July 8th

I can't believe it's been 16 months since I have been to Michigan. I thankfully have been able to see my parents since then, but I miss my sister (and occasionally my brother!). Crystal and I are both planning trips there for the summer. I went back and forth between driving and flying and with how many miles are on our cars, flying won. Due to some heavy financial "burdens" we've had lately (I will talk about that later), we decided that I would go alone this time. I bought my ticket from DFW to DTW, but I haven't booked my flight home yet. The flight there has a lay-over in St. Louis of all places (an airport I am NOT fond of, but I will deal). I'm still debating on what airline to take and it wasn't any cheaper to book it round trip either way I went. I'm being a cheapskate because I don't want to pay a single cent more in fees for anything. These luggage fees are just insane considering I'm paying nearly $75 more for this ticket than I normally would. I pre-packed to make sure I could fit all of my clothes into my carry-on luggage and I managed to fit it all. On the way home, however, I may fly Southwest so I can check a bag for free. I'm going to pack a duffel bag flat in my carry-on and stuff it full of my clothes for the trip home. I'll check that and bring anything I buy home with me in my carry-on. It saves me money and the flight home is non-stop. So, I definitely leave for Detroit on July 8th and I'm pretty sure I am coming home on July 22nd (but at 6:30 in the morning).

As for the financial "burden" I was talking about, we just bought new windows. I cannot wait until they are installed because looking out of my old ones makes me depressed! We went with top-of-the-line windows that are eco-friendly and all of that. They are double hung, including the huge picture window in our kitchen, so they will be a breeze to clean. None of our windows currently have screens either, so it will be so nice to be able to open them (which will probably be in the fall, as it's in the 90's here already). Our electricity bill will be pleasant to receive those first few months too. This is the first big project we've started in the house. It's hard to believe we closed a year ago!

Things are good around here, we've been keeping very busy. My calling keeps me on my toes, I once spent 6 straight hours on my computer e-mailing, making bulletin posts, organizing our calendar year for the Ward. It's great, I love it! I'm not being sarcastic either, I really do enjoy this. I used to spend whole weekends organizing my room. I wish I were that motivated about things now in my house...at least I can be with my calling.