A Tale of Two Cities

I know it has been forever since I posted, but we have been out of town. Last week my husband went to Cancun with his work and since I did not want to be home alone for a few days (and I'll make any excuse to see my family), I got to fly to Utah and drive the two hours home to a small town in Idaho. I think the town has no more than a few hundred people in it and when my parents moved there from California two years ago, those remaining at home in my family increased that number by four. I don't even know if you can call it a town because when my family drives into Pocatello to do any sort of shopping, they call it "going into town." So I guess where they live can be called a village?? Since my husband was, by far, going to the most exotic place between the two of us, he won out on who would take the camera. However, as you can see from the attached picture, he did not capture ANY sights. He took a total of FOUR pictures, ALL from his hotel window, and ALL of the exact same thing (from a few different angles). That is the LAST time he takes the camera, even if he is going to the moon.
However, my man had a GREAT time swimming in the turquoise ocean, playing water volleyball, and singing Karaoke - AND, after peeling profusely for the last couple of days, still has an amazing tan that I am utterly and completely jealous of. We have decided that Cancun will be one of our next vacation spots, especially considering it is only a couple hour flight from where we live.
Although I did not have a camera, I made it back with no less than a couple hundred pictures - courtesy of my brother's wonderful Nikon and my sister's Canon Elf. I had a wonderful time in Utah visiting my grandparents and my good friend Lindsey from my accounting program before heading up to Idaho. My family in Utah valley were kind enough to humor me by taking me to the BYU Creamery On Ninth so that I could enjoy my favorite ice cream flavors of all time: Raspberry Cream Cheese and Earnestly Chocolate. The visit to my Alma Mater was not without some sadness though when I drove by Deseret Towers - the dorms I stayed in as a freshman AND where my man and I met AND where he proposed to me - and saw that they were all torn down. Making room for newer dorms (with not half as much character, I'm sure). Once I got to Idaho, I spent time with the cousins that I idolized as a little girl, had girl time with my mom and sisters every single day - all day, shopped, ate my favorite foods and desserts (a must when you go home), and basked in the joy that is being home. My baby had so many people wanting to play with her, help me with her, hold her, etc. that I barely felt like I had a child! It was a wonderful break and I loved seeing my family enjoy the light of MY life. We were able to meet my brother's little baby, for the first time. I have a picture of them together on the blanket. My sister's little boy, had a great time stealing my baby's binki to suck on himself and exploring the presence of another little person. My favorite picture of them is also attached. I also had to attach the picture of my little girl's sad face because it is just so classic. Overall, we both had a great vacation, the only sad thing, of course, was that they were not together.