February 16th through February 20th

February 16^th through February 20^th:  Monday, after arriving in Las Vegas I made it through customs and figured out that I could catch a shuttle to St. George.  I had to wait 2 hours but after what I had been through the last 2 days, what was 2 hours.  I arrived in St. George at 5:30pm and was met by my lovely wife who I only realized upon seeing her how much I had missed her.  We had only been apart for 30 hours or so but with all of the uncertainty about whether or not I would make it to Oaxaca and back to Mexico City and then find my bag and make the plane, it was a real relief to see her and get a big hug.  My brother Tad, who just recently moved to St. George lent us his truck and so we got on the freeway and drove to Bountiful, arriving about 10:30pm.  While I was riding buses back to Oaxaca and then back to Mexico City, Chris was enjoying spending the day with John and Jill’s and Ginny and Sam’s kids, swimming and just hanging out.  

Pool fun in St. George.

More pool fun.

I hadn’t been in a bed for 58 hours and it felt so good to be able to lie down and sleep.  Tuesday we started shopping for the list of things that people want us to take back and in the evening we took Ginny and Sam to dinner.  

Ginny and Sam.

Dinner with Sam and Ginny.

We are going to dinner with each of our children and their spouses while we are here and we also want to have a Family Home Evening/Morning with each of their families.  Ginny and Sam have to go back to LA on Friday so we started off with them.  Wednesday we had a play date for all the children who were not in school at the food court at City Creek Center.  They have a nice play ground with dinosaurs for the kids to climb on.  Watching 7 kids, 5 and under made me tired and I still wonder how we had the energy to raise 5 of our own.  But it was a lot of fun to watch them play together.  We took James and Kirstin to dinner in the evening.  

Dinner with Kirstin and James.

Thursday I got up and went to John and Jill’s and made Swedish pancakes for the kids before they went to school.  We spent a lot of time preparing for our “get the whole family together at a church” night.  John and Jill got permission for us to use their church.  We had homemade Café Rio pulled pork salads for the adults and quesadillas for the kiddos.  We played “minute to win it” games and our own made-up game of Mexican Frisbees.  We also had a piñata and finished off with a birthday cake for Tilda.  She is one tomorrow.  

The kids got fed first.  All the adults are in the kitchen making their Cafe Rio salads.

Char manning the quesadilla station.

John and John Jr. Surpervising.

Everyone playing nose dive.

We are missiing half of Emme and Badger.  But for the most part this is the John Norman gang.

At the end of the night Charlotte read a letter from Pres. Atkinson to our kids about our service in Oaxaca.  He made us all cry.

Friday we went in to the Temple Department to deliver some material for Pres. Atkinson.  We met with Elder Moore, who is over all the senior temple missionaries and Brother Carvajal, who is an area director over all the temples in Mexico.  We were introduced to Elder Teh, who is one of the seventies over the temple department, and we ran into an old friend, Kevin Holman, who is over interior design for all the temples.  We also met some of the women who always answer our questions when we run into “What do I do now problems”.  We came home and had our Family Home Morning with Ginny and Sam and then they packed up and were off to California.  We went out to Kate and Bryce’s home and tended their kids so they could have a night away from the chaos of 3 kids.  Saturday, I got up and made Swedish pancakes for the kids and Bryce and Kate got home about noon and we had our Family Home Afternoon with their family.  

Nana and Poppa with Kate and Bryce's three munchkins.  Abigail, Stanford and Kimball.

We came home and I tended Char’s kids and Chris went to John’s and tended his kids.  Are you getting the idea that Nana and Poppa are really good at tending?  We are!  Sunday we went to our old ward on the Avenues and listened to the report of Walt and Peggy Plumb’s mission to Iraq.  They were the first missionaries (humanitarian) to be called to Iraq.  They really had some stories.  ISIS got within 30 miles of the town they were living in.  We then went to church with Char’s family and we taught the Gospel Principles lesson for Alex.  It was on the Temple and Family History.  We went to James’ for dinner and had a Family Home Evening with his family.  

James, Nana, Rigby and Emme dancing.

What fun we are having spending time with each of our kids and their spouses and their kids.  We both have our doctor’s appointments tomorrow.  We hope all goes well.