Moving to Budapest was a long and tiring process. What we thought would be a fairly quick departure became 4 months of waiting. We finally got down to the wire and everything came rushing at us. In preparation we got a small storage unit (to keep items we didn’t want to ship for only 2 years, but didn’t want to depart from), ordered the smallest shipping container to ship the items we were taking with us, and made a few trips to say goodbyes.
Two weekends before we left Robert went to Oregon to say goodbye to his friend, Jeff, and I made one last trip to San Diego to see my family. It was a bittersweet visit. I did however visit my favorite ramen place, Rakiraki Ramen & Tsukemen, before leaving.
I will miss my family, and I will definitely miss Gabe and Zoe, as they will be the ones to change the most in the next two years. (I found some sparklers and poppers while packing, so brought them down with me for the kids).
A few days before our departure we packed up our storage container and it was picked up the next day (I am just hoping everything goes well when it goes through customs).
On our way out we visited Robert’s sister, Christine, and her family. It had been a few years since we last saw them, and it is crazy how big they have all gotten (Milton is now taller than me). We had a lot of fun hanging out with them for a few days and wish it could have been longer.
Quentin, Milton, Pierce, Beatrix 
Christine, Robert, and I
It came time to finally leave for Budapest.
We left Richmond, had a layover in JFK, and then a layover in Amsterdam, before finally making it to Budapest.
We arrived in Budapest in the morning, made it to our temporary housing, and while telling ourselves we wouldn’t fall asleep until bedtime, we both ended up passing out until the next morning.
I hope you sink with the time over there soon so you will be having energy. I am in the process of getting my teeth done again and will be making a effort to pick the ortho people to do the work for the next step. Going back to work tomorrow and that should be interesting. We have a new Moroni on the temple and the front is different when you walk in. I can’t wait to see it. I wish for the best for you both in your adventure. Love Mom.