My dad said, "I missed your letter this morning!" I had forgotten the time change. I was going to write on Sunday night as usual, but I guess I usually write on Saturday USA time. Anyhow, here's this week's update. Delete as you wish!
Long, busy week. So glad to be on American soil. I didn't realize how much I missed it until I got back. It's going to be hard to go back to China, but we must finish what we started.
Mon: I got to have one last lunch with my friends Jordana and Christine. By the time we get back they will have moved back to the states, and Christine will be on a visit to Canada. After our lunch we went to pay the bill and the owner said he was buying our lunch. Nice! Christine's driver took us to the grocery stores and then home. For Family Home Evening, we went to Pon's house with the Turners and Tovars for a delicious Thai meal. The girls and I had gone over earlier to roll about a billion egg rolls. I thought we would never get to the bottom of the bowl of filling. Pon started to cook them and then her propane tank ran out. This was our cue to go home and get ready for dinner. The kids played pool and apples to apples and we had a nice evening.
Tuesday: Lots of packing and laundry and trip preparation. Met our friend Sherley and her daughter London to get our nails done so we could see them one more time. The place was packed so the service was bu hao. (not good). We also got a refund for the Olympics that were cancelled and walked a lot around town. Dinner at the Youse house was delicious-followed by a piano concert- Joyce and Shannon. Very impressive and loud and expressive. We met Todd at home and madly finished packing. Thirteen bags and 7 carry-ons later, we tried to sleep but were too excited. Chase's friends were streaming by to say good bye until after midnight. They all wanted to say good bye to all the other kids too. Nice group of boys. I think Chase was able to be such a good influence on them and they helped his experience here in China.
Our driver came just before 5AM and was a little miffed at all the bags. We made them fit just fine and we were on our way to Hong Kong. We exited the van and went into immigration. When we came out the other side it was pouring rain. We were cutting it close on time but made it just fine. Uneventful flight to Tokyo. Had a few hours layover so we got to look around. I'd love to go back. Next flight was the long one, Tokyo to LA. Luckily we had a space between our seats and the window. We piled up pillows and took turns napping. Lots of good movies and ok food and we were there in bright and sunny LA. Our eyes were all squinting. We hadn't seen the sunshine since March. Lines in the LA airport were ridiculous. We had a three hour layover and only had about 30 minutes to spare after all the lines. They had lines to get in lines to wait in lines. On to PHX. When we arrived the pilot welcomed the Taylor family from China--Ryan, my brother in law works in the air traffic control tower and happened to be on shift. My mom had on a Chinese farm hat, a sign and a driver sign with our name. It was pretty funny. My dad and sister's family were also there to greet us.
We got rental cars and went to Chick Fil A, first stop. Next stop, target and at&t store, Tempe camera.
Jake and Kelly's family stopped by. We picked up Brigham from the church playing basketball and then headed to see our dog Rocky. Thanks Allreds and Hatfields for watching him for us!
Todd had a mountain bike ride with his buddies. He was in heaven, he misses that so much. Kids are loving their options with so many friends to catch up with and so many cousins to see.
Busy visiting friends, eating good food, going to church and getting Brooke and Chase ready for Prom/mission. Chase gave a quick testimony/talk on experiences in China in church today and had his final mission interview. It's all happening so quickly. We are really going to miss having him around. His companion will be lucky to have a clean, organized, hardworking, smart and funny guy to pal around and work with.
Dinner at Mom and Dad's tonight. All cousins except Ally were there. A rare occasion. My cousin Rachel was there as well. Fun to see her.
It's been great to be back. Busy, but great. Hope we get to see all of you over the next couple of months. Congrats to all the graduates this week!
Love from all over the place,
Taylor Family
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