In June 1994 we moved back to the United States. It had been almost 4 years since we'd touched foot on American soil. I'll never forget the first Sunday we were back, we sang the "Star Spangled Banner" at church & I could barely get through it. As amazing as our experience was in Germany, it was good to be home. We landed in St. Louis, Missouri and picked up a mini-van that we had preordered and then drove to Utah. We stopped and visited friends in Missouri and Oklahoma from our old wards. As we were driving through Wyoming we hit a really bad wind/sand storm that literally took little chips of paint off the hood of our brand new van!! Needless to say Russ was NOT a happy camper.
Grandma & grandpa Larsen meeting their two youngest grandsons for the first time.
We had a big dinner at Jan's house & it was so good to see everyone.
My parents were on a mission in the Caribbean when we moved back.
When we moved to Germany we had to put a lot of things in storage. One of the things I was most excited about getting out of storage was my washer and dryer. After living out of suitcases for months & using a laundromat I couldn't wait to use it. Russ hooked it up the night we got it & I was determined to do all the wash the next morning. As I loaded the washer & turned it on, nothing happened. I kept trying different things, but to my dismay I couldn't get it to work. After a heart felt prayer I had the distinct impression to look behind the washer. When the impression came again, I looked and saw that the tubing for the water to go into the washer had a kink in it. I quickly untwisted it and the washer worked like a charm. It was a reminder to me that Heavenly Father hears the smallest of prayers.
By the time we received all of our belongings from Missouri to Las Vegas, we realized if we'd lived without them for 4 years, we probably didn't need them. As a result, we had a big yard sale.
Lindsey and Jared had a great time selling gatorade and cookies & making some money.
When we left Germany in June we were still wearing jackets! When we moved to Las Vegas it was 117 degrees! When you live overseas you have to give back the Air Force one year to move you back, so we made up our minds we would only be in Las Vegas for one year.
One thing I loved about Las Vegas is that you could pretty much count on it being sunny everyday. Because of this we spent a lot of time outside.
Red Rock Canyon in January
During Spring break we went camping to Zion National Park. We got the tent all set up and had a fun day/evening playing in the water and making a fire. Around 10:00 pm when all the kids were fast asleep in their sleeping bags, a ranger came by and told us we had to pack up our camp and leave, because of a mudslide. We ask him where we were suppose to go this late. He said there's a church down the road & you can stay in their parking lot. As we loaded everything up & followed a stream of traffic out of the park, we spotted a motel. Russ went in and we got the last room. The next morning when Jared woke up he was so upset & kept asking where our tent was??
We decided to go to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon on the same trip. We didn't realize how cold it still was. By night time it was so cold that all of us went to bed early. It was so windy that the only thing that kept the tent on the ground was our bodies. It was also pouring rain! I was worried about Jacob getting cold so put him in my sleeping bag with me. I remember waking up thinking it was probably almost morning & it was only 11:00 pm!! It was one of the longest nights I can remember. When we woke up the next morning Jared had a puddle of water under his bag. I felt so bad!! Needless to say, we were ready to go home!
One advantage of living closer to family was we got a lot of visitors that year. John & Jan came & we took a tour of Nellis Air Force Base. It helped that we were on the way to California.
Christine came with her kids.
Jeff, Karen, Tiera & us.
We even got grandma & grandpa Larsen to come down for Christmas:)
In March of 95 my parents returned home from their mission.
Hogle Zoo with Christine, Moroni & our kids.
Mother/Daughter night at the church
We made a couple of trips to California to pick up our Trooper, go to Disneyland and visit friends.
Russ and I planned a "Germany Reunion" with many of our friends who had moved back to the states. We camped at Snow Canyon near St. George for a couple of days and had a great time.
This is one of my favorite pictures of Russ with our boys.
Lindsey and Jared used to love to have "sleep outs" on Lindsey's floor.
May 1, 1995 was the last time I saw my Oma. She died on June 13, 1995.
Right before we moved, Dave, Sherrie & the kids came to see us. Sherrie was a gem and helped me do some cleaning.
In between our visitors, vacations and trips to SLC, Russ and I made a couple of trips to Washington State. We always knew we didn't want to stay in the military so we started looking around at where we wanted to settle down. Russ had been on several trips to the Pacific Northwest as a child & really loved the area. Because Russ didn't want to take another board exam to practice dentistry we looked at the States the "Western Regional Board" included and Washington was one of them. We knew we wanted to live in a small town. Russ interviewed with 15 or so different dentists. After much prayer, research, etc. we decided to move to Montesano, WA located 35 miles West of Olympia. One weekend the two of us came up to find a house. We only looked at 6 or 8 and bought the first one we looked at. One of the benefits of being in the military was that we could get a VA loan. It was such a blessing in our lives at the time as we had no money for a down payment. So after being in the Air Force for 8 years and having a very fulfilling and happy time there we packed up and moved to Washington State. We have lived here almost 20 years now & have been truly blessed. So much has happened that it would be impossible to write about it on my blog.
Russ worked for Leo Nixon for 1 1/2 years then 1 1/2 years as a partner and then bought him out. From there Greg Blanchard worked for Russ 1 1/2 years and then became a full partner. Its really worked out very well and we've been SO blessed.
