Well, being home in Idaho is a good feeling. Something about being out west is, well, indescribable. You have to see it for yourself. The sky really is bigger out here, just like they say. The sun is always shining, and the sky is a beautiful bright blue. Every direction I look, I see mountains in the distance. There are cracks all over the dry dusty ground, and sagebrush grows in every inch of land that isn't plowed and irrigated. The fields and farms are so beautiful...but it's also great to be so close to a city like Idaho Falls. It's so pretty there, everything looks so nice and orderly. So many great places to eat :) Everyone in Idaho is friendly, just like you'd expect out west. Something about the air out here just makes people happy....

I got here late Wed, July 20. I was supposed to get here July 19th, or so I thought, but apparently my parents read my itinerary wrong, and booked my flight for a day later than I expected. My brother was supposed to meet me in the DC airport, but of course he didn't get there until the next day. I called my mom when I got into Atlanta, and she answered the phone by screaming, "Where are you!?!?" When I told her where I was, to my dismay she replied, "You aren't supposed to be there to tomorrow!!!" Needless to say I was a little stressed. My debit card wouldn't work, and neither would my parents' ancient ATM card that I have been carrying around. I had only $10 in cash. My dad made me reservations in a hotel in DC, but I didn't have enough money for a taxi to get there. I finally got a ride from Jamie, a girl who went to Guatemala with me. Her parents live near DC and they took me. I stayed there that night, took a taxi that my dad had paid for back to the airport, and picked up my brother...how ironic. Then we went to a different hotel, and ate pizza and watched TV all night and all day till our 4:30 flight from DC to Cincinatti, Cincinatti to Salt Lake, and Salt Lake to Idaho Falls...where my family was waiting to greet me. Elijah handed me a bunch of daisies that he had grown in the garden, and watered himself every day :) My dad had made me a poster that said "Welcome back, ASHLEY! You've been gone 2 long!" It was so sweet.

This break seems so much shorter to me than Christmas break did. I haven't been much busier, but I guess I am just enjoying the summer here more than I did the winter. Probably because I don't like to be cooped up in the house. Last week, all my brothers and sisters were at camp besides Elijah, so it was just us and our parents. I have done a lot of yardwork (raking dead grass up, since our sprinkler system broke), workin on a few projects for my parents, and babysitting. I made a sign for our front door out of a piece of wood. I burned "OYERS" and "ay the LORD bless thee and keep thee" on the front, and varnished it. It looks pretty good for my first woodburning project. I also am in the middle of painting some ancient metal garden animals that my mom dug up out of the old flowerbed when she planted all her fruit bushes this summer, and I am doing all the interior of my dad's hummer, which he is almost finished with. His excuse is that he doesn't have time to learn how to sew...maybe he's just a little too macho. Ha. Anyways, I think it will turn out great :) I cut all the pieces today, now we just have to make sure everything fits, and then I sew everything together. All he has left to do is connect the fuel pump, and it will run. After that, all he needs is paint, and then whatever other extra gadgets he decides to add on. I'm excited for him; he is finally making his dream come true.

My parents went off on a "romantic getaway" this past weekend, and I watched the little monster boy. I'm glad they did it, because they really needed to have some time alone together, but I had a hard time with the boy and also our new puppy. He's a gladiator dane, which means half great dane and half bull mastiff. He's 5 months old, but already over 80 lbs. He'll be over twice that by the time he's finished growing. He's the sweetest dog I've ever had, but he likes to destroy things. I spent the whole weekend chasing him around and cleaning up his messes. I was exhausted by the time my parents finally came home.

That whole week was really peaceful, but now everyone is home from camp. I've gotten to spend a lot of quality time with Masha--shopping and such. She's really a blessing to me, and I am so thankful for her. The boys haven't changed a bit. Well, they have gotten a lot taller and muscles are coming up out of nowhere, but they are the same lazy, silly, ridiculous boys. Now that they are all home, the house is a lot louder and a lot dirtier :P I don't mind though, it's a little more interesting at least.

I guess the downside about my time here is my health. I have a few things wrong with me and the doctors aren't quite sure what they are. I probably have parasites from the food in Guatemala, but as soon as my test results come in, I will be able to take meds and get rid of them. The real problem is my heart. The old ticker's just not what it used to be ;) I've been going in for all kinds of tests for the past week, and they still don't know exactly what's wrong. The doctors and my parents are worried, so that makes me worry too. Right now I'm wearing a 48-hour heart monitor to record all the times my heart does something strange. I have about a million vials of blood (or so it seems) that are being tested now. I have never had a hard time with needles, but I gotta tell you, I'm getting sick of them poking holes in me and taking all my blood. Hopefully after I turn in this heart monitor they will figure out what the problem is so I can go back to school and not worry about it. If they can't figure it out, then I have to wear a different monitor for a whole month while I'm at school, which I am not thrilled about. Then I have to worry about getting rides to a heart specialist while I'm there, and I don't think there is one anywhere near my school. Let's just hope everything turns out to be minor and can be fixed easily.

Anyway, it's dinner time, so maybe I'll update more later.