I am in awe of the pioneer women who left everything behind them to settle new territory, often saying goodbye to their loved ones "back East", never to see them again, with communication limited to a rare letter.

No thank you.

Being a western transplant is certainly easier these days. My family may be a thousand miles away, but thanks to email and cell phones, I talk to my mom and sisters at least four to five times a week! I don't know how I would make it otherwise. Despite all of the garbage in our time, I'm thankful for the technology that lets me know what my newest nephew did today, or about my mom's new "grandkittens" at my other sister's house.

Thanks to technology, my youngest sister even blessed me today by ordering us pizza (via internet) for supper. (For obvious reasons, she is one of the coolest people my kids know!)

Unfortunately, in my humanity, I still miss them a lot. Especially now that they all will be living within an hour of each other while I'm still sweatin' it out in the desert!

We're working on it guys...we love and miss you!

And Sarah, thanks for the pizza.