home

it's been a super long time since i went home - as in to my hometown. this weekend was my first time back since my mom moved to the twin cities, which meant i was sort of homeless. granted, i have the best in-laws in the world and i just stayed at their place, so it was really no big deal.

before i left, my dad came into town and i was able to have dinner with him. i hadn't seen him in a while, and he's been sort of antsy to see me (and matt and my sister) so it was good to spend some time with him. in fact, i spent a little too much time with him and didn't leave rochester until 9:30pm.

the ride home was sort of nightmarish. once i was out of rochester i realized i forgot some of my clothes and had to turn around adding about 30 minutes to the drive. moron! then when i was less than an hour from matt's parents' house, the route we usually take was completely closed off due to construction. it happens to be back roads that aren't on the map, so i struggled to find another route. once i thought i found an alternate route, i got myself a little turned around (at 2am) and didn't really know where i was going. after swerving around 6 raccoons in the road, nearly hitting about 6 more raccoons and at least 4 deer, and hitting too many sudden fog patches that limit my visibility to about 10 feet, i decided it was time to find a major highway again. thankfully i made it "home" safe and sound!

the next morning was erin's shower. erin is the older sister of my dear friend (and matron of honor), chrissy. their family is essentially my extended family because i have spent so much time with them since i met chrissy on the second day of kindergarten. anyway, erin is going to be an incredibly gorgeous bride in less than 2 weeks. it was so great to see her at her shower seeing as how she's been living in australia for the past 3 years! she met the love of her life, brett, while she was there on a work visa. since then, she has gone to grad school there to continue pursuing her music career (she has an AMAZING voice!). now, she and her aussie beau will be permantently living in perth, australia. i guess i will just have to go and visit!

the bride- and groom-to-be at the shower:

after the shower, i went to visit my mom's old neighbor, sue (aka susie), who is a second mom to me. i love her dearly and it's hard to believe she's not our neighbor anymore, but it was awesome to just hang out with her (and her husband, tom, and new puppy, jake). we sat and talked about everything, and as usual, susie was so supportive of me. she always makes me feel so loved - i wish she could have been a mother herself. she's been an amazing second mom to me and would have been an amazing mom to her own kids! instead she's a great mom to this little guy: (sorry my actual mother takes blurry pictures, but i bet you can still tell that little jake is adorable as can be!)

the rest of saturday was spent catching up a little bit with my friends jenny and chrissy, as well as chrissy and erin's family. it was truly a wonderful day.

sunday i spent the day hanging out with matt's parents. i taught them how to make omelets in the morning - they had never made them before! - and the rest of the day we just relaxed. matt and i swapped dads for fathers day. my dad and matt are away on a fishing trip in north dakota for a week. you can check out the guide service they're with here: http://www.vanhookguideservice.com/ on the left of the page you can see a picture of two of my cousins' husbands (larry and tim) on a fishing trip with my dad a previous year. it says they're the rollmanns, but in reality neither of them has rollmann as a last name :)

sunday night i drove chrissy to eau claire and hung out at her place for a bit eating fresh strawberries (yum!) and chatting with chrissy and her hubby, lance. it felt so good to hang out with the two of them, and i absolutely loved having chrissy with me for most of the drive home!

then home it was to my lonely little apartment, where i discovered our air conditioner has something wrong with it...so the heat is getting a little unbearable. yet another reason i am missing my fix-it hubby while he's off having fun with my dad, cousin and uncle!