Going, Coming, ...and Going Again!

We knew it would be crazy for a couple of weeks and it was, but we accomplished what we needed to do---got Tosha and her three kids from Seattle to Syracuse and got Scott and Chantel and their stuff to Oro Valley, AZ.

It went something like this-Part One:

I headed to the airport to catch my flight to Seattle on June 25.  As I was walking to my gate with lots of time to spare, I saw a "bunch" of missionaries hanging out in a group (A common sight in the Salt Lake Airport on Tuesdays.)  Inspired by a recent post from a friend who shared a cute photo a friend had taken of my friend's daughter in the airport a few weeks earlier, I stopped and asked if anyone wanted me to take a picture and send it to their moms.  They were all excited and asked me to do a group shot.

Then they each typed in their mom's phone number in the message and I sent it off.  This lovely group of missionaries were heading to Ft. Worth Texas mission which was a fun surprise so I could tell them how awesome people are in Texas.  Some of them may even end up in my brother's stake.

What I didn't realize when I made the offer was the responses I got from their moms.  Some came quickly and I could share them with their missionaries and some came later while I was on my flight. They all wanted to know who sent them the photos and they were all so grateful for this poor quality photo of their missionary.  One mom wrote that she had served in the same mission Spanish-speaking just over 21 years ago. Now her oldest daughter was leaving to do the same thing.  We exchanged a few texts during the day.  A good example of how doing something nice for someone else made my day that much better!

I then spent a couple of days with Tosha as they got ready to drive back to Utah. 

Niki on his scooter
and then at the park

Ava isn't sure of me yet!

 Tosha decided to drive the trip all in one day and so Thursday morning, we headed out from Tacoma.

Green and rain on the west side of the mountains and blue skies and dry fields on the east side of Washington....

The kids did pretty great on the trip and we only had a couple of eventful moments along the way.  First in southeastern Washington, the check engine light came on so we pulled over and Tosha called Austen (who is 7000 miles away) and asked him what to do.  After the usual checks, he decided it was good to go and off we went.  About 30 miles later, the coolant light came on, just inside the Oregon border and right before an exit with a gas station.  We pulled off and called Austen again and then Tosha bought coolant and added it and off we went.  We had no other car issues on the trip and were able to get the car seen here in Utah and have the defective sensor replaced and the coolant system flushed.  So we should be good for the return trip.

Then in the middle of Idaho another event-- the all-important "100,000" Mileage on their Audi.  Austen loves cars and it was important that we recorded the moment for him, so we pulled over and took some pictures!

For the record, I was driving.  I was so worried I would miss it.

And then we were off again.....

When I was in Okinawa the last time, Tosha gave me some fish wind soxs which they hang everywhere to celebrate International Boys and Girls Day.  Mine have hung on a pole in our back yard until they were shredded to pieces.  Gary knew I loved them so he ordered these for me for Mother's Day.  In honor of Tosha's arrival, he hung them up on our front porch when we arrived on Thursday night.

Welcome home, Tosha--we miss Austen, but are so glad that everyone else can come and spend some time with us while he is gone.