How's it going?

So often I find myself not blogging because I don't have just the right picture to put with my post (and we all know that it's so much more fun to read if there are photos involved). Sometimes I put off posting if I have pictures, but just aren't getting around to downloading them - like right now. I have a few pictures from my trip last week that I want to post, but my computer is actually too full to take anymore pictures right now. Have to fix that first. Today I am reminding myself that it is not about the pictures, or what I think I should say, or what other people might want to hear...it's just about saying what I need to say...what I want to say.

So here goes.

My life the past two weeks has felt like a huge blurry roller coaster ride. Starting two weeks ago, I spent the better half of that week walking around in a shivery achy mess of a body while I fought a massive cold - hence my post about wonderful Zicam :) Then I went on a staff retreat for two days. We had a grand time sitting in a cabin in Wisconsin on a lake where you could see more ice fishing houses than you could see real houses. I spent most of Friday that week crying because my friends Rollie and Cait were moving. Seriously, I haven't cried that much in a really long time.

Immediately after I got back from the retreat I got ready for Rollie and Cait's going away party, helped them pack Saturday, and then drove Trynica and Berlin up to my mom and dad's near Duluth on Sunday.

Bright and early Monday morning Rollie, Cait, Steve, and I got into a car and U-Haul and started a 2 day/14 hourish driving trek down to Nashville, TN. That's where they moved, Nashville. Cait got a "job" as a country music songwriter, sorta :) It's a contract thing.

We had a great time. Cait and I drove the car and talked about all our deepest darkest secrets and boys, of course, as girls always do. I have no idea what Rollie and Steve did during those car hours...hm. Maybe I should ask? Maybe not.

Then we spent three great days in Nashville. Rollie and Cait showed us all their favorite places and so we ate some wonderful food, met some great people, and listened to some amazing music. I think they were trying to make sure we had some really great reasons to move down to Nashville with them...we'll see. We also watched Avatar, which, by the way, is an experience unto itself and I would suggest seeing it even if you don't like weird stories. The story is weird. However, seeing an entire movie in 3D, especially one with such incredible technical aspects is not like seeing a movie...it's just an experience unlike anything I have ever had before. Not kidding. Go see it. Especially if you can see it on an IMAX screen, totally worth the extra money.

Anyway, after staying up way too late on Friday night and only getting only three or so hours of sleep, Steve and I said goodbye to our friends and caught a 6:30am flight back to Minneapolis. When we finally got home around noon we both crashed for two hours. Then Steve went to work and I went to pick up the kids.

I found Tryn on the third day of a pretty intense fever and after staying up with her most of the night on Saturday night, last night Steve and I were up until midnight trying to figure out if we should bring her to the emergency room (she was on her fourth day of fever, not able to breathe through her nose at all, and her upper lip was about twice the size of her lower lip with an infection). The Dr. this morning said it was a Thrush infection, most likely caused by the fever, but doesn't know what the fever was from.

And this morning my Grandpa died. I have never lost a grandparent before. I was never super close to my Grandpa, he had 8 kids, upwards of 30 grandchildren, and I can't even keep track of how many great-grandchildren, but my dad lost his dad and my Grandma lost her husband that she has been married to for more than 50 years. That's a big deal.

Anyway, it's been a long couple of weeks. That's how it's going. I think I will grab that nap I was going to skip...