Less than 3 months to go! (and Houston trip)

The other day it dawned on me that we are only 3 months away from our departure from the US!!!  Aaahhhh!!!!    We have been super busy for the last few weeks, which is good.  When we aren't busy we just get bored and trunky.

On April, 18 we got an email telling us that Aramco had given us BI (background investigation) approval.  We weren't really too worried about getting that but it was still nice to feel like we were one step closer to having all of the contingencies met.   We also have now gotten our medical clearance from Saudi Aramco.  We were a little more concerned about that one so we were really happy to hear about that.  When we were in Houston we had heard we had medical clearance but hadn't gotten an official email stating it until May 12.   We have been doing a lot to get us ready.  The last Saturday in April was really nice and warm so we had a huge garage/yard sale.  We sold a lot more than I thought we would and then gave away a lot of stuff too.  It is so nice to get rid of so much junk.  We have had our house for sale for about 6 weeks now.  It's been a lot of work getting it ready to show and advertising it (as of now we are not using a realtor).  We have also been trying to get things organized.  We have lots of piles and lists made. :)

We went to Houston for our orientation on Friday, May 3.  We left Thursday morning and first dropped Brigham off with my friend Tye and then drove down to Salt Lake to leave the other 3 kids with Josh's parents.  Our flight left early in the afternoon so we only had a few minutes to spend at his parents house before they dropped us off at the airport.

At the airport we saw Elder Richard G. Scott (A leader in our church.  He was on the same flight as us so we went over and said hi.  He was so sweet. :)

When we got to Houston we were met by a driver guy waiting to take us to our hotel.  He drove us through Houston in a Lincoln and wanted to chat the whole way about our move to Saudi (it seems to be a hot topic of conversation).

We're pretty cute, huh?  We were super excited to spend a few days without the kids. :)

Thursday night we just kind of hung out at the hotel and the mall that it was connected to. It was fun to people watch and to spend time hanging out without trying to keep track of all the kids. 

The orientation was kind of exciting, kind of boring, kind of informative.  We started with Josh doing his medical testing and both of us had to get blood drawn.  Then we went and got pictures taken for our visas.  The rest of the day was spent in a conference room listening to a presentation about what its like to be employed by Saudi Aramco.  Most of the other people who were doing their orientation that day were there for their initial interview.  They had A LOT more questions that Josh and I did so most of the information was pretty redundant for us.  Still, just being there made this who thing seem a lot more real.  We were able to have lunch with our recruiter (Brenda) and our relocation advisor (Terry).  Another lady joined us because she had some Despains in her genealogy.  Lunch was really fun, they were all really friendly ladies and they let us eat whatever we wanted. :)

Orientation got over about 3:00.  Sharman (Josh's sister) came and picked us up and we spent the next two days with her family. 

We went to a state park where there are alligators just off the path from where you are walking.  It was super cool and a little freaky.  We ate A LOT of super yummy food, enjoyed the time with family, and really enjoyed the super warm weather.