Part II ... Journey Home & Santa

Marks flight was cancelled again today at 4:30 am this morning. I spent 2.5 hours on hold at 4:30 am waiting to speak with a United Airlines customer service representative to work on getting Mark a new flight. The NEW CURRENT plan is to have him fly out on 12/20 at 10:40 am through Charlotte, NC and in to Las Vegas to arrive around 3 pm. Please oh please let it stop snowing in Virginia!!!

To pass the time, I took Max over to the mall here in town. I think this was one of his first trips to the mall without a stroller (we sold it this summer at one of our garage sales). Anyway, of course he LOVED the freedom to go see everything, run, touch, play on all the "rides" they have in aisles for .50 cents. But, we did get to see Santa which I was trying to hold out until Mark and Justin got here but, I had to do something! I'm going nuts!! Then we headed over to Costco for lunch and to pick up a couple more things.

Max loved seeing Santa ... gave him high 5's and knuckle knocks ... Santa is soooo cool!

Short of the Long Trip Home...

Mark has been working on getting home to St. George from Afghanistan for almost a week now. Traveling within the country is difficult since you can not merely put your thumb out for the next taxi to pull up! Mark left his base by armored vehicle to travel to FOB Apache. From there he had to catch a helicopter ride to Kandahar. In Kandahar, he was met by a buddy whom he has met since being in country on base. He had to stay in Kandahar until he could get his plane ride to Dubai. He was scheduled to leave Kandahar on Wednesday, the 16th and would not be flying out of Dubai until the 18th around midnight.

When Mark was leaving the base in Kandahar, the guards reviewed his travel orders and said to him, since you do not have a Dubai Visa ... you will have to stay in the airport for two days until your flight is ready to go. Hmmm ... this would have been good to know ... since who likes to hang out in airports for 2 days??? But, Mark says, ok. I'll stay in the airport. I believe once Mark got to Dubai and entered the airport, you must go through airport security immediately vs. waiting until you go to the gate, like here in the states. So, traveling with just a backpack, Mark then lost his toothpaste, facewash, shampoo and razor ... hmmm thus begin the stink at the airport. Poor Mark is now sleeping on the airport benches talking to complete strangers (not one of his strong points) and waiting as patiently as he can for his 15 hour flight to leave. Finally the 18th comes and he checks in for his flight with his paperwork from the travel agency. The polite check-in desk attendant from United then informs Mark, "I'm sorry you are NOT on this flight!". Thus you can see where the panic / heart-attach begins! After HOURS of trying to call out from the airport and being unsuccessful ... Mark is back in line at the United desk and calmly requests .... HELP! Turns out the travel agency had put him on the same flight that left the night before (17th) which Mark was at the airport for and could have gotten on ... but, typed up his travel orders for the 18th! Talk about stress! All he was thinking was, I have not seen my family for 4 months and I could be stuck in this airport for 21 days until I have my travel orders to come back! Ughh. Thankfully, and seriously, I know the Lord was watching over him, the agent at United worked with him and was able to get him on the flight stand-by for which he had been waiting on. The flight was full... it was a miracle!

Mark arrives in Washington today, the 18th at 6:30 am. I got his call and helped him find his way to the shuttle that would then take him to the Marriott for the day / night. Thankfully, the Marriott let Mark check in early and finally, Mark has a bed, shower, shampoo, clean running water and all the comforts of American lifestyle.

Later this morning ... I got a call from United Airlines. Mark's flight for tomorrow that brings him from Dulles to Las Vegas is now cancelled due to the potential for 12" of snow! UGHHH! We can not get through to the customer service agents because United is ringing busy and busy, so I called Mark back and had him go back to the airport to stand in the reservation line. He is now booked on a 4 o'clock flight that goes through Chicago and should arrive in Vegas at 11:04 PM!

TO BE CONTINUED ...

DMV - A Christmas Miracle!

Brace yourselves you will NOT believe this story!

Today I had to take some time to get our truck registered with the state of Utah since our registration would be running out at the end of the month with Virginia. This is one of those chores that falls under "wait till the last minute ... who wants to deal with the DMV?" So, I got online to find out that I would have to get the truck inspected, take our title, fill out an application and then drive to HURRICANE! Hurricane is up the I-15 on the way to Zion and there are no other locations in St. George. So, I got Maxed settled down for "rest-time" as he is currently boycotting naps these days, and gathered up my stuff and headed out for what I thought would be an all afternoon excursion! Amazingly, my trip to the Jiffy Lube where they did the inspections... started out great! I was the only vehicle in the store, drove right in, got the inspection in 10 minutes paid my $17 bill and I was on my way to Hurricane. I drove over the mountain here in St. George, got on 1-15 and was off the highway in less than 15 minutes. I found the DMV, which had three different offices, parked, walked-in, punched a box as to what I was needing at the information desk and I was #464! In less than 60 seconds (no kidding!) my number was called and I was assisted by a friendly woman who knew what she was doing, asked for the appropriate documents which I proudly passed to her, asked which style of plates I wanted, collected my $147 dollars and sent me on my way! I told the woman helping me that this truly was a first for me in 24 years of dealing with DMV's! Next thing I knew I was on my way back to Santa Clara and even stopped in at the dollar store to pick up a card! Who says Christmas miracles don't happen? Not me ... said the very happy resident!

Family Night - St. George Temple

Tonight we drove down to see the lights around the St. George Temple and Visitors Center. We were excited to get out and see the beautiful Christus statue, the lights, the manger scene, see the temple, "touch" the temple for Max, and of course to remember the reason why we celebrate Christmas. I will put this on list of things to do once Mark and Justin get here. While there are not nearly as many lights as there are in SLC or Washington DC ... it is still a fun evening and Max had a great time too!

Thanksgiving Turkey!

For our craft day during the Thanksgiving holiday, I helped Max make some turkeys out of apples using a variety of things we had on hand for feathers. Popcorn, cranberries, colored mini-marshmellows, fruit snacks and raisins all came in handy! We had fun making these and Max enjoyed eating them too!

House is Sold!!

Just needed to make a quick post .... we closed on our house yesterday! What a fantastic Christmas present to Mark and I to have that off our to-do list! Now let the real savings plan begin once again! I am so thankful!

What's Next??

What do these two items have in common?

Answer: Max! Today Max discovered that indeed he could put a lego part up his nose! Of course this happened while I was at the gym but he quickly came downstairs to tell Grandma that he had put something up his nose .... Grandma then called Grandpa down ... and together after a couple of sneezes and a pair of tweezers .... successfully retrieved the lego part!

So, now we have covered putting toys in our mouth ... with the magnetic ball going down the hatch all the way this past January. A lego part going up his right nostril .... and today we clearly defined that NO TOYS or any objects go in our EARS! Hopefully we will miss the ear adventure!