Well, well, well. Look who decided to blog.

Ok, I know. I left without any warning. I could make up an excuse as to why I left town without a goodbye and evidently too quickly to remember to take my beloved Mac with me. I could, but I won't. Because the truth is, it just slipped my mind to mention that I was going on vacation. And that I was PURPOSELY not bringing my computer with me in order to "unplug" for a little while. My intentions in unplugging were pure, to actually write in a notebook in hopes that it would encourage the creativity to flow and to read some of the books that are piling up.

I was successful in reading and the writing, well, there was some writing. It may not be the inspiring, eloquent, fresh and witty writing I hoped to produce. But it is writing nevertheless. And some of it may even make an appearance on this blog. If you are lucky.

Anyway. Vacation was fun, relaxing, blah blah blah. All the stuff vacations should be. It wasn't all play though. I went for work purposes...and I guess I worked a little. But mostly it was play.

Today I went to my little brother's Court of Honor ceremony where he accepted his Eagle Scout badge. For those of you unfamilar with the Boy Scouting world, Eagle Scout is a BIG deal. It's the highest rank you can get and (as I found out today) only 1 out of every 50 scouts every reach Eagle.

So, it was a big deal. Especially to my parents. And it was an exceptionally rare thing to see my brother, a really funny yet quiet kid get up and give a speech about his experience in scouting and what it has taught him about life. When my mom turned to glance at me, she smiled as tears welled up in my eyes. Because I have spent the better part of my life thinking of this kid as someone I needed to protect, to guide, to worry about, to scold when he stepped out of line, and to lead. I showed him how to build a good fort with couch cushions and made sure he never went too far from home when playing outside with the neighbors. And this little kid, who now at 6'2 towers over me, doesn't need his big sister to protect him. In fact, I'm pretty sure that if I was in physical danger, he would be the one to protect me. And it is just an overwhelming feeling of love and pride and all that mushy crap that you never realize you will feel for your siblings as you all become adults.

Wanna see some pictures? Ok good. It's getting a little too serious in here.



Not a great one, but that cup of coffee? Was spilled shortly after the picture was taken. On my brand. new. WHITE. shirt.



Zach getting one of his many citations.

And now for something completely different....



OoooO. Pretty Arionza mountains. And airplane wing. But more importantly, look. Mountains!




This is Luke. Or, my job for the week of vacation. Yeah, it's a pretty damn cute job.

Alright. I'm still jet-lagged and need to do laundry. 1 load down, 76 to go.