Gratitude Project, Day 29

Today I'm thankful for clear, dry roads all 12 hours of our trip to Montana, with deer staying on the sides of the road, instead of actually being ON the road. After we got the call yesterday morning, Amy and I decided we needed to leave straight away. There were lots of reasons, but we knew we needed to get there soon. We both went to work, talked to our bosses, and got the rest of the week off. Sterling has finals next week, so he couldn't come, which means he gets dog-sitting duty for the week (thanks, Ster.) Suitcases packed, lunch made, and gas tank full, we hit the road bright and early this morning. We half-jokingly asked Grandpa to give us a safe journey, and it must have worked.

My sister is the best, most hilarious, awesome person/friend/sister/travel buddy you could ever want. All things considered, we had a really fun trip. We made it safe and sound to Great Falls and didn't get a single speeding ticket (which may or may not have been a minor miracle in and of itself).

I'm so thankful for all the texts, emails, phone calls, and facebook messages of love and support that have been directed toward my family and me these last few days. I've been to many funerals, but Grandpa is the closest person I've ever lost, and if the last few days are any indication, the next few promise to be difficult, at best. I don't know what I would do without all the love and support and prayer we have pouring in from all sides. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

When we arrived in Great Falls, my mom immediately burst into tears, so Amy took her and I took Grandma and we chatted with them separately. My grandmother has got to be one of the strongest women I know. She is a rock. I am so thankful to have her in my life and to see her amazing example of strength and faith, despite her deep sadness. She is amazing.

And on a lighter note, I'm thankful for pomegranate seeds! Those little guys got us through a big chunk of this crazy trip--the 20 minutes it took to coax them out of the fruit were well worth it!

What are you thankful for today?

A little John Denver, anyone?

, "Sunshine....on my shoulders....makes me happy!"

So, I'm not home yet, but here's a tiny little preview of my vacation for my blog. Suffice it to say, I have been BASKING in the Utah/Colorado sunshine, and it's making me have a hard time figuring out why in the heck I would ever choose to live in gray, rainy Oregon!! (Okay, okay, Oregon's not that bad, but I'm not looking forward to leaving the constant sunshine of the past five days.)


"Rocky Mountain high, Colorado...!"

Seriously, how beautiful are the Rocky Mountains? Sometimes I can't believe how awesome they are, and I can't believe I grew up practically right next to them! No wonder I can't get enough of the mountains!! The sky is big and gorgeous (hello, I AM a Montana girl at heart!), the weather's beautiful, and the landscape can't be beat. Glorious!! :)


And how adorable is my sister? We went horseback riding on Thursday, and it was GLORIOUS!!! We had such a great time, racing up and down the dirt road on horseback--so fun! And as much as I was ready to leave Vernal when high school ended, look in the background--isn't it pretty??

I SO need a vacation!! Lucky for me...

Oh, man, this blog thing is crazy! I could waste WAAAAAAY too much time playing around with this...and I'm sure I will as I try to get the hang of it!

But that is SO not what this post is about! I'M GOING ON A TRIP!!! I have been ITCHING to travel lately (dang travel bug!!), and even though this is a QUICK trip, and one of necessity, I'm excited about it! I'm going to see my sister!! Yay!!

So, my mom is getting her knee replaced in Salt Lake on Monday (please keep her in your prayers!), and she basically decided that I want to come home and see her after her surgery. Note I said SHE decided, not I decided, but that's okay. My job is in a weird state right now where I'm just working part time for this month, so I can shuffle my hours around however I want and take some time off. However, I'm a procrastinator, so I didn't make the decision for sure to fly away to Utah (and Colorado...explanation coming) until last night...and we all know how ticket prices on flights go up, up, up the closer you get to the date of the trip! Well, I'm a moron, so exactly a week before I go I made the reservations. *sigh* I SWEAR someday I will learn to plan in advance...actually, probably not. :)

Anyway, it's quite a bit cheaper to fly into Denver than SLC right now (which is not normally the case), but this is EXCELLENT, because my cute sister and brother-in-law live in Denver, and she just happens to have a few days off PT school next week, which makes this an IDEAL situation. This way I get to see them, don't have to sit in SLC while my mom's in the hospital (how boring is that?!), and my dad won't have to drive me back out to SLC to take me back to the airport. And I'll get to meet Janna's new baby! So this is totally the best of all worlds.

So the plan is, fly into Denver on Tuesday (maybe go see a Rockie's game?!?!?!), drive to Vernal on Wednesday (hopefully my mom will get to come home on Wednesday, otherwise she should be able to come home on Thursday, so we'll probably see some high school friends on Wednesday or something), hang out in Vernal until Friday (probably), then head back to Denver either Friday or Saturday (depending on my sister's schedule...she might have to do a service project on Saturday), then I'll fly back to Portland on Sunday! Woohoo! I SO need a vacation, and lucky for me, this means I'm getting one!! Anyone want to play in Denver or Vernal next week?