Five Day Journey: Day 4

After driving for three days we had seen some beautiful parts of the world.

The third day was lovely, with lots of green and yellow.

After several hours I started thinking about it as being green and gold.

It was my wedding colors in nature - just days after my anniversary.

I told Andrew that maybe we should have gotten married in Canada!

But as beautiful as it was, none of us were prepared for the scenery from Prince George to Prince Rupert.

It was literally breathtaking.

I was sticking my arm out the window constantly trying to take pictures as we whisked by.

I kept seeing spot after spot after spot where I knew skilled photographers could spend hours.

And we only had about three seconds before we were out of view.

I was so frustrated with my camera, knowing it wasn't even remotely capturing the beauty we were experiencing.

As I look back on these pictures I am stunned!

Some of them, though taken while traveling at 100 km/hr are beautiful.

And it is amazing to remember that they don't compare to what we saw in person.

I told my mom that driving through British Columbia was like driving the Alpine Loop on steroids.

She thought that was pretty funny.

Truthfully, we probably didn't see the same kind of color combinations you would get in Utah.

But on this last day we started to get more of the reds and oranges blending with the green and gold.

I loved it!

We were in for another of our "long" driving days.

Considering how badly things had gone with the first one, we decided to make sure to get an early start.

Despite having spent so many days stuck in the car, the boys were still relatively content with the tablets.

In fact, in true child fashion, Peter picked a favorite movie that he watched several times.

I forgot, when packing for kids you don't need variety - you just need to get the one right show.

He enjoyed watching the Never Ending Story and told me more about it each time he finished.

Despite getting an early start and having the kids perfectly content, we still ended up with lots of stops.

In the first two hour stretch, we had stopped FIVE times for the bathroom.

You would think this was due to my pregnant bladder, or a child.

But that wasn't the case as much as you would expect.

(Though my pregnant bladder typically did take advantage of every stop we made.)

We had enough delays with bathroom stops,

and the drive was going well enough that we opted to skip our first break.

We headed straight through to Smither's with probably only one more bathroom stop during that stretch.

I had scouted out a nice park for us to eat lunch at in Smither's,

but when we didn't find it immediately, we decided to just eat at A & W.

We got gas, ate lunch, and the adults all had fun with the restaurant wi-fi.

Ammon starting complaining of an ear-ache so we stopped at a pharmacy.

(It was the only "shopping" we did in Canada.)

Once again we were happy to have Grandma Peggy with us -
this time as she took the role of being our own private nurse.

She got Ammon all fixed up with medicine.

Then we were back on our way.

Andrew was loving all the logging trucks and lumber yards we were passing.

The next part of our drive got even more rural.

And even more beautiful.

Things were continuing to go smoothly.

We were ahead of schedule, so if we stopped in Terrace for dinner as planned, we would be eating early.

I realized that if we just kept going we could make it to Prince George in time for a late dinner.

And that way we could avoid driving in the dark.

Everyone was on board with that plan, so we took the next four and a half hours in one stretch.

Stopping only for bathroom breaks.

The scenery was amazing!

At one point we pulled off for Derrick to take some pictures.

We were just surrounded by beauty!

Some sort of bug bit me on the arm - through my long sleeved shirt.

It stung like crazy.

The next day it started itching.

It has been itchy for a week, but getting better each day.

The redness is pretty much gone now, but I can still see the puncture in my arm where the bite/sting was.

I have no idea what it was that got me, but I hope to never encounter that bug again!

This river got really wide at several points.

People who are used to the Mississippi River would probably feel quite at home with it.

But for us "westerners" it was pretty amazing.

We started driving into these amazing mountains and everyone's jaw hit the floor.

We thought we knew mountains in Utah.

But these mountains seemed to dwarf the ones we were used to.

One of the things I loved were the cascading waterfalls that seemed to be EVERYWHERE.

We drove through some rain.

Here are the heroes of our trip!

I can't imagine how we would have done it without them.

We saw the sun begin to set behind some of the mountains.

But we made it to Prince Rupert before dark.

By the time we checked into the hotel and got dinner, etc, it was still a late night.

We also knew we had a very early morning - needing to be at the ferry at 6 AM.

So we got the boys settled in to bed and then tried to have everything ready for a quick morning departure.

The boys looked ready for a perfect nights sleep.

I was surprised to wake up and discover Ammon on the opposite side of the bed,

and Peter turned completely upside down!

It made me laugh.

Five Day Journey: Days 1 - 3

The original plan was for Andrew to drive the moving truck and me to drive the car.

Our family of four (and a half) were going to make this lengthy journey on our own.

Parents on both sides had voiced concerned because of my back.

Peggy offered to have Derrick drive with us to keep us safe.

But we made what we felt was a conservative plan, breaking the trip up over five days, and felt that we would be fine.

And my back started to show significant improvement.

Then Andrew went to Boise for a week.

And I still had to bend over to make the beds and get things just right for house showings.

During that week, my back started to decline again, and it scared us all.

My mom offered to make the drive with us.

I was still reluctant to accept help.

But I started to get more and more concerned.

Peggy came over to help me pack one morning and the moment she walked in the door she said,

"Sit down - I want to ask you a question."

I had a seat on the couch and she very solemnly asked, "Do you want Derrick to drive with you."

Were I a person more prone to crying, I would have burst into tears right there.

As it was, I felt a huge sense of relief, swallowed my pride, and immediately said, "Yes."

Andrew called from work right then and I relayed the conversation to him.

His response was the same as mine.

As much as we wanted to do this alone, we were worried about my back and were grateful for the help.

Peggy had a couple of shifts scheduled while Derrick would be gone, and tried to pick up more to keep herself busy in his absence.  She mentioned to Andrew that they (she and Derrick) had always wanted to drive to Alaska together.  Andrew felt guilty that he was taking Derrick without her and started campaigning for her to come.  So instead of taking extra shifts, she traded her shifts away and decided to come as well.

In retrospect, despite having no issues with my back during the trip,

I don't know how we would have made the trip

or the transition into our new home without BOTH of them being with us.

Before they had planned to come with us, we had intended to go out to breakfast with Peggy and Derrick before leaving.

But Peggy was working a graveyard shift the night before heading out, so we cancelled breakfast and agreed to meet them in Baker City, OR that night.

We were going to take the drive at a slow, easy pace.

I also had plans to meet a friend in Boise for dinner on the way.

We felt like Peggy could go home after work, sleep for several hours, and then drive straight through.

But despite our intentions to get out earlier in the morning, they actually ended up on the road before us.

We had spent the night at Joe's house since our house was all packed up.

Andrew had driven back to our house to pick up a few things we accidentally left behind.

He noticed the air in the tire was low.

He had gotten two of our tires replaced just days earlier, and had asked the auto people to check the two we kept.

Apparently they didn't.

So, instead of heading out on our journey, Andrew headed to the tire repair shop.

As it turned out, we had a nail in one of our tires.

We were glad to get it fixed before leaving.

Our delays also gave us a chance to say goodbye to several of my family members one last time.

My parents, Rebecca, and her boyfriend Rick all came over to Joe's house for a final visit.

Then we headed out.

We caught up with Peggy and Derrick in time to fill the moving truck with gas in Idaho.

It turned out to be a fun stop with some animals to feed and pet.

Then we headed to Boise together where they had dinner with Andrew and the boys.

I was able to meet with Teri and have dinner with her.

We made it to Baker City, our first stop, around 9:00 at night.

The hotel/motel was AWFUL!

The heat was off, so when we got there, our room was freezing cold.

The smoke alarm needed new batteries so it was chirping.

We got the heater turned on, and the room warmed up quickly.

But there was not thermostat.

So all night long we had to manually turn it on and off as needed.

 The boys DID enjoy the complimentary breakfast the next morning, though, so that part worked out well.

Day 2 was the WORST day of our trip.

In terms of driving time, we had two 7 1/2 hour days and two 8 1/2 hour days.

This was one of our 8 1/2 hour days.

It was also the day we crossed the border, which slowed us down.

AND we got lost.

Even when I had planned our agendas for the trip, this was the day that refused to come together.

Coming off what was probably the worst nights sleep we got during the journey,

this day was just a recipe for disaster.

We DID get to stop and see some amazing "dry falls".

It was an awesome sight.

And we eventually made it through the border after they ran background checks on us...

Even dinner was a flop.

We had planned to eat at an Indian and Western Cuisine restaurant in Canada.

We got there at 7:00 - just as they were locking their doors for the night.

We found a pizza place in town.

The service was SLOW.

The boys were wild and crazy.

(I took them outside to run around while we waited - and waited.)

Then Ammon, who had been starving, didn't like his pizza.

Ugh.

And after dinner we still had a 2+ hour drive to our hotel.

By this time Andrew's nerves were shot so I drove that last stretch.

It was dark and the roads were windy with steep drop offs to our right.

We were SOOO exhausted.

That stretch of the drive felt like sheer torture.

I was SO grateful that each vehicle had two adults in it to talk to each other.

That was a miserable stretch as it was.

I would have been freaked out if Andrew had been driving the truck alone.

I would have been worried if Peggy hadn't been there with Derrick.

And I would have been bawling the entire way if I hadn't had Andy there to keep me alert.

That night we FINALLY arrived to the Day's Inn in Kelowna BC.

It was the NICEST of our hotels and we were SO happy to be there.

Our third day was another 7 1/2 hour of drive time day.

We took it easy which made the day much, much longer.

We stopped for this gorgeous hike at 100 Mile House.

I don't think the boys have ever run as fast as when we let them out of the car there.

They were so happy to be out.

The hike was short and completely beautiful.

From there we headed to Quesnel where we ate dinner.

Weeks earlier I had promised the boys we would eat at Denny's somewhere along the way.

So that's what we did.

It was nice to be somewhere "familiar" in this foreign country.

But it was still a late meal, and we had another nail biting drive in the dark before getting to Prince George.

Final Days in Utah

Andrew's last day of work in Utah was a Tuesday.  We decided to spend Wednesday morning at the temple.  Unfortunately, Andrew realized on Monday that his temple recommend expired that day.  So he scrambled to get interviews with the Bishop and a Stake Presidency member.  But on Sunday he had gotten our membership records switched over to Alaska.  So when it came time to activate his new temple recommend, they didn't have access to do it.  We woke up Wednesday morning not sure if they would even let him in.  We also had to be out of our house at 8:30 AM for the inspection from the buyers.  So... we got all of our stuff, and headed off to have breakfast at Village Inn after dropping our car off for some basic maintenance in preparation of our 1900+ mile journey.  We kept telling ourselves and each other that we *should* go to the temple.  We knew we would regret NOT going, but it was really hard to work up the motivation to do it.

After breakfast we stopped by to visit with my grandma.  Andrew left me there while he ran an errand, I got my hair and make up fixed up to look a little more "temple ready".  Then, we went through with our plans and headed to the temple.

It was WONDERFUL!  Although we were blessed with a phase of weekly temple attendance just last winter and spring, we hadn't been in several months (Andrew's new work schedule, my morning sickness and the boys being out of school for the summer had all added up to major deterrents on our temple attending habit) .  It was our first time seeing the new film which was beautiful.  It was extremely emotional to realize that I had no idea when I would be able to come to the temple again.  Of all the losses and sadness over moving, this was the one that hit me the hardest.  Being there in the temple that day was very bitter-sweet and we both left feeling so grateful we had gone.

Here are some of our other final activities in Utah:

On one of our last Saturdays, we took the boys to the doughnut shop.

We visited Grandma and Grandpa Shadel so the boys had a final chance to visit with the cats.

(The adults were all frantically trying to plan my trip to Seattle.)

Later that afternoon, we had lunch with the couples in the Shadel family:

The Monday before we left, the Nunes family did family portraits at Day Break Lake.

The kids had fun playing at the playground before, after and between some of the pictures.

After pictures Joe and David were getting together for ice-cream at Arctic Circle.

They invited us to join them and we took advantage of one last chance to hang out with the group. 

Peter thought it would be fun to pose with grumpy faces every time the camera went his direction.

I got to hang out with my youngest nephew Alister and I realized I probably won't even recognize him next time I see him.  I insisted on taking some pictures as "proof" that I really did know him and wasn't the total stranger he would think I am next time he sees me.  I couldn't get him to look at the camera so I finally just gave up...

After all of this, it was just a crazy (and exhausting) few days of packing.

Thursday, especially, was torture!

It was so much worse than I had anticipated.

And then, to make it especially challenging, it looked like our stuff wasn't going to fit on the moving truck,

But Andrew and Derrick worked hard and long LATE into the night to get everything in just right.

And in the end, we kept everything we had planned to bring.

From West Jordan to Ketchikan

Deer blocking traffic on the walk home from school in Ketchikan

You probably already know that when we bought our house in West Jordan, we were living quite contentedly up at the U and planning to be there for another year.  I was serving as the Relief Society President, getting ready to help a new bishop transition into the ward, and Andrew was happy to be teaching Elder's Quorum.  School was close and convenient for me as I was anticipating my final year before graduation and the boys had a great school to attend as well.  Life was good.

And then we felt done.  All of the sudden it seemed like our time there was over.  But really, we didn't know what to do about it because logistically we weren't in a position to move.  Andrew was just coming out of a few months of unemployment, starting a job where he was still significantly under-employed.  We had been making more money in the time we had lived there and hadn't opted to move then, so certainly it didn't make sense to move with the new circumstances.

Then we heard that we were facing a significant rent increase.  It made me curious.  And I looked at some houses.  I found that with the way the market was, and with all the short-sale homes, we could realistically move and potentially even SAVE money.

We pounded the pavement and pounded it hard scouring the valley for a potential new home.  We found out that the rent increase was not going to be as extreme as originally announced, and we quickly found ourselves looking at homes that were NOT going to save us money, but by this time we were on a course that we felt compelled to follow through with so we kept house hunting.

We started thinking that it wouldn't work out after all.  Nothing was coming together and we were getting tired of the hunt, and really - we were content where we were.  We found three more houses to go look at as a last ditch effort.  They were all new listings.  One didn't even have pictures up yet.  It was a split-entry which was a floor plan we hadn't really even considered.

We went to the first house, a rambler that I immediately knew wasn't what we wanted.  Then we went to the second house where even the real estate agent apologized and said, "Just because they list it at a certain price doesn't mean it's worth that price..."  Then we got in our cars and headed to the third house.  Andrew was driving separately from me because he had to leave for work immediately following the showing.  I remember having the oddest sensation of comfort and peace.  I called Andy and said, "I feel like we are driving home."

Despite my "impression" that this was going to be home, I was still reluctant.  Andrew immediately LOVED the house and KNEW that it was what we wanted.  I am less impulsive than he is and was more hesitant to make a quick decision.  With the way the market was, we knew we would have to offer quickly, so I agreed to at least throw in our hat, but went away still pondering the choice while he headed out to work.

By the afternoon I began to realize that this was the right house for us.  We were under contract that night.  And really, it wasn't until we moved in that I realized how PERFECT the house was for our family.  We had put in a back up offer on a different house that I had seemed "cuter" in appearance.  But for actually LIVING in, we ended up in the better home.

The entire process had seemed inspired and things with the sale went smoothly.  We didn't feel like we could really afford the house and were prepared to have a cosigner.  We didn't need one.  Everything came together and even though we *knew* we were biting off a bit more than we could chew financially, staying in the apartment was also a little more than we could chew financially and this was the path that felt right and inspired.

So we spent the next year praying.  We had some cash leftover from the closing that we figured could get us by until tax returns at the beginning of the year.  We hoped the tax return could get us by until Summer.  The plan and intention was to have Andy get a promotion in that time.  Back up plan was school loans.  Back up back up plan was me working.

Of course, money slipped away faster than we hoped and planned.  We prayed and fasted and fasted and prayed.  There was never a question about whether or not we should have bought the house.  It just seemed too right.  But we were sinking.

Andy applied for promotion after promotion.  He had several second and third interviews, but ultimately he needed more time/experience with the company.  We went to the temple weekly, continuing to pray for answers and over and over again we just kept feeling like it was going to be OK.  That answer, though comforting at times, was also ambiguous enough to drive us crazy.  HOW would it be OK?  What were we supposed to do?  I kept looking into possibilities of working.  We considered Andy taking on a second job.  None of those things felt right.  We kept getting the answer that things would "be OK" but we didn't know what we were supposed to do to MAKE them OK.

Then I didn't get into grad school.  Remove "back up plan" from the list.  THEN I got pregnant!  Huge MIRACULOUS blessing at a very inconvenient time.  This made the idea of me working suddenly seem a lot less logical and way more challenging.  Serious issues with the back up back up plan...  We were at a loss as to what to do.

One night Andrew and I had an argument.  I felt like we needed to start REALLY LOOKING for opportunities outside of Utah.  He felt very strongly that we had been prompted and led to our current home and couldn't comprehend why Heavenly Father would lead us there if it was just to move a year later.  I couldn't really answer that question.  I just knew that we were at a point of desperation and that we needed to show the Lord we were willing to do ANYTHING He asked of us.

The next morning, my cousin (who works for Wells Fargo as a Branch Manager in Alaska) told me about an opening for a branch manager position in Ketchikan, AK.  I called Andrew and told him, "Just because you apply, doesn't mean you get the offer, and even if you get the offer, it doesn't mean you have to take it.  But I really need to know that you tried.  After that, we'll trust in the Lord and follow whatever revelation we get."

So he prepared the forms to apply - VERY begrudgingly.

I started to look into this place called Ketchikan.  It was not the Alaska I was expecting.  It was a beautiful rain-forest island with what I felt were fairly moderate temperatures.  In fact, several of the winter months in Utah are colder than anything Ketchikan sees.  Andy was working but I started sending him pictures and statistics and details with everything I was learning about Ketchikan.  By the end of the day, he was shockingly excited about the prospect.  In fact, he told me that evening that as much as he hated the idea of applying for the job, that as soon as he hit the submit button he just felt like it was the right thing.

We were so excited that when we were having dinner with a good portion of my family that evening we told them all about it.  While we were at the dinner table, Andrew's phone buzzed and he discovered an e-mail asking him to schedule an interview!!!

We were amazed with how quickly this was moving.  Until he looked at the interview time options.  They were three weeks away.  It seemed like an eternity when our entire lives were potentially being turned upside down.

We spent three weeks obsessing about Ketchikan, sure that we were going to move.  We didn't know exact details about the income.  We knew that where my cousin was, the financial compensation left a lot of extras that he was able to put into savings and debt reduction.  We had the impression that Ketchikan wasn't going to be quite that good in terms of money.  But after realizing that, we still felt that even at the base salary of the job, we would move because it felt like the right thing to do.  In fact, in the midst of all of this, Andrew was interviewing for several local promotions and even some positions outside of Wells Fargo.  We got to the point where we felt like we would have to turn down any other offers to hold out for Alaska.

The interview finally came on a Friday afternoon.  Andrew was told that bad news would get an e-mail and good news would receive a follow-up call to schedule the next interview.  That wasn't quite right.  He received a call back on Monday, but they explained that his lack of retail experience was a big hang up in being able to offer him the position.  HOWEVER, they liked him enough that they really wanted to get him in their region to give him the retail experience and prepare him to be a valid candidate for future openings.

By this time all of our emotions were wrapped up in the job working.  It had felt SO right and Andrew had told me that he would be DEVASTATED if he didn't get it.  Surprisingly, he felt really REALLY good about it.  He explained to me the situation and the new potential job he described sounded TERRIBLE.  It was a significantly lower pay, he was going to be travelling all over South East Alaska.  He wouldn't know for quite a while where he would be permanently located.  I had no idea how this was going to work for our family.  And yet I remember  feeling extremely impressed that we needed to follow through with it.  I told him, "Moving to Alaska isn't about the position you get.  The job is what is taking us there, but that's not WHY we are going.  We are going to Alaska because it is what we are supposed to do."

And so he put in an application for the Personal Banker Training Program.

The next interview was a week later, on a Monday.  It was the same person he had spoken with the week prior and she surprised him by saying, "You know, the whole point of our training program is to get you trained and settled into a permanent spot.  I just so happen to have a permanent spot open in Ketchikan, which is where you had originally applied.  What if we just hire you directly into that position.  That way you don't have to travel and you get the three percent raise from being permanent immediately."

Uh - yes!

So they finished the interview and he was told that he would be "strongly recommended" to the Branch Manager, who would call him by the end of the week.

About an hour later the Branch Manager was asking Andy to come in the next day for an interview.

"Um, I'm in Utah...  Can we do the interview over the phone," Andy replied.

They worked that out and the next evening Andy interviewed with Keith - his current boss.

Then came the scary part.  We got the offer at the end of that week.  We knew with finality what the income was.  It was a good raise dollar to dollar, but how far would that money go in a different economy?  Where would we live?  Would every penny of our raise be lost on cost of living differences?

Just like our West Jordan house, we immediately knew it was right, but I needed to process it.  It was scary and overwhelming.

Ultimately, we spent the weekend freaking out over it, knowing full well the entire time that we would accept the position.  And we did!  Life has been a crazy whirl wind since then.  MANY people have commented on how this must be "meant to be" since everything fell into place so smoothly for us.  There have been moments of sadness and loss at saying goodbye to our family, our home, our LIVES that we LOVED there in West Jordan.  But we have been completely united in this choice and neither of us has ever once questioned whether or not this was the right thing to do.  After 15 months of praying for answers, we finally found the next step in how Heavenly Father intended to make things "be OK."

Adventures in Moving Preparations

My quick view of Seattle.

Well, we got "the" job.  Actually, it was a better job than we were expecting it to be and my husband was offered the very top pay for his position, so in addition to feeling very inspired, it also turned out to be fairly flattering.

We knew immediately that we didn't get offered enough in the moving package.  We had already priced out what it would cost to move, and knew we needed at least $1000 more dollars.  And since we were hoping to get a "little extra" in the moving package, we countered for more than that.

But, we didn't get it.

They had already offered above and beyond their typical allotment.  Again, flattering.  But not helpful.  But, we have felt driven to pursue this course, and $1000 didn't seem like something that should hang up our resolve to follow revelation when we have been seeking answers for as long as we have, so we bit the bullet and accepted the offer anyway.

The next big concern was housing.  Though the raise we have received is significant, we knew it would still be a tight budget and that housing could literally make or break us.  I found the PERFECT house in the PERFECT price range and when we talked to the local  bishop he told us it was the PERFECT location and very very ideal.  Sadly, it immediately went under contract to someone else.  I was heartbroken.  But Andrew kept telling me that things would come together the right way.  We had just felt too good about this for them not to.

In the end, we opted to rent for now.  We are downsizing back to a three bedroom apartment.  (Right as we are in the midst of expanding our family.)  It wasn't ideal, but more and more we felt like we could make it work.  We found a place that had a rock-bottom price AND heat was INCLUDED in that price (we were told that heat would typically cost $300-$500 per month so that was HUGE).  I felt better about it once I saw the pictures.  It is definitely going to be squishy, but I think it is certainly livable (there aren't any cynderblock walls like we had at the U, so that is a plus).  It is super central to everything important to us.  From the church to Andrew's work is about 1.5 miles and the boys school, our home, and the hospital are all on that route.

We wanted to take both vehicles with us, but with our tight moving budget and the logistical concerns of getting the moving truck up in addition to our two vehicles, and considering our proximity to everything, we decided to say goodbye to the Explorer.  It's been a great blessing to us while we've had it and we are happy to pass it on to someone new.

We got our house listed for sale and the showings have been consistent.  We got an offer today - 14 days after listing it.  I kept telling people that I wouldn't even expect an offer until it was listed for two weeks.  That is just how the market it going right now.  Still, it is great to have gotten it IMMEDIATELY at that threshold.  It is one thing to assume something is going to work out and another thing to have it actually happen.  Phew.  Hopefully everything goes well with the process, but things are looking good and at this point I have no reason to think they won't.

The biggest glitch has been with the passports.  Andrew was SO excited to get the passports set up that he filled out the paperwork for us both.  But he has spent his entire life marking "male" when asked for gender.  This went unnoticed by everyone until I received my passport back and noticed that I was marked as a male.  ACK!  By this time we had less than two weeks before crossing the border.

So, I FLEW TO SEATTLE for a day.  Just to get it changed.  Now I will tell you that I am a MAJOR homebody of a person.  I don't want to go to downtown SALT LAKE to run an errand like this.  Flying to Seattle was WAAAAY pushing it for me.  My in-laws generously negated a big portion of the expense of this and bought the plane tickets with credit card points they had accumulated.  But I was still the one who had to go.  After looking into just about any other option I could think of, I finally relented to the fact that this was really what needed to happen and we booked the flights.  Everyone was going crazy at once.  My father-in-law was on one computer booking the flights, my mother-in-law was looking up the cost of car rentals vs taxis.  Andrew was calling the passport place to make an appointment for me.  I just sat there wondering how I was going to leave my kids the day after Andrew was heading out of town for a week, and less than two weeks before I was supposed to be moving.

My family stepped up to the plate big time for helping out with the boys.  Dan came and hung out with Ammon and Peter until they had to go to school.  Then he drove them there.  My mom took me to the airport and also ended up being on call to make my house presentable for the THREE showings that were requested that day AFTER I was gone.  Krista was able to have the boys come home with Kambria and fed them dinner.  Then my mom picked them up and kept them out during a showing and eventually took them home for bed, where she waited for me until Nikki picked me up from the airport and took me home.

The travel itself was about as seamless as could be.

My brother warned me to consider leaving earlier than I did in case I got into rush hour traffic.  But my dad felt like I would be OK with the half hour commute time I had planned.  We got to the airport exactly as scheduled and my mom dropped me off.  I got into the security line just in time to hear several people commenting that they had NEVER seen it that long, but the line moved quickly and I even had the fun opportunity to see a couple of friends.  I got through the line in plenty of time to sit down and eat breakfast in one of the airport restaurants.

The flight itself was fairly empty.  I was worried about my pregnant bladder so I opted to sit on an isle seat in case I needed to get up.  As it turned out, I ended up with a row to myself.  I enjoyed a pleasant flight reading a gentle regency era romance novel I had borrowed from my dad.

I followed signs through the airport and was able to find the shuttle that took all airport passengers to a rental car compound.  It was the nicest rental car set up I have ever seen/been to.  (Admittedly I don't do a lot of travel so my comparison is limited.)  It was easy to find the correct counter to be at and since people arrive shuttle bus at a time for a variety of rental companies, I waited in a line with only one person ahead of me (and no one behind me).  I checked in, they told the the number of a stall, and went down the escalator and found my car waiting for me.

Thanks to the navigation system on my phone, the drive was easy and I quickly found where I needed to be.  The biggest glitch was figuring out parking.  I found several lots with two hour limits and I assumed I would potentially be longer than that.  But I had plenty of time to drive around without panicking, and I was able to find a lot that didn't limit the time.

From the lot, I walked a few blocks to the building I was going to and went quickly and easily through security.  I found the correct room and ended up being at a DMV style situation.  I got checked in, was assigned a number, and sat to continue reading my book while I waited.  I got called up a good half hour after my "appointment" time even though I had gotten there a good 20 minutes early.  But I didn't have anywhere else to be, and I was content to read my book, so that was no big deal.

The man who worked on my passport was very nice.  When he learned that I was just there for the day to get my passport taken care of, he set me up with a "will call" order and told me I would have to come back at 3:00 (about two hours later by this point) to get it.  He then gave me very nice directions on how to walk down the very steep hill to the ocean side where there was plenty of options for eating lunch and for entertainment.

I was worried about trying to haul my pregnant self back UP those steep hillsides, so I promptly ignored his kind directions and found a deli on the main floor of the building I was in.  Then, realizing I still had time to kill, I decided to check in with the car and get my phone charger.  It took me a little while to find where I was parked in the parking structure, so it was helpful to get all the kinks worked out when I had time to kill.  As it turned out, I had my charger with me in my purse, so that was kind of silly, but I was glad to have figured out exactly how to get back to my car.

I went back to the building, charged up my phone and finished my book.  Then I went to get my passport, and, like magic, it worked!  Every step of the day seemed to be flawless, and at this point I knew I had accomplished the purpose of my trip.  It was such a relief!

I couldn't find an address for where to return the rental car, so I just put the airport back in my navigation system and hoped there would be signs.  Sure enough, clear as day, the signs directed me back to the rental car compound and returning the car was easier than checking it out.  Then, in a flash I was back on the shuttle to the airport.  The lines for security were short and I had whatever time I wanted to leisurely look around and plan what I might want for dinner.  At the time I was still quite full from lunch, but dying for some ice cream.  So I got a McFlurry from McDonalds and just hung out reading some more.

Eventually I was ready for some dinner so I got a piece of Sbarro's pizza.  By this time I was getting pretty tired and ready to head home.  But the time for the flight came and we were quickly boarded.  This flight was even more sparse than the one in the morning so once again I had my own row and was even closer to the front than I had been before.

Nikki was there to pick me up within about a minute of me getting to the curb and before long I was home.

Phew!  What a day!

Now the passports are ready, the house is going under contract and we just need to PACK!