Visits

Joe and I went to Oakley, Idaho on Thursday to visit his grandmother. We drove up with his parents and their dog. The trip took about 10 1/2 hours each way. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to make it with my poor circulation and with some other factors, but I'm glad I decided to stick with it and take the trip. All of his grandmother's children were able to make it to see her, and we were able to see some extended family as well. I met my nephew, Jace, who was born just about 4 months ago, for the first time and also got to see most of my other in-laws. We had some great conversations in the car with Joe's parents (we carpooled), and it was nice to get the opportunity to spend that time getting to know each other a little better. We got home last night a few hours before bedtime. We were exhausted and glad to be home. We really appreciated the hospitality of Joe's aunt Jane allowing us to stay in her home. With everyone who was visiting, we were still able to get our own room. We even had a kitchen where we were able to have shared meals with the rest of Joe's immediate family.

Joe's best friend, Jacob, is flying into town today and will be staying with us through Wednesday. So now that we're home, we have to settle back in and clean up from our travels quickly before he arrives today. I'm sure Joe will enjoy having some time to spend with him.

I will be hosting a book club meeting on Wednesday at our house, so it might be a little chaotic, but I am looking forward to it. I've wanted an excuse to make some more cookies without having to worry that I'll be the one eating them all, so this seems like quite the nice opportunity to do so. I may have to pick up a few more things from the store to nibble on, but we're really needing to carefully watch our expenses, because of the extra money we've had to spend on the trip and to take time off work for the trip.

I'm going to have to think more about what I want to do with my life, because I'm not really happy with my job more often than not these days.