we're baaaaaack!

for all you coloradians that have put your lives on hold while the mcqueen's were on holiday-carry on. we've safely returned after our week and a half long utah-idaho vacation. we're all glad to be back home and trying to get into some sort of routine but the kids have been out of it for so long we may never see another eight o'clock bedtime again. matt keeps telling me it's okay in the eternal scheme of things to sacrifice bedtime for family get togethers. i'm not sure if he's right. :) it was fun to be back on the river as we've been away for two years now. the kids had a blast and it reminded me so of my childhood summers spent in this house and playing on this lawn and stripping in that mudroom to prevent even the smallest speck of sand from entering said house. you have to have know my grandmother to understand that last line.



in this top picture you'll see my whole imediate family--every tiny tiny member (including 3 in utero) i didn't think we could get much bigger but it's true. this doesn't include all 100 or so of us jergensens that swarmed the tiny southeastern idaho town of st. anthony this week.

the next picture is my aunt malee with all of her great neices and nephews. this woman is the favorite of all the kids you see here and some 35 neices and nephews of her own. she keeps everyone in line and has been known to let certain neices and nephews sneak out to hit the booming metropolis of rexburg idaho after grandma had confined them all to the house, starving as they were. (thanks, mal)

its so fun to have matt and my kids see the places and meet the people that shaped my youth. as a kid, i would cry as we drove out of st. anthony, another summer surrounded by crazy cousins and even crazier grandma, gone. a whole year of school preventing my return. we were all drawn there--loving every minute--and now as adults we still are coming back--loving that our kids are loving every minute. for the jergensen clan, this place is a little slice of heaven. and when we all are there together it really is heaven. thanks everyone. we'll see you in two!