From MO and back

Hello everyone! Sorry it's been so long since we posted but I was home in Missouri for nine days and Justin was a busy bee about the house. Going home was great, and necessary, as I was really starting to miss my family and friends. I spent a few days in KC and hung out with my brother, went to a spa party with my cousins and hit the American Royal rodeo with Andy. One cool thing about being friends with him (well there's a lot of cool things) but one of the cooler parts is that I always do interesting things with him. I found that I enjoyed the rodeo (we normally hit horse shows together) except for the calf wrestling/tying. That just seems unneccesary. Goes to show you why I don't live on a ranch!
Got to spend time in Jeff City too and tried to help my folks settle into the new house. Saw one of my bestest friends in the world, James, and was sorry I couldn't spend more time with her. Visited with the relatives I could catch up with and spent a lot of time dog-walking (Mum has two Jack Russells that have completely replaced the children in her life!):-).
It was great to be in KC and if there were mountains nearby, I'd try to get Justin to move there. For those who haven't been there, it's one of the best-kept secrets of the midwest, in my opinion.
I went to the Nelson, a beautiful art museum, and walked around the Plaza, huge outdoor shopping/entertainment area, and hit the Valentine area to go to my favorite used book store ever, Prosperos (they have t-shirts there-for anyone who gets my name, they're only $10 and I wear a L). Tom was even kind enough to sell me an early edition of Gone with the Wind since I loaned mine out only to have it eaten by a dog. And I got to see Ms. Heather who is six months pregnant and still going strong!! We went to Lulu's Thai Noodle Shop where they incidentally also have t-shirts (remember, I'm a L).
I'll have more pics later to post but just wanted to start off with a few right now. It was wierd to be homesick for Charlotte but I was mainly because I have a house and a family here now and that's the longest I've ever been apart from Justin and, well, I always miss Oscar if I don't see him everyday! But we survived it and the boyfriend channeled his missing me into doing numerous home improvement projects such as organizing the gear closet and painting the kitchen a color best described as paprika. I'm beginning to think that a space shuttle in the atmosphere above Charlotte will be able to see the house glow. But we like it!
And for anyone keeping track, we celebrated our 8 month anniversary a little early to accomodate my travelling - a nice dinner at Lang Vans where it all started!
Okay, I'll write more later but now I need to finish laundry and wait for trick or treaters - and I hope we have lots or Justin will be taking a lot of candy to work tomorrow!