Days 38 thru 40 - Europe 2010

We visited with family over the weekend.  Saturday my mom and Nick and I went to see Eclipse, the Twilight movie, and really enjoyed it.  Then we got some food for a backyard BBQ.  Mom and Dad and Bryce and Rebecca and Sebastian and Logan were there and we all played in the pool, which I very much enjoyed.  We played in the pool so much that we were wiped out after dinner, which included a very yummy tri-tip.  We only played one short game and then everyone was just kind of dragging so we all said goodnight pretty early.

Sunday we went to church with my mom and her new boyfriend, Ken.  They have moved my mom’s ward to meet at another building, which happens to be the building I grew up in.  I was baptized there and went to Primary there.  So it was fun to show Nick all these “historic” places.

I hardly recognize the ward anymore.  I knew maybe 15-20% of the people there, which is kind of sad.  But it was fun to see some familiar faces and one lady, whom I had worked with as a teenager in Young Womens, said she had enjoyed my blog.  I had NO idea she was reading so it made me wonder who all is reading my blog?  Maybe it’s more than I think, which would be cool since I put so much into it.

After a nap back at home, we had some lunch and played a quick game which Mom and Ken.  Mom won quickly and we were all so tired again.  Sundays will do that to you, in addition to jet lag.

After Ken left I suggested we all go to my aunt and uncles so I could see them and some of my cousins there.  So went headed down there and met up with my dad too.  My cousin Nathan and his kids helped make this really yummy Asian food.  It was quite a treat and we loved being with all the family.  Some of us spent the rest of the evening singing karaoke and visiting.  Dad and my Aunt Mariel were really curious about our trip so Nick and I were sharing some tidbits.  I think it will be fun to scrapbook it and I can take excerpts from my blog to include.

We went home with my Dad who lives closer to Travis AFB than my mom and we found out that we needed to be at the base around 4:45am in order to get on the next flight out to Hickam AFB.  That left us with only about four hours to sleep.  So we went straight to bed and headed out around 3:30am, which was only 12:30am in Hawaii!  Luckily, Dad was able to get on the base with just his drivers license and drop us off at the terminal.  So we didn’t have to walk through some crazy wind they were having!

The next few hours were spent waiting and sleeping.  We didn’t get into the air until around 9:00am and the flight was pretty uncomfortable because the seats were so close together.  I was scrunched up and so was Nick.  Still, I got a few hours of sleep.

I was so happy when we landed!  It was a gorgeous day in Hawaii!  The weather was so clear you could even see the mountains that are usually covered in clouds.  Ah, so so good to be home in paradise.  After stopping at the commissary for some food, we drove home, put everything away, and sighed a big sigh of relief.

Our trip is at an end.  Although there were definitely some frustrations throughout, we are very glad for all the incredible experiences we had.  I would love to write about the things I learned while on this trip but I am not sure that I will have the time.  I have two weeks to get ready for my Praxis exam and get ready for student teaching.  As it is, while taking a nap earlier today, I had a dream that I started my first day of student teaching and realized I had nothing prepared!  Wow!  So it’s time to finish up this blog and get back to reality.

Thank you to all of you who went with us on this trip.  I knew I had an audience out there, however big or small I don’t know, and I kept it going for you guys.  It was fun to know we were taking others with us wherever we went.

Until next time...