At least we didn't pay $5/gallon for Diesel!

My #1 piece of advice: TRAVEL. If you have some vacation days, use them - go somewhere. We all get caught up in our own little rat races (sometimes self-inflicted) and whether or not our lawn is mowed as nice as the neighbor's. Traveling is a great way to put it all in perspective. We had a rare two weekends without weddings in a row so our family jumped into my dad's RV (to put hotel $ toward gas) and traveled to Colorado, California, Utah, Montana and South Dakota seeing some incredible American landscape along the way. At the risk of being "that guy who shows vacation pictures while we're stuck at work", here are some of the pics:

Gunnison, Colorado: stars outside our Adventure Experiences (AE) weatherport where brother-in-law Paul works. I was in a sleeping bag for 30 minutes to get this shot in 30 degree weather mostly b/c I couldn't see to focus and change the exposure. Have you ever seen stars like this in the city?

My 2-year old playing with the "stoking" paddle for the fire-stoked hot tub at Adeventure Experiences camp.

Los Angeles, CA (Big Bear Lake): new nephew Garret Daniel's baptism, the main reason for the trip.

The only place in California that sold diesel for under $5!

Santa Monica, California sunset over the beach - shot taken from the pier.

Finding my "inner happy place" in Salt Lake City, Utah. The salt concentration of the lake is so high it is impossible to sink! Check it out.

Collage above is (clockwise) brown bear in South Dakota, Martha and Paul on a sunrise summit ascent in Colorado (They got up at 3:30am; I was sleeping b/c I stayed up late taking the star picture above and had to watch the kids of course :)), cheesy Mt. Rushmore re-creation, the Airstream "RV" in Swan Lake, Utah, and a double decker outhouse...

With three little boys under the age of 6, traveling 4200+ miles over 17 days was quite a trick; the RV bathroom and DVD player proved invaluable. I'm ready to get back to weddings now (once I plant some trees to erase that gas consumption carbon footprint)! -Judd