Escape From Iowa...literally, we took our Escape

We drove out of Iowa in our Ford Escape on June 12th, but the inevitable happened...our fun family-filled vacation came to an end, and on July 10th we returned to our home in the corn country known as Iowa. We enjoyed our little escape from the humidity and "everydayness" of our life in Iowa, but at the close of our western adventure we were ready for our usual lives to resume. Here is a picture recap of our Escape from Iowa.

Okay, so this first picture is of a car we saw during one of our stops on the way to Idaho. This poor car has a boo-boo...I hope that bandaid makes it feel better...ha.

We broke the trip to Idaho into 2 days! Thankfully, our friends Nicky and TJ let us stay at their house in Lincoln, Nebraska! They were so fun and nice, and as you can see, Emma enjoyed the attention from Kaylee and Malia!
Our first weekend in Idaho we celebrated Father's Day and Ben's birthday! Check out that cake my mom and I made...and nevermind that it was leaning a bit...it was "scrumtrelescent"
Here is my Dad and Emma. Emma would try to copy everything Grandpa said! And check out the background...that is the view from my parent's deck! I love that view...I miss it!
Here is Emma and her new bestfriend (besides her white teddy). My Mom held Emma for over 2 weeks straight! And Emma was so sad to leave Grandma...she actually cried when we had to leave...sad, but so sweet!
Ben spent most of his time on the golf course! He is getting really good!...one day he and my brother, Mike, and Nephew, Alec, played 33 holes! And Ben and I played with our friends Sterling and Ellen Davis. We played in Poky and in Rexburg...on 2 different occasions (just in case you were wondering).
I enjoyed golfing during the break, too. I didn't get to play nearly as much as Ben because I was a Mary Kay machine during the trip (more on that later), but I loved playing with Ben. He would always give me good encouragement if I had a bad shot. In this picture I actually have my Invisalign in...you can't tell...because its supposed to be invisible...ha. I was way excited to get Invisalign because my bite needs aligning...perfect.
Okay, so I think I did 7 Mary Kay parties during my trip...thats right...tax write off!...did I mention that our trip was 3700 miles? But more importantly, I was finally able to give facials to my family and friends (and a ton of my mom's friends) back home. This picture is of my sister-in-law Elizabeth, my Grandma Berrey, and my Aunt Dawn after our facial party...lookin good girls!!!
We spent the last week of our trip in Provo, Utah. We arrived at midnight and Emma woke up when we got her out of the car. And so of course Ben's mom, Becky, wanted to hold her. I can tell that Emma was still in a sleepy daze because we put the sunglasses on her and she actually kept them on! And check out the mohawk!...we gave her a bath right before leaving Poky.
Here are a few fun pictures of Emma I took in my parent's yard after church. Thanks for the outfit, Emily!

Here Emma is saying goodbye to Uncle Dave (my brother) and Aunt Elizabeth. They only got to stay a few days in Poky...for Dave's 10 year high school reunion.

Lets see...a few other highlights from Poky were BBQing on my parent's deck, seeing Sterling and Ellen so much, seeing old high school friends (Sam and Shauna!), just relaxing, playing the piano, helping my Grandma, and having lunch with my Aunt Dawn.

A few fun highlights from our Utah time were hanging out with Ben's Mom, sister Emily, JR, and Kayla Ray, hanging out with our friends Ryan and Erin (and Sadie) and going to Sadie's baby blessing, going to lunch with my mom and her sisters and my Grandma Eyring (and giving them Mary Kay facials, too), seeing my Little One, Lupita, and her hubby Jason so much.

Sometimes everyone just needs an escape from real-life...and our Escape literally took us far far away for a while. I certainly wouldn't consider Iowa confinement or anything, but we do consider it a "temporary" home.