Off to North Dakota (you betcha!)

Sadly, Josh's grandfather passed away on Monday, August 11th. We knew this was coming, however, we were expecting to still have a few weeks with him! Although this was a very sad time, it was nice to get the family all together so that I could get to know them better.
We packed up and headed out to North Dakota on Tuesday afternoon. Just keep in mind that we found this news out on Monday, and left on Tuesday.... meaning I had to make lesson plans for Tuesday-Friday by Monday afternoon... have all the copying done, and make sure to convince my students to behave with a sub for 4 days. hahahahaha.... you can imagine how late I was at school.
Anyway, we headed out of Phoenix on Tuesday, switched planes in Minneapolis, and then landed in Grand Forks late Tuesday evening. Josh's parents picked us up from the airport and thankfully his Aunt Dee had packed us dinner for the ride home... I was starving by the time our second plane landed.
We hung around with family on Wednesday and picked up cousin Kristi from the airport in Grand Forks... and we went shopping at Target! We had the viewing and funeral on Thursday. I've never been to a military funeral, but it was amazing. The dedication that soldiers have to their families and their country is moving. Josh's Uncle Brad and cousin Steven lead the procession to the cemetary on their motorcycles which made Josh even MORE jealous of them! Now I'm hearing all about how Josh really needs a bike and how much money it would save us since they get really good gas mileage. (I think he forgets to factor in the actual COST of the BIKE!). ugh.

Kristi & Tanya

Josh & Aunt Verna

Lori & Aunt Verna

Friday we said good bye to most of the family that had come into town and then hung around the house and gave Hannah, the dog, a bath!
On Saturday we wrote thank you notes to all of those who came to the funeral and/or sent condolences. We headed out to the farm in Auburn to see the house and the progress that Josh and his dad had made on the trees. We had dinner with Aunt Patty at Marketplace and then headed home to get a couple of hours of sleep before leaving at 3am to get to the airport to head home. Josh and I caught a 5am flight out of Grand Forks and landed in Phoenix just before 10am. It was so nice to be home early and have the rest of the day to do laundry, unpack, and play with the dogs.
My mom was nice enough to come down on Friday and stay with our dogs for the weekend. They were on their own during the week though and believe it or not, they were really good! (Ok, except for the part where Duke peed on Tamara when she came to feed them... whooops!). Tamara came over once a day to make sure the dogs had food and water, but other than that, they were in charge!
So... now it is Tuesday and we are attempting to catch up on our sleep, laundry, and my school work. Unless you are a teacher or are the spouse/child of a teacher, you have no idea what a classroom looks like after 4 days of a substitute and 130 8th grade students! Yikes!

Hannah