Celebrating

This is our 5th day home and it has been busy and filled with celebrating. First of course is just to be home and getting used to the differences. Next our first school concert with Zeke. Cenny and JT. Then we had to meet our new financial adviser as ours sold his business while we were in Iceland. We started drinking Green Smoothies under the encouragement of President Ólafur in Iceland. Then Paige arrived from Kansas City for a few days. Saturday we drove to the cities to celebrate Amanda's birthday. Part of the trip was to take Cenny and Eileen to the American Girls store so Eileen could get her doll so she could play dolls with her granddaughters. The trip also included lunch, stops at several stores and buying Amanda's birthday present or at lease some as she wore out before finishing. For me it was just shuttling them around to all the various places but I enjoyed the average 34.1 mpg on the way up and 30.9 on the way back. I am always amazed at the great gas mileage we get since we get negative comments about driving a large car. I get better MPG than most so called economy cars.

Today we enjoyed seeing all our friends again at Church and feeling of the Spirit as they shared their testimonies. It was a great day seeing all our friends of so many years and meeting many new members. David gave a great Sunday School lesson and Bishop White a great Priesthood lesson. It feels so good to be home again.

Home at Last

We arrived home last night as originally scheduled with the added benefit of spending a week with Kristi's family and a week with Steven's family thanks to the Ashby's arriving in Iceland 3 weeks early. We enjoyed those weeks and are looking forward to enjoying time with both families again the end of May when we go east for Cordie's baptism.

When we arrived in Rochester MN, Lisa, Qatar, Zeke, Cenny and JT met us at the airport to take us home. It is always fun to be welcomed with such enthusiasm. Then when we arrived home we found a sign and balloons on our front door from a good friend.

Today was spent trying to dig out from 18 months of mail although Amanda did get rid of all the junk mail and magazines which really helped. Had to charge the car battery before we could use it. It is really nice driving our living room sofa (as referred to by many younger people) again. Steven drove it for awhile and admitted he understood why we liked the car so much and that it sure is much nicer than those expensive imports so popular these days.

Getting Closer

Yesterday Brent and Sheri and their kids came to visit. Brent was our Bishop when we left on our first mission to Romania but had moved from Austin when we returned. It was so great to see them again and how their family has grown. One added side benefit was all the delicious chocolate he brought. It is nice having friends who work for Hersey. Eileen has her milk chocolate to enjoy and I have my dark chocolate. Did I ever mention how healthy dark chocolate is - not only are there all those great anti-oxidants but I discovered in one serving 16% of my daily fiber - just gets better all the time. Thanks Brent for reinforcing my dark chocolate love.

Getting Closer To Home

After enjoying a week with Kristi, Karl, Kylie, Elle and Cordie we headed back to Boston March 16 and flew to DC so we could spend a week visiting Steven, Micah, Connett, Benjamin, Gideon, Abigail, Peter and Eliza. It has been a fun week as you can tell by the dates. We have been to the National Building Museum which was fun to tour from my perspective especially with the 4 person tour we enjoyed. We also did a night tour of the Mall seeing the Capital, the Washington Monument, the WWII, Korean and Lincoln Memorials and the State Department. Then Saturday we enjoyed a leisurely time at the Great Falls National Park. We are getting closer to being home but we sure have enjoyed our time with the families. To really see how much fun we have been having you just need to go to Micah's blog. We have enjoyed the Metro too for the ease of getting around.

Home Almost

We flew to Boston from Iceland on March 8 but instead of getting on a plane to Chicago to Rochester MN and then home we took a bus to Lebanon, NH to visit Kristi, Karl, Kylie, Elle and Cordie in their new home in Etna. They have a beautiful home in the woods - you feel like you are in the mountains away from everyone it is so quiet and peaceful. We were glad for the nice slow pace to rest up. We rested so well we didn't even take many pictures. The picture of the monument is Joseph Smith's birthplace in Sharon VT with Cordie standing in front. Kristi also took us to a glass blower that does basic pieces at a very high cost but it was fun to look at all the items and have a nice lunch over looking the dam used to power their workshop and restaurant. Vermont and New Hampshire are beautiful areas even this time of the year.

They have a very good school system which we were able to see a little. Kylie has a woodworking class where she is able to design and make what she wants to rather than set items. She just finished this project while we were visiting.

Leaving Iceland

The lack of posts had to do with being busy getting ready to leave Iceland. We had lots of goodbyes as much as we hated leaving the many good friends we have made. We also wanted to make sure the apartment was sparkling including the windows even though it was still snowing (that is the reason for the picture with the hat on in the kitchen). Elder and Sister Ashby's arrived tired as we all do from the long trip so the picture of Sister Ashby is probably not fair. After 4 days of sharing a little of what we learned about Iceland with the Ashby's we were taken to the airport by our good friends Elder and Sister Koyle. We had a good flight to Boston and then took the Dartmouth Coach to Kristi's where we are now enjoying being back home even if not quite home yet. More to follow.