Today I returned home after spending four days in San Diego for the SITE conference. I have attended this conference each year since 2006, and I think I enjoy it a little more every year. The sessions were really good, and I got to visit with a lot of people I've gotten to know from previous conferences. The most exciting parts of the conference for me were the possible collaborations with other educational researchers and winning an award for my poster presentation (totally not expected).

I also got to connect with some other folks from bygone eras of my life. I had dinner my first night with a couple of fraternity brothers from Utah State, Russell and Randy. We had a great time catching up and recalling old times. Randy and his wife actually welcomed their youngest child into the world just last week, so I was quite surprised he was there. Needless to say, there were no dinners with friends the week after the twins were born. Although, I did travel to SITE for one day when they were one month old. Anyway, I also got to stay with a friend from Colorado, Evelyn Reasoner, and her family. They were gracious enough to let me stay in their guest room, which was a nice diversion from the conference. They also have a little boy the same age as Sam and Nate, and it was amazing to see how similar they all are. On several different occasions, I thought how fun it would have been to see all three of them together.

Of course, the best part of the conference was coming home and getting picked up at the airport by my beautiful family. Sam and Nate were quite happy to see me, and I think Gina was glad to have some help with the dinner, bath and bedtime routine. We got to play outside a little before dinner, and it was the perfect end to a really good week. I am already looking forward to SITE next year in Nashville, although I don't think I will try to present 4 papers next time.