We're Back!

I'm terribly sorry that we've been MIA for the past week. But, we've been pretty busy. Both of us had wonderful Christmas breaks spending time with family and friends. We won't be home again until June..when we're officially done here. That's like 5 1/2 months! Luckily, we have many people coming to visit us out here..including Jordan, Cari, Court's family, my parents + Grandma Dorothy..and possibly Grandma and Papa Gant. And we're truely looking forward to seeing all of them!

I'm pretty sure that there is an obscene amount of things to update you on...mainly travel drama, which seems unavoidable for us! As I mentioned before, we went to a Michael W. Smith concert in Phoenix the night before we left for home. By the way..the concert was amazing and filled us with Christmas spirit. A few of us teachers drove to Phoenix together in a 15 passenger van..that no one wanted to drive, due to its immensity. So..at one point Courtney had no choice..and was forced to drive the giant vehicle. We had a GPS, but it was not our trusty Maureen...which explains why we got completely lost in the burbs of Phoenix. I know for a fact that Maureen would never lead us astray like this unintelligent GPS did. Poor Courtney had to do the driving during all this drama and frustration of being lost & helpless..but we eventually made it..although we were 30 mins late to the concert. The next day, we had to drive to the airport in Phoenix..in the stupid giant van, with the faulty GPS. Since C took a turn driving the night before..and no one else was willing to..I pushed my fears of driving the beast aside and went for it. Courtney did have to give me a few pep talks..and many prayers before I was willing to do it though. I think I recall her saying she would pay me to do it..and now that I think about it..I never received any payments. Hmm. Interesting. Anyways, I drove through downtown Phoenix with shakey, clammy hands and a white knuck-death grip on the steering wheel. At one point we were on an giant 8 lane highway..and I felt like it was a scene from Clueless! (where they have a near death experience on the freeway) It was def. a miracle that we made to the airport in one piece. After that it was smooth sailing, minus a super crowded & crabby holiday traveler filled airport and a one hour delay.

So, that was the travel drama on the way home. NOW..for the adventure of getting back here. This is absolutely insane..so prepare your mind for what your about to read. The day before we left to come back here, I called "A Friendly Shuttle" to make sure they had our reservations for 2 from Phx to Flagstaff. I was told that they DID NOT have reservations for us..and my name wasn't even in the system. To make things worse, the shuttle was completely booked. So, I freaked out..Court wasn't answering her phone..so I had to track her down dectective style. I found out she was at the Koffee Kup..so I sprinted through the back alley to find her and tell her of the bad news. She immediately came over and we searched for another shuttle to transport us..which was going to be hard to find last minute. We found one that was 2 hours later than we wanted (Stan was going to wait for us in Flagstaff..and we didn't want to hold him up too long) but it was our only choice. So, we booked it. Courtney went home, and it seemed all our problems were solved. Yeah right. A Friendly Shuttle, our original shuttle service, called me an hour later and said they found our reservations, someone had typed my name completely wrong..and it didn't show up right away..but, apparently after some searching, it was discovered. Unfortunately, we had already booked non-refundable reservations with another shuttle So, now we had reservations with 2 places..and had nearly 200$ invested in all of this nonsense. My dad tried to call one of the companies to explain the situation and ask for a refund..but was put on hold for hours and hours. We left the next morning..and everything went great and was stress free..until we arrived in PHX and tried to find our shuttle. I called the shuttle and asked where we needed to wait to be picked up, and followed their instructions. We went to the spot we thought was correct, and even asked an airport worker to make sure it was the right spot. We waited..and waited..suddenly an hour had gone by..and our shuttle never came. We called them to see if they were running late, and they said it had left already..and we were in the completely wrong place!!!! They said they would try to help us...but Idk how taking us to the middle of Phoenix and dropping us off in a parking lot where they keep all their buses helps..but thats what they did. A rep from the shuttle service came out of the building and told us the only thing they could offer was to take ONE of us to Flagstaff..and the other would have to stay and find their own way. That wasn't going to happen..so we called our parents for advice as we stood in this parking lot..miles away from the airport, feeling helpless and overwhelmed. Courtney broke down and cried..and I was filled with rage. We tried to call the other shuttle service (our only real option and a convenient back up plan) and make sure they had our reservations..THEY DIDNT..nor did they have anymore room. As I experienced shortness of breath..I called my dad and asked him to call them and try to figure all this out. He did..and suddenly they found our reservations..(we officially have to worst luck with shuttles) So, we took a bus all the way back to the airport..and quadruple checked that we were in the correct place for this savior shuttle. I specifically remembered reading that we had to have our E-Ticket to get on this shuttle..which we failed to print out, because we didn't plan on needing it. I called them..and they said it would be no prob. But the shuttle came, and the driver said we couldn't ride unless he charged us an additional 80$..we didn't care. At this point we were willing to do whatever it took to get us to Flagstaff. Now we had 300$ invested in this nonsense. We made it to Flagstaff...finally. And worked on getting this mess straightened out..in the end we did get completely refunded.

That's enough drama for now..

We had the day off school today...which was wonderful. We cleaned our house thoroughly and in a few mins were heading over to Stan and Beth's for some delish chili (courtesy of Courtney). We will blog again soon..and that's a promise!

love you guys!

Lauren & Court