Amy Scott's Thoughts

Sharing the thoughts that bounce around in my brain!

Pasta and Pumpkins October 13, 2011

Filed under: Cooking Experiments — Amy Scott @ 2:48 pm

Tuesday night, Jeremy informed me what we were going to make our own raviolis and pasta sauce for dinner. This has been a goal of his for some time now. He has a ton of tomatoes from his garden and I knew he was ready to try his hand at making homemade pasta sauce. What goes well with homemade pasta sauce? Homemade pasta!

Jeremy set to work on the sauce while I started the pasta dough. This is the first time I’ve ever made homemade pasta and it certainly was an experience! Even though I got a workout trying to roll the dough super thin, I would say it was still too thick. The flavor of the dough was good, but the once it was boiled the raviolis almost turned to bread. Not a texture I’m used to and a little dense. I will try harder next time to get the dough as thin as possible because it will expand in the cooking process. We used an Italian cheese blend and then added grated Parmesan cheese on top of the blend. The stuffing turned out well. I also learned that more cheese is always better when it comes to stuffing ravioli.

The pasta sauce Jeremy created was very flavorful. We used a packet of spices to flavor it, but the truth is we really didn’t need the packet. We had all the spices that it included in our own spice collection. Jeremy also added some extra spices and some ketchup to the mixture. He is pretty good at getting things into balance.  We both agreed that meal was good, but there were things we know better for next time. Overall, I rated it a 5-6 out of 10 (10 being awesome, 1 being inedible). We also came to the same conclusion when we attempted to make deep dish pizza a few weeks ago.  We might not get it perfect the first time, but we learning lots and having fun in the kitchen together.

After we were finished with cooking experiments, we sat down the kitchen floor and starting carving our pumpkins! Jeremy is super creative when it comes to carving. Every year I’m sadly disappointed with my own carving skills. I’m not sure why I expect to get better each year, but I don’t… My pumpkin looks so sad compared to Jeremy’s two pumpkins. Regardless of my skills, I always love gutting the pumpkin and squishing my hand around in the gooey, seedy insides. This was our first time carving pumpkins with Toby around. It was humorous to watch him smell the pumpkins, lick the pumpkins… try to eat the pumpkins!

It was a very fun and full night in the Scott household! I was certainly tired when I was done from all the focus I put into that pasta and pumpkin! When it comes to pasta – I think I have a bright future. When it comes to pumpkins – I think I need to accept I’m not an artist!

 

Applesauce Spice Cake October 12, 2011

Filed under: Cooking Experiments — Amy Scott @ 12:47 pm

This weekend I decided to do some baking for my life group on Sunday. I’ve been posting pictures of all the yummy treats I’ve been creating and I hadn’t yet had the opportunity to share my goodies with them. They took notice and felt they needed to sample some of my baking! I was happy to accept the challenge.

As I mentioned in a previous blog, I’ve been using applesauce and apples as a theme in a lot of my baking as of late. It’s probably because I have so much of both ingredients around my house right now. I’d already made two different kinds of cookies with applesauce, so this time I decided to go with a spice cake recipe I found.

I love the Betty Crocker app that I have on my phone. That is where I discovered this Applesauce Spice Cake recipe with a Brown Butter Frosting. I couldn’t pass it by! The spice cake was easy to make and it smelled amazing at it baked and cooled. The frosting didn’t come to me as easy, but it still turned out pretty good!

I’ve never really browned butter before and everything I read said that it burned very easily. I’m fairly positive my butter didn’t fully brown, but I was too nervous to leave it on the stove any longer. The frosting was very easy to assemble from that point on. The trick with the frosting is that it sets on the cake pretty quickly. You need to spread it and get it how you like before it hardens.

Jeremy decided that it would be a great idea to sprinkle cinnamon on top of the cake. I’m never opposed to a stronger cinnamon flavor so I let him do it. We didn’t get as even as I would have liked, but it tasted good, so in the end it doesn’t really matter all that much. I would probably just add more cinnamon to the recipe next time and skip the sprinkling.

It’s been a lot of fun challenging myself to try and make new things. I realized I’ll never develop better skills without practice. I’m really enjoying this practice phase of my cooking/baking. Not everything has turned out Food Network worthy, but it’s all been very tasty! Overall, the best part is sharing the food I create with the ones that I love! I hope they have enjoyed the goodies as much I have enjoyed preparing them (and eating them)!

 

Small Beginnings October 10, 2011

Filed under: Recollections — Amy Scott @ 2:51 pm

My love story started with a board and staff barbeque and an email. That might not sound very romantic, but I have learned not look down on small beginnings. Things that seem to be small can grow and develop and that’s exactly what happened!

It was my first month away from home. I had started college in Portland, OR and I had agreed to come home and help me parents as they hosted a board and staff barbeque at their house. I knew that coming home meant helping them set up and clean up once the gathering was over. I dearly loved the staff of my home church and I was excited to spend an evening with them even if I was only invited for manual labor.

That evening, I can remember meeting our new senior pastor for the first time. I can remember talking with my mentor, Jeannie, about a boy I had a crush on at school… Then it happened… the conversation that started it all. My parents had two chinchillas as pets. The pastoral intern, Jeremy, started asking me questions about them and we settled down in my father’s den to look at the little creatures. Our discussion soon turned to school. Jeremy had a lot of questions for me. I knew he that never had “gone” off to college so I figured he just was really interested in knowing what it was like to live on campus and what classes I was taking since he was also a college student taking distance courses. We had a good talk and I can remember his parents were literally out in the car waiting to leave and he was still chatting with me.  Once the night was over, I took it as we had a good conversation and that was that. Nothing more…

I came home again in October for what Multnomah Bible College (now university) called mid-semester break. It was a four day weekend and I was glad to be back home again with family and familiar faces. My dad had asked me to help him in the Sunday morning services as he appreciated the pastors. My dad used the illustration of PAM, the cooking spray, to remember Pastor Appreciation Month. I got to help him pass out cards the staff. Of course, Jeremy was one of the staff members on stage and I remember wondering if he would come to talk to me that morning. He didn’t… I went back to school yet again not really thinking too much about it.

This week, seven years ago, I received an email from Jeremy (this would be the Tuesday after my weekend home). This is what it said:

Hi there,

How’s school going for you?  This probably seems a little strange just getting an email out of nowhere from me.   Over the past few weeks I have found myself thinking back to when I had the chance to talk to you for a while at the Board and Staff BBQ.  I had fun talking to you and wished we could have talked longer.  I realize that you are away at college but I would really like the chance to talk to you more and get to know you more.  I was surprised to see you at church on Sunday and wanted to catch you then, but the only time I found you was in a service while up front.  Anyway, I’m curious to know your thoughts about all this.  I hope you’re having a great week and pray that your classes are going well for you.  ~Jeremy 

I’m pretty sure I read that email a million times. Like most girls, I was reading between the lines. Did this mean he liked me? Did I like him? I had known of Jeremy over the years because we both attended Bethel. Even though he was older than me (by five years, so we were never in youth ministry at the same time), his reputation for being a strong Christian and his heart for ministry were clear. Knowing his character made it easy for me to see that this a good guy and worth getting to know.

I replied to the email and we’ve been in constant communication ever since! I praise God that for 7 years this wonderful man has been in my life! I still look back on those early days of emails and phone calls. It was so simple. Nothing over the top, but those small beginnings lead somewhere really good and I am glad for them. Sweet memories fill my mind as I remember what started 7 years ago!

 

Almost finished and yet just begun October 7, 2011

Filed under: One Thousand Gifts Challenge — Amy Scott @ 11:03 am

A week ago I finished reading One Thousand Gifts for the second time. I’m positive it impacted me just as much reading it the second time around. I realize that I still have so much growth and change I want to see in my attitude and heart. My gift journal sits tallied at 960 gifts. Soon my 1000 gifts goal will be reached. Now that I’m nearing the end of the challenge, I’ve decided that I am not finished. I will not stop counting. The journal is long and I will fill it. I will keep counting the blessings of the Lord and daily remind myself how active the Creator is in my life.  Gift counting has opened my eyes in a lot of ways, but I know that I’m not there yet. Not where I want to be. I will keep counting until I get there or until I die… I guess I’ll be counting for a while in that case!

A certain portion of the book stood out to me this time as I read it. I think it was the key to why I still struggle to find joy while counting gifts. The counting of the gifts is supposed to bring joy to life and it does, but I wanted more joy. I want deeper joy. Something else had to be the issue. Ann’s words hit me hard as  I read, “My own wild desire to protect my joy at all costs is the exact force that kills my joy.” Wow, that is me.  I try to protect my joy. I don’t want it to be tainted or stolen so I hold on to it so tightly that I kill it with my force.

Ann uses the example of a flame. When I try to protect my joy from life’s trials, I’m keeping God’s oxygen away from my flame. In order to let the flame breathe, I need to let go. I need to understand that I will be emptied. When my hands are open to God and His will then joy will be fanned into flame. Ann puts it best when she says, “The secret of joy’s flame: Humbly let go. Let go of trying to do, let go of trying to control… let go of my own way, let go of my own fears.” Again, I just sit here dumbfounded! I need to let go. I can never do enough or control enough to keep my own joy. All the doing and the trying and the holding is what is extinguishing joy’s light in my life.

Ann goes on to say, “I can empty because counting His graces has awakened me to how He cherishes me, holds me, passionately values me. I can empty because I am full of His love. I can trust.” It all comes down to trust. I know from counting gifts that God is good and He loves me. I know that trust is truly believing and living my faith. To not trust God says that I don’t really believe what I say. Can I trust? Can let go and be empty? These are the questions that I wrestle with and desperately want to say YES to…

In one short sentence Ann sums it up, “Only self can kill joy.” Here I’ve been blaming this and that. I’ve been pointing my fingers at external sources. I didn’t realize it, but now I see it clearly. I’ve been killing my joy. I’ve been self-sabotaging living life to the fullest. It’s me! I’m to blame. Not my circumstances. Joy is found in letting go… dying to myself… accepting the hard along with the good.

Like I said before, I am not there yet. Light bulb moments don’t bring instant change to life. They shed light, but it’s up to me to do something with that I find. I know that this change of heart and mind will take practice and will be a repetition of getting it right and getting it wrong. More than ever, I am determined! I will keep counting. I will keep my eyes open. I will let go. I desperately want joy!

 

Rituals October 5, 2011

Filed under: Bible,Simply Me — Amy Scott @ 12:57 pm

I’m very much a creature of habit and routine. I like to know the flow of my day and the routine of my week. The craziness of a life doesn’t always afford me my “normal” schedule, but there are things I try to do everyday regardless of what my schedule looks like. I have started to call these things my rituals. They are a great source of comfort and stability to me. Now not everyday allows me to have them, but for the most part I strive to find time for them.

My rituals have a bit of a flow to them. Not surprising since I’m the routine girl. I start off my ritual time by writing in my gifts journal. I pull this journal out first and start pondering my day thus far. If I can write out my gifts while they are still fresh, it helps make sure I don’t miss something. This isn’t the only time I write in my gifts journal, but it how I start my quiet time and it’s been good to focus on the gifts of God first before I move on to anything else.

Once I have written out all the gifts that come to mind, I switch journals to my prayer journal. My prayer journal is a sacred place where I write long hand letters to God. It is a place where I am open and honest about my emotions and what is going on in my life. I’ve always been better processing my life through words on a page. Writing things out helps me to evaluate and to understand. I’ve been writing in a prayer journal for about 10 years now and it’s a ritual that I have deeply embedded into my existence.

The prayer journal allows to me clear and quiet all the thoughts bouncing around in my head. I have shared my heart and I know I am heard by the One who loves me. Now with a clear mind, I start my Bible reading. I’ve read the Bible through in a year numerous times and this year is no exception. I love following my Bible reading plan and I’ll often read two days at time. The overachiever in me loves to “get ahead” in my reading plan, but this also allows me grace when I miss a day here or there. I know that I won’t fall behind.

The next ritual to follow is reading a chapter or two of a book. I tend to swing from novels to Christian living to leadership enhancement to ministry focused books. Reading relaxes me and inspires me.  I feel like me when I have a book close by or in hand. In fact, I often leave my current book out in the living room so throughout the day when I have time I can stop and read if the moment allows for it. I believe that it’s good to get the influence of others in my life. Whether it is dreaming alongside a novel or being challenged in my leadership capacity, I know that my life is better when my voice isn’t the only one I hear.

I would have to say that the final ritual I have started is this blog. Now this one doesn’t happen every day. Sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn’t. I try to challenge myself to write something whenever I’m home alone or my schedule is freer. Some days are too busy to sort out my thoughts in the blogging world, but for the most part I’m finding that blogging often happens in the middle of my ritual activities. I think this is because my mind is focused and I’m really thinking through life and what matters to me. When I started this blog, I thought for sure I would be writing about all my ministry insight. While I do write about ministry from time to time, I’m learning that there is more to me than “Church Amy” and I have more to offer than what I do in my working capacity. This blog has helped me along in that discovery process.

My rituals are things that I look forward to everyday and I feel better when I have them completed. They are a firm foundation for me to stand on and give me the strength to be a better person throughout the day. It’s important to me that even in the craziness of life that I don’t lose sight of the things I truly need to be the most effective person I can be.

 

Perfect time for making pie! October 3, 2011

Filed under: Cooking Experiments — Amy Scott @ 4:31 pm

This weekend it seemed like pies were being made all over the place! I talked with so many people who decided to make a pie over the weekend. Jeremy and I were included this group of people who flocked to the kitchen with pie in mind!

At the beginning of September, Jeremy and I took our little dog for a drive and went blackberry picking. We know a couple of spots around the area that are pretty good for picking a pie’s worth of berries. The best part of berry picking is doing it together. With Toby along for the trip, it truly felt like a family outing. Despite the scratches from the thorny bushes, it was the highlight of my weekend to spend time in the wonderful weather with my hubby and puppy. Due to the crazy schedule that our month of September held, the blackberries were poured into a zip-lock bag and placed in the freezer until we had time to turn them into pie.

This weekend was the weekend that the blackberries had been waiting for! We were ready to transform them into yummy pie goodness. In years past, I would have sent Jeremy into the kitchen to make the pie on his own, but not this year. In my cooking quest, I am heading into the kitchen every chance I get to try something new and learn more about cooking/baking.  Jeremy and I split the tasks at hand. He made the filling and I made the crust – when our powers combined we had a pie!

I’m pretty sure I got the easier of the two jobs because we decided to make the crust from a Krusteaz mix.  So not entirely from scratch… maybe next time. According to Jeremy, no one can make pie crust as good as his mom and grandma, so why try. I figure we’ll never reach that standard until we try and practice. Next time I’ll attempt to make the crust entirely from scratch.

The pie filling we used was right out of the handy dandy Betty Crocker big, red cookbook. Jeremy added extra flour to the filling because we both agreed that we like a firmer berry pie. We’re not fans of runny pie. He also added some cinnamon to the mix. Just enough so you can taste it, but not enough that it over powers the berries.

Once the pie was assembled, Jeremy brushed the top of the pie with milk and sprinkled some cinnamon sugar over the top. Into the oven it went and the results were fabulous! Making the pie together was a lot of fun. Just like picking the berries, it was fun to do an activity together. We do “work” together a lot because of our job situation, but I’m learning the importance of prioritizing fun things that take place outside of the office.

The pie was a success and it was made even sweeter by the fact that we made it together!

 

Counting chickens… October 1, 2011

Filed under: One Thousand Gifts Challenge — Amy Scott @ 2:35 pm

Okay, you know the saying “don’t count your chickens before they’ve hatched.” Well, I did it… I started to count the chickens and not all of them hatched like I thought they would. No – not real chickens… my gift chickens! Strange way of putting this, I know! Let me explain!

It happened for the first time with gifts 852 and 853. I was jazzed on Thursday. I thought something really good was coming my way and in my excitement I listed it as a gift. My joy was there and it was a blessing in that moment so I wrote it down. However, these gift hadn’t really appeared yet, I just knew it was coming… Well, it didn’t come. By Friday, the gifts that I had written down were just a disappointment. I took it pretty hard.

What do I do now? Is the total on my gift journal off? Do I scratch them from the list and renumber? I’m so puzzled as to what to do. Is it good enough that it was a gift in the moment even if it never became a reality? I don’t know! I’m at a total loss. It might seem like a small thing to some, but to me it’s big. I’m really wrestling with it. Can I count these as gifts on one day when they are disappointment on the next? I’ve certainly learned my lesson though, don’t write down a gift until it really appears. Is the hope of a gift enough to make a gift? What happens if it doesn’t pan out?

 

Autumn Obsession September 29, 2011

Filed under: Simply Me — Amy Scott @ 3:00 pm

I think I’ve made it pretty clear that autumn is my favorite season of the year. I’ve really enjoyed all these sunny days in September, but now that it’s the end of the month, I want things to cool down. I have a bunch of sweaters and fall clothes in my closet that are just waiting to be worn.

Apart from the fun wardrobe changes that came in the fall, I’m very excited by the smells of fall. Pumpkin and cinnamon are two of my favorite things and I love to make my house smell as autumn like as possible this time of year. I use my Scentsy products to create that smell in my home, but I also discovered something fun and new.

I know I shared a while ago about my favorite cleaning products. One of them is Arm and Hammer carpet powder. Normally I use the pet fresh scent because I have a pet (logical, right?). At my last shopping trip to Walmart, I discovered they have a limited edition scent called Autumn Spice. This made me happy on two levels – my cleaning side and my scent obsessed side. I’ve used it once now and I really enjoyed the apple cinnamon scent it left in my home. The boost of freshness mixed with the fragrance of autumn made me a happy camper. I just thought I would share with you my fall find!

 

Applesauce Cookies! September 24, 2011

Filed under: Cooking Experiments — Amy Scott @ 2:41 pm

A couple of weeks ago, I was flipping through my trusty cookie book (the one mentioned in my previous blog). The title “Spiced Applesauce Drop Cookies” caught my attention. Since I didn’t have any applesauce at the time, I flagged the page and knew that was a recipe I would be coming back to! Being back in a somewhat normal routine this week meant that I had my Wednesday night class of girls to teach and a snack would need to be provided. I had purchased a large container of applesauce the day before and I was ready to tackle another cookie experiment.

These cookies turned out amazing! The cinnamon and cloves that are added to the cookies make them taste like a cup of apple cider. The recipe called for raisins and walnuts, but with the crowd I was serving these cookies to I thought it might be a little too grown up of a taste palette for them. I was worried the lack of raisins and walnuts would cause the cookies to bake up funny, but they turned out just fine! They are extremely fluffy, soft and moist! I love baking with apples and cinnamon during the fall. It makes my house smell wonderful and these are the flavor combinations I crave this time of year. Each cookie tasted like autumn.

I didn’t really think through how much applesauce my cookies would be needing and I found myself left with a rather large container of applesauce that was still almost full. According the the label, it’s best to use the applesauce within a week of being opened. I love applesauce, but I knew that I couldn’t eat all the applesauce in a week’s span of time. I would simply need to look for another opportunity to bake with applesauce.

I leave tomorrow for a three day retreat with the staff of Bethel Church. I decided that this trip away would be the perfect time to bake another new treat and not have to eat the results entirely on my own. Yesterday, I pulled out all my cookbooks and started to search the index for applesauce. I found a couple of really yummy sound recipes and I settled on “Iced Applesauce Oatmeal Cookies” from my Martha Stewart cookie book.

Just as before, I made some changes to the recipe. This cookie called for golden raisins. I’m not a huge fan of raisins (no matter what the color) so I decided to use chunks for fresh apple instead. I also added a little bit of cinnamon to the batter for an extra fall flavor. The cookies by themselves were very moist and soft. The apple chunks make you feel like you’re eating a pie or a crisp. I did decide to take them up a notch by adding an icing glaze. The glaze the book pairs with the cookie called for pure maple syrup. Now I’m a Mrs. Butterworth’s fan and I’m pretty sure that is no where near pure maple syrup! I took the glaze another direction.  Just this week I reading on a friend’s blog (http://sweetmaggiemays.wordpress.com) how she added cinnamon to regular Betty Crocker frosting.  I had a container of vanilla frosting in my pantry so I decided to add cinnamon to it and turn it into a glaze.

I always have the hardest time when I try to drizzle glaze over cookies. I have no skill with it. Most of the time it makes the cookie look it’s been in war with frosting and lost the battle. I decided to use my pampered chef frosting bottles to help me achieve a cleaner appearance. I mixed the cinnamon and the frosting together first. I did this to taste and after the flavor was right, I put the bowl in the microwave for 20 seconds and melted the frosting. While it was still warm and liquid, I poured the frosting into the bottle and set to work glazing my cookies!

The final product turned out very well. I used my husband as a guinea pig and he was very pleased with the cookies. Now he has to wait until staff retreat to get more of them! Poor guy! I’m excited to share these cookies with my co-workers and I hope they enjoy the flavors of fall as much I do. Baking for others is a great joy! It’s been fun to work with applesauce as a theme ingredient. I have a couple of cake recipes that are calling my name when I get back from retreat! I look forward to trying and learning new things in the kitchen!

 

Adventures in Chicago! Part 6 September 23, 2011

Filed under: Family Time,Travels — Amy Scott @ 2:35 pm

The final installment of the Adventures in Chicago blog series. Oh my! Just like the trip, I am sad that it all has to come to an end!  Maybe I need to visit another new city so I keep up my travel blogs. It’s been fun to recount the details and relive the moments! Here are my ramblings on our final hours in the Windy City.

I’m sure by now you’re guessing that our last day in Chicago started off with Starbucks… and it sort of did… April and Jeremy really like Caribou Coffee and try to visit their stores when they are in an area that has them. So we set off on Thursday morning in search of the closest Caribou Coffee. Turns out its actually right next to a Starbucks! I needed one more purchase so I could get my free drink, so I headed over to Starbucks while the others went to Caribou. What I did next was very brave – a took a competing beverage into Caribou! They didn’t kick me out so we spent the next little bit of time enjoying our morning beverages at Caribou.

As usual, we had some time to kill before the places we planned to visit opened. After a little more research I discovered that the Cultural Center was right next to our coffee shop and it was open at 8:00am! That was good news! The Cultural Center used to be the old public library and it has two beautiful stain glass domes in it. Admission is free and along with the beautiful architecture of the building, they have local artwork displayed on the many levels.

Once we had completed our tour of the Cultural Center we took off down the street toward Barnes and Noble. I needed a new journal and this one of my favorite places to shop for journals. The building that B&N was located in was also used for a local university. B&N doubled as their student store there was all sorts of university merchandise everywhere. It was well stocked with school supplies and textbooks. It was the strangest set up I’ve ever seen. It was certainly interesting and I had a fun time exploring.

We spent the rest of the morning, looking through shops. Jeremy and I both started our fall clothing shopping which is weird for us, because we don’t normally buy “practical” stuff on tourist trips. We had room in our suitcases so decided to go for it. It’s hard to be beat a well-stocked store with good prices. We didn’t have a lot of time in the morning before Dad’s classes ended, so after the shops, it was back to the hotel to check in with Dad.

Dad didn’t have the opportunity to souvenir shop with us the day before, so we stopped by a store we thought he would like. He successfully found some souvenirs of his own and we went around the corner for lunch location. Since we enjoyed the Corner Street Bakery so much at the Field Museum, we decided to check out their store next to our hotel. I had an amazing apple chicken sausage panini (which I copied Jeremy in ordering) and a slice of pumpkin pound cake. Oh my goodness, I couldn’t finish both of them, but I’m so glad I ordered them! Amazing! I’ve never had pumpkin in pound cake form before and it was worth every bite. I even shared with Jeremy so he could experience the goodness!

We finished our lunch in time to head back to the hotel for check-out. Our hotel offered to keep our bags secure until we were ready to leave. Since our flight wasn’t until evening, we had some time between check out and when we needed to be at the airport. With the hotel storing our bags for us, we didn’t have to take them along with us everywhere we went.

Chinatown had been originally on our list as a place to visit and then had been taken off the list because it wasn’t super close to anything. Since we had a couple of hours before we needed to meet our airport shuttle, we decided to put Chinatown back on the agenda. April really struck gold in Chinatown when it came to shopping. She walked away from our time there with many Chinese treasures! We went through the stores and the thing that stood out to me was the smell of them! Some were very intense and very unique smelling! Also we saw some pretty unusual things for sale… Like really expensive dried shark fin and caterpillar fungus.

Once we felt like we had roamed Chinatown to the fullest we headed back into the heart of downtown so Dad could stop by Millennium Park. The boys had mentioned how cool Crown Fountain was and my dad wanted to see the Cloud Gate since it had been featured in a movie he had recently seen. Along the way we got Starbucks because it was very cold with the wind and it was nice to have something warm in our hands!

We got back to the hotel and claimed our bags. We didn’t have a lot of time to venture off and do something else, so we hung out at the hotel and just chatted until our airport shuttle arrived. Everyone was very tired on the ride to the airport. My dad chatted away with the driver, Jeremy and Andrew stared out the window, Mom dozed, and April and I chatted in the back seat. It was a hard conversation because I knew once we got out of the shuttle we would have to part ways and say good-bye.

At the airport, our group of 6 had to split. Andrew and April needed to look for the shuttle back to their car and we needed to check our bags and begin the long process of going through security.  I don’t think anyone was really ready to keep going forward, but it had to be done. Hugs were exchanged and we talked about seeing each other again in December. Knowing that it would be another 3.5 months before I saw my sister and her hubby again was hard on me. I will admit that I was in a bit of funk as we waited for airplane and flew home. It just didn’t feel right to be flying home and not having them be with us like they had been the whole trip.

Overall, it was amazing trip! We got to see and do all we planned and more! We walked a ton and ate a lot of good food. It was an awesome experience to all be together and explore a new city. The memories made on this trip were priceless. I sure hope the warm glow of those happy memories keeps me through to December! Family is a precious gift and this trip was a wonderful family reunion! I look forward to our next reunion – here in the Northwest!