On the Road Again!

We are SOOOOO excited! We leave town next Thursday and will be gone essentially for . . . 6 weeks. Jeff comes back mid-July for work. And if this tempts you to rob our house, be cautious: we will have house-sitters. And one of them is a professional exterminator! So consider yourself warned!

We'll leave Thursday at the crack of dawn with Kirtland by mid-morning as our goal. After spending several hours there, we'll head to Bloomington IN where a dear college friend lives. Hooray! And then the next day we'll head to Nauvoo. We've been gathering up stories of family members who lived in Nauvoo and spent time in Winter Quarters, so the girls will be spending some time before we get to both places reading stories and summarizing/reporting to the family so we all know how we tie in. I'm kind of giddy about it all in a weird sort of way. :) I'm hoping that this will help the kids lay a foundation of respect in their hearts for what their forefathers endured so that they could have the blessings that they do today. But mostly, I hope that they feel a connection to these remarkable people and that they are able to draw some strength from knowing that they come from these humble & persistent pioneers. Good stuff!

Then we'll head out to Utah in one or two more days where we'll spend the next . . . month. We're looking forward to celebrating Independence Day as only Utahns do. Pioneer Day will surely not disappoint! Jeff and I will be cashing in on an amazing Christmas present--a hot air balloon ride out of Park City. Check THAT off my bucket list!! (Thanks, Dad!) And we'll go to my 20-year mission reunion also marking the 20th anniversary of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in downtown Salt Lake. Whew! But most importantly, we'll reconnect with old friends, all the Snarr cousins, love on cousin Silas on the Broadbent side, and eat Cafe Rio and some good Wasatch Front ice cream. Good times will be had for sure!

The end of July will bring a Broadbent family reunion at Yellowstone followed by an event-filled drive back east. Hannah will miss the drive, unfortunately, as she'll be flying back east with Grandma & Grandpa Broadbent so that she will get there in time for girls' camp. So Meg & Ali & I will go all Thelma & Louise as we conquer Mount Rushmore, Badlands, and the Little House on the Prairie sites along the way. Wahoo! Check back for more updates! I've spent half of today getting our electronics in line so that we can post often while we're away.


Pic from here.