Busy Day!

Wow! Today was a happy, busy day. It started early this morning I woke up to take a quick run and then got myself and the boys ready so we could go pick up the girls, who had slept at Aunt Emily's house. We were all heading to the Salt Lake Airport to greet Joseph's brother, Gabriel, who was returning home from Japan for his two year mission for our church where he was preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the Japanese people.

I picked up the girls in Provo and then raced to the airport. I received a message en route that his flight was arriving early! Ahhhh! We were already running late. I arrived at the airport and Joseph was trying to give me directions to get to the International Terminal, I misunderstood those instructions and had to exit the parking garage and re-enter. I was so frustrated. I finally made it in again, and hurried to pull all the kids out of the car. We ran inside Terminal 2 and then down the escalator and out the doors to get to the International Terminal. We made it and with time to spare. We even had a few minutes to visit and catch our breath before Gabe came off the plane.

It was so great to see him! Our hearts were filled with gratitude to see his beautiful face and to hug him. Two years is a long time and an even longer time for a mother, I am sure. We are proud of Gabe and his service to our Heavenly Father and the people of Japan.

After we picked Gabe up everyone went to eat at The Cheesecake Factory. We headed there too, but when we realized how long it would take, we opted for Chick-fil-A because we had an appointment to close on the home that we are purchasing. We were running a little late there too! I had to have Emily meet me at the title company to watch the kids because there was no way I was going to make it to her house and the title company by 2:00. Emily met me there just in the nick of time. We signed all of the papers and just had one little glitch. The mortgage company told us we could either do a wire transfer or a cashier's check to pay. Joseph asked the loan officer which was the easiest. He told him that a cashier's check would be. Joseph went and picked up the cashier's check and when we reached the title office the title person told us that there was a new law that you had to wire the transfer if it was more than $10,000. Ugggghhh! Otherwise you have to wait 7-10 days for the check to clear. Are you kidding me?! So we had to go back to the bank and give the check back and then ask them to do the wire transfer. The bank then told him that it was too late in the day to do a wire transfer (it was around 3:00) because back east where it was processed, it was the end of the business day. Because it was Friday we have to wait until Monday. That was the frustrating part. We have cleaning people coordinated for Monday, we have carpet cleaning on Tuesday. The way it's looking for the funds transfer, we may not get keys until late Monday or Tuesday. At first I was livid! Then I realized that we could probably just get permission from the sellers to have the cleaning people enter the home. I have the movers scheduled to come remove everything from our storage unit on Wednesday, so that should still work fine.

After that fiasco, Emily took the boys to her house and I took the girls to their school to find out what classes they were in. They don't know the teacher, nor do they know any of the students in their class, but I think it helped a little to know that they weren't forgotten and that they actually have a place in a class. We found out that Aaron is in the same class as one of my friend's twin daughters. They happened to move back to Utah just recently as well. The girls lamented a bit on they way home about having to move so much. It's hard on all of us, but we hope to stay here a while. I just said to them, "I know it's hard, I'm not going to pretend it's going to be easy, but I also know that you can do it, just like you've done it before!" They kept whining and after the day we'd had, I finally looked at them and said, "Okay what do you want to do? Move back to Oceanside? Stay with Grandma? Is that what you want?" At that point I think they realized the necessity of this step. I also hope they know that I realize and empathize that being the new kid isn't always a piece of cake (being the new adult isn't always either), but I figure they're getting lots of life experience in that only thing that is constant in all of life.....and that is change. Hopefully they are gaining tools to help them help others who are in the same situation, and struggling with similar feelings of adaptation.

After that I headed back to Provo to get the boys. We headed to the grocery store and picked up a few things, went home and made dinner and then my mom came in and told me that we had to go to the Mod-Bod parking lot sale where you could stuff everything you can into a bag and pay $15 for it. Now we're home and ready to hit the hay! We're excited for a fun-filled day with the Lee's tomorrow. Lots of fun games, a swimming party, a bbq and great family time with cousins to celebrate the return of Gabe. It should be a great end-of-summer party. The kids love being with their cousins. Whew! What a day! But a good one at that!