Before and After

I will admit that I have some things that I just can’t stand and one of those things is untidy stacks of stuff.  If you are going to stack stuff then at least have it look nice and in even piles.  I walked into our walk in closet the other night and glanced up at Neal’s shelves on his side of the closet and that was all it took.  I started pulling everything down off the shelves and thus began the process of sorting, folding and reorganizing his stuff.  It felt so much better when I was done.  How long will it last? 

Ahhhhhhhh  Much better.  Now I can breathe again!

Some blessings and miracles I need to record.

All arrived in China safely, had a wonderful safe time, and arrived home happy and glad to be in these United States safe and sound.

Tucker called last night and told us that a huge deal he was working on went through!  He has captured one of the biggest school districts in California to be part of their companies program.  Way to go Tucker!

I sang in a quartet this morning at a ward conference and have had a scratchy throat for the past two weeks.  I was singing soprano and concerned that I wouldn’t be able to hit the high notes.  Thanks to a prayer and a prayer answered my voice was clear and true during the song.  My talk went well too.  Do I believe in miracles?  Most definitely.  They happen almost every day in my life.

Our BIG China purchase–big to haul home and big on our pocket book!

I told Neal – no more big boys sitting on the bed to watch football games.  They are going to have to sit on the floor, find a chair or stand.  After what we paid for this new spread – there will be a lot of protecting going on.  By the way, it is much brighter and more colorful in person.  The colors just aren’t true in these pictures.  What do you think?  Like?

Three more Eagle Scouts

Tonight three more of the boys that Neal worked with in scouting are getting their Eagles tonight.  Ever since we got home from China, he has been working every free minute on carving three more neckerchief slides.  These are the finished three that will be presented to the boys tonight.  I’m always impressed with the finished project.  Noticed the bandaged finger in the pictures.  As he was finishing the last one, which was the deer, he cut his finger.  He got blood on the antler and debated whether to leave it there or not.  We had a discussion about it and we were on opposite sides of the fence on this discussion.  I won’t tell you which side we were standing on, but I’ll let you decide for yourself whether he should have cleaned it off or left it on.  As you can see, the blood is on the antler.  By the way, Smokey the Bear was his favorite of the three.  I was a little partial to the violin.

Two darling grandchildren

Maren called and asked if I could tend her two little ones while she had a facial treatment from Lyndsy.  I had a Relief Society Meeting that evening but I was able to get home just minutes before she dropped Brock and Boston off.  What fun little boys.  We played, had fruit loops and apple jack cereal, built some creations with the blocks and then bounced and wrestled on the bed.  They had a good time and when mom came back to pick them up, Brock didn’t want to go.  You know you’ve been a good tender when the kids don’t want to leave. 

A summary of a great trip!

First of all let me say a big THANK YOU to Maren and Greg.  Thanks for the buddy passes, thanks for all the work of putting this incredible once in a life time trip put together.  Maren spent hours getting the buddy passes put together, arranging for the best flights, arranging for hotels and putting together an agenda.  Maren had the costs for the hotels, transportation and buddy passes all figured out and listed for us to see.  The only thing she couldn’t do was estimate the cost of food.

I’m going to list the costs she came up with, just so years from now we can look back how organized this trip was and the estimated costs:

Hotels, Thursday March 8th – Hong Kong SkyCity Marriott Hotel

Cutler’s $193.54

Mom & Dad $154.84

Tucker $77.42

Lyndsy $77.42

Derek $77.42

Wednesday and Thursday March 14 & 15 @ Holiday Inn Express

Cutler $334.92

Mom & Dad $267.94

Tucker $134.97

Lyndsy $133.97

Derek $133.97

Total for Hotels

Cutler $528.46

Mom & Dad $422.78

Tucker $211.49

Lyndsy $211.49

Derek $211.49

Flight Expenses:

Mom $697.68

Dad $693.88

Lyndsy $693.88

Tucker $690.38

We flew first class all the way over, which was wonderful.  Thanks to Derek and staying at his apartment, our hotel costs were minimal.  We so appreciate Derek’s generosity and his time in planning our days and making sure we were safe and transported at minimal cost as well.  It was exciting to be able to see Derek in his China environment and see him perform.  He is a natural and one excellent diver!  We were pleased to be able to meet and spend some time with his friend Ting Ting.  The whole family fell in love with her.  She was gracious and very protective of us.  When we left she gave me a darling tea pot that I love and have sitting on my desk so that I see it every day and am reminded of her kindness and love extended to Derek’s family.

There were many highlights to the trip, all to be remembered with fondness.  One thing that was quite interesting, that I failed to mention, was when we were shopping I noticed a counted cross stitch that was hanging in one of the booths.  I made a fuss about it and Derek explained to the security lady that I did counted cross stitch.  She said she knew right where I could get some.  She put me on her moped and took me a few blocks away to a little hole in the wall shop where Derek and I searched for one that he would like me to do for him.  I ended up buying two.  Both are going to be a challenge.

I loved seeing Derek and knowing that he is happy where he is and has so very many friends around him.  It puts my mind and heart at ease now that I’ve experienced where he lives and what he is doing.  I will always worry about him because he is so very far away, but I know that my prayers for his safety and well being have been answered and will continue to be answered. 

Thank you Maren and Greg, once again for a wonderful trip.  Thanks to the spouses, Jamie and James and the children, Jordyn Lyn, Lexi, Peyton and River who also sacrificed their time with their parent and encouraged them to participate in this adventure.  A special thanks to James for carting us to and from the airport!

P.S.  Neal and I did make one expensive purchase, but I’m not going to show it until I get it all set up.  Maybe some time this week.

Lyndsy, Neal and I are headed home!

We said our ‘goodbyes’ around 2 a.m., went to bed and got up at 5:30 to catch the transport to the airport.  We checked in boarded and headed for Detroit.

While waiting for the boarding, Lyndsy and I wandered the airport and she found these darling Little Kitty ear phones.

Two pictures of the coast of Hong Kong as we were waving goodbye to China.

Pictures of the airplane food.  It really wasn’t too bad except for the green dessert.  Texture and taste was disgusting.

After 14 hours we arrive in Detroit.  We have a 4 hour wait.  We are all totally drained.  Cute Lyndsy just couldn’t stay awake any longer.  There were only two seats left on the plane to Salt Lake so Lyndsy and I got on the plane.  Neal was given a first class boarding pass for the flight that was two hour later.  We taxied out to the run way.  We were third in line for take off when the pilot came on and said that the thunder and lightening storm along with some tornadoes that were touching down around Pittsburg was delaying our take off.  We sat on the run way for 1 1/2 hours.  Finally the pilot came on and told us that he had been told there would be no flights taking off and to head back to the gate.   We all sighed and prepared to move back to the gate.  The minute the engines fired up the pilot came on and said there was a change and we were cleared for take off!  The whole plane cheered!  We took off into the wild blue (well bumpy and dark cloud covered) yonder.  When we landed in Salt Lake, Lyndsy called James to come and get us and it was then that we were informed that Neal had missed his plane.  He didn’t look at the ticket and assumed the next plane would leave from the same gate.  He ended up having to stay at a nearby hotel and came home Friday morning arriving at 10:30 a.m.   James drove out to the airport again to pick him up.  Thank you James for the taxi service.

Mine and Lyndsy’s final purchase on the plane. 

Headed home and preparing to head for Hong Kong

This is one of my favorite pictures because it is so typical of China today.  You see these bicycle carts all over the place.  They don’t like their pictures taken so it was hard to actually get one.  I was excited to snap this shot.

Believe it or not but McDonalds delivers!!! Yup, Derek called and gave them our order and within 20 minutes we had hot McDonalds at our door.  It was wonderful.  We were all so tired from the days events that having a meal delivered was perfect.

Just a crazy moment.

Packing up for Hong Kong

The bus we took to Hong Kong broke down part way there.  We all thought of the amazing race as we were told to get off the bus, grab our bags and wait on the sidewalk for another bus to come and rescue us.  We were all exhausted and this set back was not easy.  When the second bus came, we piled our tired bodies onto the bus and continued our journey.  The bus dropped us off at some random stop and we had to either take a couple of cabs to the hotel or find our way on the subway.  The subway was chosen and off we went.  What a feat dragging all the suitcases and backpacks through the subway tunnels, up and down steps.  We finally made it to the hotel and checked in for the night.  Neal, Lyndsy and I were leaving for home in the morning.  Tucker and the Cutlers were staying one more day.  Flights were a little tight out of Detroit so we thought it best to split up.  The three of us were ready to come back to America!

This is a picture of a grand canyon black head on Tucker’s back that Lyndsy tried to clean out with the whole family watching.  Seriously!?  Were we that tired and bored? 

Pandas and feeding the baby white tiger

Can you name this animal?  I named it but I said it wrong.  I called it a sluth with emphasis on the “u”.  It really is said Sloth – emphasis on “a” sound.