Nomad Lifestyle- Crossing the Waiting Game's Finish Line

After our wonderful stay in Oregon, we got back on the road again.  We knew the last part of the visa paperwork had been submitted so we knew we needed to be in Phoenix soon so that we could fly out as soon as everything was clear.  This meant that we could only spend a few days in Utah but it worked out great because both of our families were just getting back from trips AND the drive from Portland to SLC went right through the city where my bestie Laura and her family lives!  They let us join them for dinner which was delicious and it was so fun to be in their beautiful home and visit with them!

I love that about 16 years, 2 husbands and 4 kids later, we are still great friends!

That night, we surprised my parents by having ALL of their kids and grandkids home.  Annie came with her boys until Victor finished finals.  It feels good to have all my siblings home. Will is about to get his mission call so it's going to be a couple of years before that happens again.

I have this awesome video of Annie teaching Laila to play the violin.  I've never posted a video before.  Let me know if it works.

The next day, we went to Michael's parents' house.  There is just no such thing as too much cousin play time.

After those short days in Utah, we flew back to Phoenix to be ready for when we could finally fly out! Our first couple of nights we stayed at the Arizona Grand Hotel which has been somewhere I've wanted to stay for awhile so that was a fun little dream come true! 

Look at that arm! :)

And that beautiful girl!  

These two kids of ours are such great travel companions. They really do so well even though their "normal" is so far from normal sometimes!  I feel like there are a few things like bedtime routine that we do the same every night, that has helped them to feel secure in their unfamiliar settings.  Laila loves to have her stuffed kitty sleep with her and Harrison loves a pink blanket of Laila's for bed.  He pulls it and says night night when he's ready to be nursed and go to bed.  It's pretty adorable and I am glad they both have something that comforts them that way!

Although I feel like we had been saying goodbye to family and friends since February (when we thought we would be leaving for Romania) we enjoyed being able to play and see a bunch of our friends before we left.

We enjoyed a morning hike through Fat Man's Pass with the Holms.

Dinner with the Howards.

Church in Chandler.  Love our cuties!

The Baers graciously let us stay a few nights with them and Laila LOVED having sleepovers with Ruby.  The were so cute playing together and reading together...

...and being silly princesses together!  We loved staying with them.

We went to the Mesa Temple Easter Pageant with the Yosts.  Hopefully that's not the last time we get to see them!

We got to see the Rogersons- probably for the last time before they graduate from med school and head to San Antonio for residency! So many great memories with these cuties!

We also got to swim and have pizza with the Woodbury's at the hotel we stayed at before we flew out.

FINALLY the visa came on a Wednesday and we booked our tickets to fly out that Friday!

Friday we just spent the morning packing and running some errands but thankfully, my husband was able to help a mom in need first! 

That night we went to the airport and luckily found this play place to get a few more wiggles before the LONG flight.

 And just like that... we said goodbye to Phoenix and goodbye to the USA for a few months!