus. That was when I knew it was time for us to go - before things started breaking:) The Moffett family reunion almost didn't come together, but at the last minute, schedules and stars aligned, and all 6 Moffett kids and most of their families were able to convene at a huge cabin in Flagstaff, AZ. Will had a fabulous time chasing Aunt Pearl's dogs, and riding the 4 wheeler with Uncle Rodney and Dad, talking to the deer, elk and buffalo heads that were hanging in the main room and watching a video with Hunter. The rest of us just hung out and chatted, and enjoyed the amazing cool weather and views. We also had a little birthday party for Will, complete with Toy Story cupcakes, a bat, ball and mitt from dad, and the winner - a backpack full of new animals from Uncle Rodney. He really got attached to Rod, and would follow him around the cabin calling, Rodney, Rodney. He cried when we had to leave him to head back north:( (Will, not Rodney - well at least that we saw...)On our drive to Flagstaff, we stopped at Montezuma's Castle - a cool Native American dwelling built into the side of the mountain.Will got to spend lots of time with Grandma and Grandpa Moffett and Aunt Melanie and Amanda - Manda was the other person he followed around calling for. They took him to a movie, and got out all his favorite toys they had saved for him and he loved it. The rest of our time in Arizona was spent dealing with our house - we are putting it on the market, so if anyone needs a house in Queen Creek, check ours out - it's a screaming deal! We are sad to see it go, but it's probably for the best as the market continues to NOT rebound as we had hoped. We also visited some friends, and some of our favorite eateries and even saw a movie ourselves for the first time in who knows how long.Nate got to visit Bryce Canyon and was reminded how amazing the scenery in Southern Utah is - the first pic in the post is from Kolob Canyon - my first visit there, and wow - it is gorgeous! The rain obscured some of the photos that day, but it was nice to have the chilly weather after the heat of Phoenix. We kept asking ourselves why we were back in the heat after leaving Dubai to escape it!After our few nights at my parents, we visited Nate's sister Lisa in Utah, and Will got to see the goats, and ostrichs (they are actually emus, but he knows the word ostrich, so we just went with it). He got to meet his cousin Justin for the first time, and they were fast friends.

And last but not least (and it was actually first in the actual chronology...) we all met baby Oliver - my brother Landon's little man. He is adorable, and Will loves him - he loves sharing toys, and patting his head, and trying to hug him, and also trying to wrestle with him, and taking his toys and pushing him over to see what happens. (that only happened a couple of times Amanda, and they were on the carpet so no harm done...) One quick funny with the boys though, my mom and I picked up Oliver for Amanda one day, and were driving back to Preston with the boys in the back, and Oliver got sick and threw up in the car. I wish I had a picture of Will - he had leaned as far away as he could get in his carseat, and had this look on his face like - gross, dude! What was that?! But when we got back to my mom's house the other night, Will came running in asking for the baby.

So, with July almost done, we are happy to be here, and are working on getting our fill of stores like Target, Ross and Costco, good cereal, and family bonding, and are making lists of how to make our next summer visit calmer and less bouncy:) We still have friends to visit and adventures to experience and fun to have, so hopefully the next post will not be so long in coming!