I realized that I forgot to put up the few pictures I took with Byers family relatives while I was home. There was no organized family event while I was home, so I didn't have a chance to see many members of the Byers clan, but I saw Grandma a few times and my Aunt and a couple cousins, too. My flight back to China left Des Moines at noon on Monday, so the question arose as to how I was going to get to the airport when both my mom and my sister were working. Luckily, Grandma happily agreed to [View Full Entry]

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So little time, so many friends! It was fun to see my high school friends and their families. Nicole and her daughter Abbey, Alyssa and her daughter Janell, and then a fun last-minute get together with Nicole, Cori, Toni, and their significant others. If only Tina was back from Texas! Oh, well. For some reason all my friend gatherings centered around pizza, which might explain why I've gained 5 lbs this trip home... My friends, Marsha and Dan, had a wedding reception in Minnesota. Marsha is Korean, Dan is American, and they got married last year in Korea. But, now they [View Full Entry]

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Today was the annual Yeager family picnic and it was great to see all the family together. We had lots of food, lots of great conversation, and the annual water fight. The water fight always makes me wonder, "Who are the real kids in this family?" [View Full Entry]

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Jackie and I were able to go down together to Florida to visit Dad, making it the first time in 2 years that all three of us were together. Jackie could only go for 2 days, but that's better than nothing! We spent the two days hanging out and drinking, basically. We took a few Father-Daughters pictures - and by "a few" I mean "a hundred" because we kept laughing or looking goofy. Jackie left on the 4th of July, so she missed the fireworks over the Cape Coral bridge that night. They were lovely! The other highlight of the trip [View Full Entry]

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It's great being home again, even if it's for too short a time. I haven't lived in Iowa since I left for university ten years ago, but every year that I'm gone, I appreciate it more and more. Every time I come back, I like to re-explore my home state and do all the tourist things that Iowans never do. So far this trip, I went to the Bob Feller Museum (Bob Feller is a famous Baseball Hall of Famer from Van Meter, Iowa), watched the sun rise over the cows across the road, mowed the lawn with the new John [View Full Entry]

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