Visit from the King side. And a really long explanation.

First of all, I want to throw out an apology to Callie. I wanted to get together with you while I was in Utah, Callie, but I didn't have a car to get anywhere and was at the mercy of everyone else's plans. Also, I was only there for a few days and there were family dinners/ etc. planned through the weekend and then you headed back to school on Monday. I left at 4 am on Tuesday. So it didn't work out this time. Hopefully next time I get to Utah it will be for longer and we can get together. I miss you.

To everyone: We were all going to go to Price to visit my mom's side of the family, but instead Uncle Chuck, Aunt Terry, Grandma, and Pa came to see us at Megan's house. There are a lot of pictures on this post because my mom likes to steal pictures off of blogs and have them printed. So I wanted her to have options. That was the short explanation.

Here is the long one. I want to explain why I have no make-up in any of these pictures. It is all due to my horrible airplane curse. On my last trip, my suitcase got destroyed. On this trip, my suitcase missed the connecting flight. So I made it to SLC at 10:30 pm on Tuesday. My suitcase didn't join me until 8pm the next night.

I was told that it would be delivered between 4 and 5 am, so I slept downstairs where I kept waking myself up in the night wondering if I'd missed the knock. I hadn't. At 8 am, I called the hotline number to find out when I would get my bag. Of course a very nice COMPUTER answered my call. I had to go through a 2 minute process of saying that Yes, I had already filed a report, my bag was misplaced in Dallas, and that it had happened on the 31st. Then I had to wait while the computer located the reports. But the really fun part hadn't started yet. The computer told me to say my last name. So I did. Very clearly I say Wilkerson. "I think you said Wilkie. Is that correct?" says the computer. I say (very nice and calmly) no. She says to say my name again. I do. "I think you said Wilcox." Try again. "I think you said Wilson. Is that correct?" to which I yell into the phone "NOOOOOOO!!!!" So the computer finally transferred me to a person who told me that my bag should be there sometime in the next 4 hours. At 4 o'clock I still hadn't gotten my bag. So I called and played the Try and Understand my Name Game again. "I think you said Wilson." NO! I tried mumbling so I could get to a person faster. "I think you said Mo-m00-moo spelled M-O-M-U-M-U. Is that correct?" Oh for crying out loud! I finally got to talk to a person who told me the bag was placed in a truck at 6:30 that morning and that it takes 6-8 hrs for out of town delivery, so they were still within their time limit. I said, "Actually, being that it's 4:30 pm, it's been 10 hours. So no. You are not within your time frame." She said that the driver would be calling me shortly. But alas! She lied. At 6 pm, I called again. On this call I actually got, "I think you said Lopez." I'm not sure how Wilkerson would ever sound like Lopez. But whatever. Same run around. NO info and no bag. At 7 pm, I made Michael call. My brother Michael has the most amazing talent of getting whatever he wants out of people. He does it in a really calm, rational manner, but he seriously gets results.

So he called, and wouldn't you know it? On the first try he says "Wilkerson" and the computer understands. He looked at me and grinned. "Everything understands the voice of authority." He also gets to talk to a person WAY faster than I ever did. So he talks to the person and basically tells them respectfully to call the driver and find out where they are and that they better get over to his house pronto. The highlight of that conversation for me was when Michael said, "Well somewhere the ball has been fumbled. And I just need to know where so we can pick it up." Awesome! The guy on the other end asks him if he would accept his word that the driver will be calling very soon. Michael says, "The thing with accepting someone's word is that it requires trust. Trust has to be earned. And you haven't earned it. Not you personally, but your company." I'm not sure what else he said to the guy, but after being on hold for a second, the cell phone rang. It was the driver. And he said he'd be at the house in 30 minutes.

I wish I had Michael's talent. For all I can fit my whole fist in my mouth (which is undeniably cool) I'd rather be able to get my way all the time. Thanks for rescuing me, Mikey.

Here are a few photos of Eric's girls with Grandma and Pa:

Megan's kids with Grandma and Pa:

Love birds:

Mikey:

And all of us:

Grandma and Brenna: