Last year, Steve and I took a day trip to California to celebrate our anniversary. I was skeptical, but it ended up being such a fun trip, although quick. Our kids are young and involved and Steve and I are busy and it’s hard to get away without missing out on something.

A while back, Steve suggested we go see our friends, the Owens, in Colorado. I usually see her most summers when we’re both back in Idaho visiting family. But it had been a while since Steve had seen them and our schedules weren’t lining up for this summer.

So today we took a day trip to see friends. (And because life is busy, especially the last week before school ends, we changed the flight last night so we would return earlier this evening to see a mission call opening and Hallie’s powderpuff game.)

They picked us up from the airport and took us to Garden of the Gods outside of Colorado Springs and we walked around and admired the unique beauty.

We drove and talked. We hiked and talked. We ate and talked. And when it was time to head back to the airport it felt like we had only scratched the surface of all the things we needed to catch up on. In college we’d sit on each other’s couches and talk for hours on end. Nothing has changed. Except perhaps our topics. It used to be careers. It’s shifted to children. And before long we’ll be discussing our health concerns! Life moves quick.

As luck would have it – while we were hiking I got a call from the school nurse informing me Briggs was not feeling well. It was the end of the school day but she didn’t want to put him on the bus. So Hallie went and grabbed him and took care of him while we were away. I can’t remember the last time I’ve picked up a kid from school who didn’t feel well. It’s been years. But the day we’re not around would most definitely be the day he wouldn’t feel well. 🙂

On top of that, at the airport we watched as they cleaned up a fuel spill next to our plane which delayed us a bit. We pulled up at home with just 6 minutes to spare. Perfect timing. I’m so glad we moved that flight so we could be home tonight. There’s never a great time to step away from life but today we capitalized on the short time we had.