ROAD TRIP!!!!

The new school year is almost upon us, and I realized it was the perfect time to take a quick trip to Idaho to visit Jessica, Ashley, and families before everyone got too busy for such things.

To my surprise, Megan immediately volunteered to come along and keep me company.  I was even more amazed when she actually popped out of bed at the crack of dawn and got ready to go without any encouragement from me.

Hmm.  You don't think Megan had an ulterior motive in wanting to come, do you?

The trip through Montana is really beautiful.

I've never seen things looking so green in August.

Whenever Mom drove up to Billings to visit us, she always said the drive was so beautiful she didn't need to go to Germany anymore.  She just needed to make that drive.  Then she went to Germany anyway. 

They scenery is so gorgeous, the pictures even look appealing when taken through the dirty window or with Megan or my hand randomly aiming out the open window as we zipped down the road.

After suffering through the required wait for road construction,

we finally made it to Idaho

and to the Backman's cute little mansion in Idaho Falls.

I made sure Megan got plenty of dog-lovin' time in so that I don't need to get her a dog of her own.

This is the real reason I wanted to come to Idaho. 

And it was fun to see Jessica and Jorden, Ashley and McKay, too.

I even brought Krew a I-want-Grandma-to-visit-more-often-she-brings-me-stuff toy.

I'm glad Megan wanted to come, too.  It gives us an opportunity to shop for a twirp dress in a place where dresses are sewn using more than a half yard of fabric.

Megan tried on a lot of pretty dresses.

Megan is so cute, she would look good wearing a paper bag.  But she didn't find a dress she liked.  Megan  doesn't care for "poof", pink, or little jacket things.  That, and the fact there aren't a lot of tiny young women sizes out there didn't leave much to choose from.

By the way, if you haven't been prom dress shopping lately, you can buy a small country for the cost of one prom dress.

This is my favorite, which explains why Megan crossed it off her list.

Krew was having a good time being the only male in the dress shop.

After shopping for formals for hours, we got a little distracted about what it was we were shopping for.

This new shopping was a lot more fruitful.

Krew seemed bored by this turn of events,

 but luckily Uncle McKay appeared and provided a shoulder to snooze on. 

We finally called it a day and amazingly, Megan's friend arrived to entertain and feed her for the evening.  I wonder how he knew she was in town? 

This is my very favorite kind of young man. 

 The kind that lives several hundreds of miles away from my daughter.

Jorden was good enough to give him instructions and curfew information.

Thanks, Jorden, for doing brother-in-law duty.

Without Megan there to pick on, we were forced to go out to entertain ourselves.

Ashley and McKay even brought their rent-a-baby.

After a quick but fun two days we headed home. 

Amazingly, the scenery going back was just as wonderful.

Thank you, Backmans and Pearsons, for letting us come have fun with you!

And thanks, Megan, for being soo willing to unselfishly take that road trip with me!