Happy Birthday America!!!!

Finally made it home. It took three separate flights to get me here, but I made it.

I started tearing up already on the final 45 minute flight to Moline. Luckily the guy in the seat next to me was very friendly and we had a nice chat to take my mind off it.

Good old Muddy Mississippi. Flooded at this point.
I landed, tried calling my mother but she didn't answer, so I hoped they were there already to pick me up. I expected only my parents but was overly delighted to see this...

Home <3 Lala! Welcome. I cried a little.
So many hugs.
The girls brought me flowers <3
This is apparently what I didn't see before hand...

Watching for my plane.

Practice round.
I'm so thankful to have such a wonderful family. If it weren't for them the decision to move to Sydney would have been all too easy. These kids mean the world to me and I couldn't have asked for a better welcome home.

My good friend James surprised me as well by driving 3 hours from Des Moines to greet me at the airport. I tried taking a picture of us but I fail at selfies. I'm so blessed to have such wonderful people in my life.

My first day home I demanded that my whole family get together and eat steaks. And eat steaks they did. We went all hick and I was shown the pigs that my nieces are going to show in the fair, my sister got an adorable new puppy, and some of us had some fun shooting tannerite. Just getting down to my Redneck roots :)

And then I was lucky enough to celebrate America's Birthday. Oh the 4th of July, such a great holiday. We started off the morning at the DeWitt parade, which unfortunately is now just firetrucks and tractors apparently.

Grady Bug!!!!
Ada!!!!! She's grown so much!
Luckily the weather was perfect! Unlike last year which was unbearably hot. After the parade we headed to my sister Jessica's for some pool time (and so I could see her new house which she moved into while I was away).

Quality time with my brother-in-law Mitch.
We grilled hot dogs for lunch and after a long day of swimming decided it was time to get out. We still had a while before fireworks started though so I took the kids to the park.


Had to run back and forth pushing all of them :)
After a bit we headed back to Jess's and my best friends Steve and Paige stopped by for a moment to say hi to me. Paige is studying in Australia next spring. I am SO excited to have someone from home come stay for a while!!!

Then, fireworks time!!! Jess's sister-in-law and her husband brought over some bottle rockets that we were setting off before the fireworks started... During this I managed to light my hair on fire :/ Luckily it was just barely and got put out right away so you can't even tell. But yeah, leave it to me; I'm an accident waiting to happen.

Such a great view!!!
After the fireworks I realised I left the lights on my Harley on all day so my bike was dead and Mitch was kind enough help me jump start it. Again, leave it to me...

It's so good to be home. I'm already over halfway through my trip and have so many more things to blog about but this'll do for now. I head back to Sydney in 9 days, but for now I'm doing my best to enjoy every second I can. Even if it's just sitting on my porch swing thinking about how Iowa, while there might not be as much going on as in Sydney, isn't all that bad...

Home <3

Comments

Jessica said…
Love it!! Love all the pictures. :)
July 16, 2013 at 1:08 AM
Teisha said…
Just getting caught up on all your posts.....keep it up you do great work!
July 20, 2013 at 12:27 AM
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