Where on earth have I been...

Wow, I have finally gotten home. It took a long time, but here I am. I have been here now for almost a week. I left good old Sioux Center on the evening of the fifteenth, and got on the train to go to Grand Junction. We got there in the early evening of the next day after getting stuck behind a freight train that had broken down. The temperature was a bit of a shock, coming from temperatures in teh 60's and ending up in temperatures running in the 90's. It was wonderful. That week was spent mainly hanging out at the Sunderlands house with a few preparations being done for the wedding and the arrival of many more guests. It was wonderful that the Sunderland's had a backyard pool, and we deffinately put it to use. Thusday of that week was cleaning day as most of the wedding guests would be arriving Thursday evening or Friday morning, so we arrived at the Sunderland home in the morning, and with all of us there we cleaned the house, front porch, back patio, lawn etc all within about an hour. The bride and groom of course had slipped away that morning for a quiet date and managed to show up just after we finished cleaning...how convenient. Friday brought on the rehearsal and the rehearsal dinner. The dinner was wonderful. After that we all hung out at Sunderland's with almost all of the out of town guests as they had a big BBQ for all of us. While the men were out grilling we had the only rain of our whole time there, and it was a quick thunderstorm. It passed and we still had a big picnic outside, played mini golf on the course the Sunderland boys had created, and swam in the pool. We all then dispersed to our different hotels and appartments to get well rested for the next day. The wedding was at one thirty, so the morning was spent trying to get the entire family through one shower, eating breakfast/lunch and going to buy groceries, and then trying to get everyone dressed and out the door on time. The entire ceremony was only about eighteen minutes long. Short sweet and to the pooint, but the pastor did mess up once, as he was about to introduce the newly married couple he said, "Timothy and Catherine are no longer one but two..." Catherine and Timothy both started laughing, as did most of the guests and the pastor. After the wedding ceremony there was a pie reception in the church basement with tons of pictures being taken, and then eventually everyone dispersed until the dinner reception which people bagan arriving for at Sunderland's around 4:30. THe reception went really well, and the food was delicious. Again time was spent minigolfin and in the pool. The Bride and groom participated int he minigolf, but not the swimming. We eventually saw off Timothy and Catherine, and then talked for a little while longer before all the exhausted guests said goodbye to each other and departed ways. That is how I got my new sister...how fun!
My family was up early the next morning and trying to fit all our luggage into the van. My father eventually managed and we were off at around 6:45 Colorado time. We decided to drive straight through to get home, approximately a 31 hour drive. At about 6 the next morning you are beginning to believe this was a stupid idea, but in actuallity it was nice to get home on time in the early afternoon, so we could settle back into home, and then get to bed ontime so my dad and two of my sisters could be a little better rested for school the next day.
The last week was spent at home being increddibly lazy, reading for fun and working on a project I was supposed to finish a year ago.
I officailly start work today, but for this week I only have to head out to camp oneday. The rest of the days I pretty much don't have to work ( I will make up all the hours later when I am working 24/7 for the rest of the summer) During this week I am supposed to think of how to decorate the dining hall, chapel and entryway in a superhero theme, but so far the ideas are few and far between. Any suggestions, let me know. I also have to try out a bunch of the summer crafts so that we can see if they will work for the kids. That is always interesting. I am still trying to figure out why unartistic me gets assigned to all these artsy tasks, but I guess I will manage...I did last year.
I love my camp job, and I can't wait to get at it more, but every once in a while I wished I had a 8-5 job so I could see my family of friends. Of course, I get to end the summer and go back to school and tell everyone I loved my job, even though I only get paid for 35 hours a week and work way more than that. Hey, I don't think I can complain, I get paid to go to camp all summer. We are still slightly short staffed this year, we need a director for teen camp as well as speakers for Senior Boys and Senior Girls. Hopefully we find those otherwise my boss threatened (jokingly) that I would have to do it with the lifeguard (Megan) Yeah, I can totally see me directing a camp, and speaking at camp...right, me the introvert kicking in real quick here. Anyways, we have been mega short staffed before, and God always seems to provide the staff we need, sometimes even the day of or right before staff training. Of course if you know of anyone in this remote corner of the world that we should talk to let me know.
Well, I guess that brings you pretty much up to date on what has been going on since I last updated. Who knows how ling it will be again. Dial up is killing me, and with my camp hours, I never know when I will be able to sit down and type, though I will have to make time since I will be getting Psyc 371 credit and that requires me to write weekly journals.
Well, I hope you areall doing well, adn I will try to update you a little more faithfully.