On July 4th Scarlett and I flew to Iowa to visit my family for a week. We used my Grandma and Grandpa Hartley's 60th wedding anniversary party as a reason to get back there.
We flew out of Provo. Yes, Provo Airport. random, right!? It is the smallest airport I could ever imagine. They just opened a flight with Frontier that goes to Denver. It was almost $100 cheaper for us to fly out of Provo than the usual Salt Lake City. It flies into Des Moines though, so it's a 2 hour drive for someone to pick us up. Scarlett was amazing on flight out there. The flight wasn't full so she got to sit in the empty seat next to us. We had a 45 min layover in Denver and then she slept the whole 2nd flight. Seriously, it was perfect. I can't believe she did so well.
My parents picked us up. I love my mom and my dad. I love going home still, and it is getting kind of different since I have a daughter of my own... Life has changed a ton since I lived in my home 10 years ago! It was July 4th, so that night we went out to watch the fireworks in Coralville.
Tuesday my mom kept Scarlett, took her to work down at the Dental Lab. I hear they had a fun day all together, mom, dad, and Scarlett. I went with my sister, Kara, to Prairie Du Chien WI to get my older sister Alicia and her two kids. They spent the rest of the week in Iowa City with us. I'm pretty bummed I didn't take pictures of them all out in the kiddie pool on the deck. But they had fun out in the humid hot days in the water.
My brother Aaron and I. . . he is growing out his hair... to donate.
Alicia and I spent some time organizing family pictures and getting them printed for frames to display at the wedding anniversary party. I worked on a few old small 3x4" photos that were from the 50s when they were married. I was able to blow them up, clear them with different contrasts/exposure using Adobe's lightroom and photoshop. I even added some color to a black and white so the maid of honor's dress was yellow, grandpa's suit was navy, they had red rose boutonnieres and bouquets. It was pretty neat, if I do say so myself.
The party was awesome! They had the bakery up the street make a replica of the original wedding cake. It was delicious too! My aunt Joette gave me a few journal entries to share about stories of the kids growing up and memories. I think that was my favorite part. They had a display of my grandpa's airplanes (he built them after flying them in the war) and my grandma's quilts. She does amazing, amazing work. I would say about 100 people came. 40 of us were family. It was a great night, I'm so glad I could be there for it.
I drove the 3 kiddos home ... it was a 45 min drive. It went pretty well, and they were asleep by the time we got back to Iowa City.
The bakery my parents ordered the anniversay cake from gave us a dozen baked goods for us to sample, Scarlett enjoyed them...
Saturday we had a Hartley Family dinner, so we were with all my cousins again. We played mario kart and visited a lot. My parent's basement flooded about 2 years ago and they have completely redone it. Dad has a very nice set up going on down there now! It's a home theater , a nice big screen with surround sound, grandma-made curtains. The carpet is as plush as carpet can be, and there are big love sacks to just plop down into and watch a movie or play the Wii. Then the other half of the basement is a kids play room. Scarlett loved that! 
Scarlett and mom with GiGi Hartley and GGPa Hartley.
Sunday after church and dinner Scarlett and I drove to Waterloo to visit with GGma and Pa Oesterle. Also, Seth's parents - Grandma and grandpa Burke came down from Michigan just to see us! Scarlett loves to play with her grandparents, it was so nice to see and visit with them. We spent Monday going to the pet store and Mcdonald's for chicken nuggets. Scarlett wasn't feeling well all day and had a very hard time napping. So unfortunately she didn't play much as she usually does. But I hope it was worth it for Seth's parents to come to see us, it's quite a drive from Michigan. I tried to take a ton of pictures, which are all on my ipod, I need to figure out how to get them off.
We went back to Iowa City late Monday night. On Tuesday we tried to make the most of our last day with my parents. We went to the pet store to see the cats, dogs, rabbits, etc. I have never been to a pet store as awesome as the one in Iowa City by sycamore mall. You can hold a lot of animals, and they always have a great selection of cats and dogs. It was raining off and on, but we went with my parents to the ped mall downtown and Scarlett ran through the fountain. Iowa City has 3 or 4 random pianos placed around downtown for the public to play. I think it is pretty cool! Scarlett had a fun time plunking down on the ivories. We got some yummy gelato and headed back home for Scarlett to get a nap in.
Later that night we went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner with my parents and Brian and Gloria. On the way to the restaurant Brian told us he had proposed to Gloria!! And they are getting married!!! We are soooooo excited to have Gloria in our family, I don't barely even know her but I think she is so great. I'm excited to have another wedding in the family too! Very, very exciting.
After dinner we went and fed the ducks at City Park. Too bad it had been raining so the mini carnival/train wasn't open. But the ducks were a hit. There were a ton of them and we were just barely parking when they all flocked to us for some bread. Scarlett loved it.
Wednesday morning with grandma...
Wednesday morning hanging out at the lab before heading out for the airport.
Wednesday we headed to the airport early afternoon. Scarlett didn't have as great of a time as it was when we flew out to Iowa. But we survived. It was nice to be back with our dad/husband. we sure missed him. It was a fun mommy/daughter adventure. 
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