Back in the Promised Land

As Tuesday rolled around we gave some big hugs, and sad "see you laters" to my family as we headed to the airport and flew back to the promised land. Upon landing in Utah we were both relieved with a feeling of "welcome home." Our plane landed around midnight and Naomi graciously let us stay at her apartment for the night so we didn't have to worry about traveling out of Salt Lake. We were grateful for the bed and Chris had a great night's rest while I spent all night bonding with Naomi's cat Simon, who felt that my face was the best place to tap with her paw and sleep on!

On Wednesday morning Naomi, who had spent the night at Grandma and Grandpa Hall's house, drove our truck up so that we could spend the day running errands. We enjoyed a great breakfast with her and then headed up to Logan. After switching out all of our Alaskan winter gear for Moab summer wear at our storage unit, we headed to the Logan Temple and did a session. This was our first time back to a temple since we moved to Alaska a year ago (no road access to a temple from Juneau) and it felt wonderful to be there. We were glad that we took the time to prioritize attending the temple even though we had a million other things to do that day. After our uplifting and much needed session we picked up Chris's sister Anna and headed over to Aunt Julie's house for family dinner. It was fun getting caught up with the family and we definitely felt the nostalgia for our time living in Logan when Julie and the kids would often have us over for dinner.

We spent the night with Grandpa and Grandma Hall, and Thursday morning we continued our temple tour by going to the Timpanogos Temple! We did initiatories for some family names my dad had given us while in Wisconsin. I always feel as though the veil is extra thin when doing the work for family members, and I was once again overwhelmed with gratitude for being close to temples so that I can help those who have been waiting so long for the blessings of the temple. We then spent the day shopping for scrubs and professional business clothes for Christopher (if you haven't heard, he will be working as a medical assistant/student intern at his dad's office, and I will spend the season river guiding). Late in the afternoon we went down to BYU and met up with my younger brother Jacob and his girlfriend Jill. We had a blast hiking the Y with them, enjoyed a good dinner, and played some Yahtzee before Jacob had to take off for work. The rest of the night we spent enjoying quality time with Grandma and Grandpa Hall.

Jill, Jacob, me and beardless Chris

Friday was Chris's first day of work, and he helped his dad out in the Springville office. Since we were still in Utah Valley I lucked out and was able to catch up with a few of my favorite former roommates, and enjoyed a most needed girls day. When Chris got off work at 8pm we had another late night as we drove down to Moab.

Saturday was spent relaxing, unpacking, and being with our family. It sure is great to be back in Utah!

Remember to pray and remember to play, 

Mr. & Mrs. Andrew