We have been so happy to spend time with family and friends! In Seattle I was able to go to the temple on Tuesday morning and see all my good friends from working on the temple shift. It was also a lot of fun to eat with a bunch of Chad’s former co-workers from Microsoft. I was so excited to talk to them, and I usually don’t ever get excited about visiting people. I am glad he changed jobs when he did. Not because of the co-workers! But apparently people have just been coerced into working longer and longer hours ever since I left. Job satisfaction is down.

I swear Daniel grew! He has really bulked up and after being around Chad I had to crane my neck to look up to my dad and brothers. We really enjoyed having the lake to cool us off after the hot days. I definitely got a taste of home as Dad spent his day off creating pontoons for his canoe so he can stand while he fishes. We went down to the lake and Jeff and my Dad set off only to tip the canoe over almost right away as they adjusted the pontoon. What great entertainment! We were all laughing that Dad didn’t want his masterpiece to look ghetto by using duck-tape to secure it together before making it permanent–he was already using “poop tubes” for buoyancy. When we went swimming I was trying to learn from Elisa how to tread water correctly. I’ve never figured out the eggbeater kick. She can stay in the water forever but I always get tired after a few minutes.

On Thursday we went up to Idaho Falls. We were able to go to Tyler Roe’s (Chad’s cousin) temple sealing. It was great that the weekend we planned to be in town was his wedding because tons of Chad’s extended family were around and it sure helped with rides from the airport (thanks Heather).

We were lucky to be able to see all the Parry’s except Chris and Jason. What a blast! We played games, went water-skiing (water-dragging for me), white water rafting (thanks Steve and Sharon!), four-wheeling and just had a wonderful time together. White water rafting was so fun! The little two-man “duck” that Matt and I rode was really agile and got us really wet. I am such a lucky girl to have such an incredibly wonderful extended family! Both Sophia and Kindin have such great parents and I am so grateful for their examples. Congratulations Jeff and Sarah on your news for a new little niece or nephew for us! I cannot wait until our next time together.

We are now in Mountain View, California and Chad is working hard at Google. He seems to be getting a lot of good things accomplished. It is so great to have him come home so happy. Google has set us up in a nice hotel and I have been able to get out enough that I do not feel stranded. I have also been having fun working on a Personality unit for my BYU class. Daniel has been reading a book on the subject which has made it extra fun to study.

Elisa visited me at the office today and I got made fun of. She noticed that in the restrooms the toilets have been retro-fitted with bidets. Who knew? 🙂 Then she said that Google does people’s meals, their laundry, massages, and now the employees don’t even need to wipe themselves.

I am certainly missing family already. On Sunday I was really dreading going away from family again. I love our adventures in Switzerland, however I will live anywhere if it means being able to keep those relationships strong and growing stronger.