It's time to say goodbye (again)

It's Saturday morning, June 2nd, at 6:15am. I've been up since 5-ish due to my back giving me fits. We've left Jim's house and are staying at the hotel where Aut's (B's sister) is having her wedding reception. We got a really nice room (thanks Brad and Pat!), with plenty of room for our big family. We've had a really nice time back in Iowa, but we're all ready to get back in our own home and relax. While in town, we got to see almost everyone we'd like to see while back, were unable to hook up with a few we really wanted to see, but were suprised with seeing some other friends we didn't plan on getting a chance to see. All in all it's been a great trip home, and the pang of missing Iowa once again beats in our hearts. The family, the friends, the familiarity, the no sports teams...oh wait...I hate that, even if I don't fully cheer for the teams in Houston.

During our time back, with it being a vacation and all, of course the time flew by. Not as fast as I would have thought it would, but nonetheless, it screamed by. Again, I'm left to thinking about how time really does go by so fast when you're older. I really hate that part of life. Anyway, this week went way smoother than last year's debacle of a trip back. I was able to help B with the kids for I think all but 2 afternoons, which hopefully helped her have a better time back.

The stops this time, were numerous since we have so many people we want to see, but we enjoyed every minute of it. It's hard though, even though you talk online and on the phone, it takes some time to get back into your face to face groove with people. It seemed a few times that JUST as things were getting easy to relax and enjoy each other's company, it was time to go. In my boy Stan's case, we always connect right off the get go, so that's no problem, but we made the mistake of going to see Pirates 3, because while it was a great movie, it ate up almost all the time we could have to hang out. That really sucked, because who knows if they'll ever be able to come down and see us before we come back next year, and we both miss hanging out all the time. See you in Pirate land, Stan! Seeing Kris and Doug was great, as always. Did some grilling out with them last Saturday (missed you Jen and Ali!), and their fam, and even got sun burnt (how is the Iowa sun more potent than the Texas sun?), and then had breakfast later in the week, just them and me, and some God-fam-current events-whatever-talk. Had dinner with Nick and his wife, Mary (she needs to open her own restaurant!), and had a fun time catching up with them and hearing a little about their first year as husband and wife, but Braden started fussing early on, so we didn't get to stay as long as we would have liked. I even got to catch up with my boy, Ken(jamin - who I worked with at Wells Fargo before we moved), when I got some golfing in. That was a great time, even though I still suck at golf, to catch up with him, get some more quality time with my Dad, and even get to go golfing for the first time with my Gpa Burbank. Check out his "rico suaveness"...

There were a lot of highs and only two lows (besides missing out seeing everyone we wanted to) while back this time. The highs included the above, as well as getting to see the Burbank clan (the Newleyweds Shawn and Matt, unky Paul, cousin Trev, etc etc), the Moyle clan, other friends and family, having fun with the kids (swimming - J not being afraid to swim on her own with floaties in the deep end and really swimming), the kids being pretty good all things considered (and me making sure I remember that each day to give them a break when I can since they've been together without a break for over a week straight now), spending so much time with B and the kids The two lows were 1) even though we had to run around and enjoyed seeing everyone, it still is so hard to do that after driving all this way, and even though we LOVE seeing everyone, I wish it was possible to do like we did our going away party and just have most everyone together at one place, and then enjoy our time back without having to run everywhere. It's all good though, we'll deal with it because we love you guys! But the lowest point of our trip back was finding out my step cousin Gavin passed away at the way too young age of 21, on Monday, May 28th. Autopsy results show that his pancreas failed. It was a shock to everyone. RIP, Gavin.

Tonight we get to see little Autumn get married off. It will be a joyous celebration. I feel her husband to be, Reed, seems like a great guy. Tomorrow, we will wake up and go watch Aut and Reed open some of their gifts, and depending on the time, take off some time mid morning. And thus beginning the drive back to Iowa. Heavy hearts for sure, but full hearts. We'll miss all of you until we see you again. Please come and see us if you ever can get to H-town. There's plenty of room for you, and fun things to see and do.

Father, thank you for this trip back. Thank you for letting us see family and friends that we've sorely missed this past year. Thank you for the uniting of Autumn and Reed. I pray they fully embrace their marriage, and love each other with their whole hearts. I pray you bless their marriage, and that they have immeasurable good memories, compared to little to no bad memories. I pray blessings upon blessings over them. Thank you for letting me get to hang out with Stan, Doug, Kris, Nick, and Ken again. You've blessed me with some truly amazing friends. Thank you for letting me get to see all my families that we could see while back. It was nice to see Brandon and see that he's doing okay. Thank you for this time on earth. We take it for granted all too much. Time flies by, and I'm sorry for taking everything for granted like I do. Thank you for all of the above blessings. Father, I'm not sure of Gavin's faith, but I pray He's up there with you. Please comfort his mother, father, sister, family, and friends. Thank you for my wife and my children, and this time we could spend together making memories with each other, and with our friends and family. In your precious Son's name I pray, Amen.


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