March 5, 2007

• Apparently Mom and Dad thought they made it clear they didn’t want any of us traveling to CA to welcome them home.  I’m not sure why they thought we would obey that.  We actually planned for months to come down a few days early and tackle the yard at the old homestead for a few days.  When we were there a few months ago it was such a mess.  We arrived Thursday evening and someone had beat us to it.  (Tracy C)  Then we learned that the house was in escrow.  So….what to do with a whole day with nothing to do?   Brian thought it would be fun to not tell Serra where we were going and head to Disneyland.  We gave her clues all morning.  There are mice and ducks and dogs.  Some people call it the “happiest place on earth”.  She was still convinced we were going to rake leaves and pull weeds and Grandpa and Grandmas.  When she figured it out it was one of those priceless moments and she immediately asked, “Are cousins going to be here too?”  Sorry kid you’ve just got us.  She was able to live with that knowing she was going to visit some cousins next week. 

   

  We spent the first half of the day at CA Adventure and Serra declares her new favorite ride is Tower of Terror.  We thoroughly enjoyed our day and took vicious pleasure in calling Maren and e-mailing Gary’s family a picture of us on Buzz Lightyear.   So. Cal. was in fine form as the weather was a perfect 70 with a cool breeze.  We still marvel on how well Disneyland handles crowds so well.  We never waited more than 15 minutes for anything and it was pretty crowded.  We ended our day with the new fireworks show and the girls were delighted with Tinkerbell flying around the castle.  The show is different than last years 50 year celebration but they kept some of the best parts.  The girls crashed hard in the car and settled quickly when we got back to our hotel.  I think today we finally feel recovered. 

  

  Waiting our turn for Sourin’

  

  Something snuck in our picture.

  

  Happy girls.

  

  I never thought of doing a theme for the ride pics with the folks you’re with.

  

  It sure doesn’t look like her favorite.

  

  Serra was there but got covered.

  

  Mmmmmmm

  

  I thought the horse Serra picked out was funny.

  

  Yo Ho Yo Ho…

  

  Done!

  Saturday the fun was not over.  We slept hard and woke with a start at 8am.  With the curtains closed it was really dark in the room and Serra asked why we were up since it was still night time.   We headed to Olsens where Mom and Dad arrived the night before only to find them not there but off buying a suit for Dad.  Jeff and Maren had just arrived.  Then the mission folks showed in just the nick of time for their release.  They haven’t changed a bit, not that we expected them to.  Serra was so excited she had to hide for a few minutes.  Sophia won’t have anything to do with the strange people.  She kind of keeps an eye on them but would barely let Mom pick her up as we left Sunday.   Hopefully over the next week she will warm up. 

  Pres. Petersen showed up a few minutes later and proceeded with the release.  I thought there was something a little more formal involved but he talked to them for a few minutes, asked them about their plans for the future, and said “you are released from your mission.”  The end.  Mom didn’t like taking of the tag.

  Shortly after that, they were off again.  Places to go, people to see.  Brian headed to Expedition to help them with their website.  Jeff, Maren, Serra~V~, and Gregg went sailing, and I hung out with Julie Olsen and Rosie all afternoon.  That evening there was a dinner with the Onkens, Olsens, including Tiffany Ann and Nick, the Cianflones, and the Hansens.  We sure miss those folks.  Rosie was a bit of a challenge.  She seemed to be a bit worn out from our previous days activities.  

  

  Debi brought over some pretty fancy desserts.

  

  Lot’s of stories.

  

  The Olsens faboo tree swing and Serra tries on Grandpas new duds.

  Sunday we headed to church.  Many people that have since moved to other places came to welcome the folks home.  It was a great testimony meeting that started with Mom and Dad taking a few minutes.  The highlight of the meetings for me though was Relief Society where Mom took the whole hour and reported and answered questions.  That was GREAT! 

  We had and late lunch with the Olsens and our family and visited for a few hours.  Then we headed back to Vegas.  We expect Mom and Dad in tonight sometime.  They will be here for a few days and then the girls and I will follow them north for a week.  We’re not going to miss out on the fun. 

  • 1:25 pm
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