The Miller Hotel is Open

It was a busy past week! An old BYU friend passed through here on his way to dental school in Maryland. He brought his parents, wife, and two kids. I was worried our home wouldn't be able to accommodate us all (especially with one bathroom), but we all fit. The finished basement was a life saver. We put the parents upstairs and the rest downstairs with a TV and dvd player. It worked great.

Kevin's actual birthday was low key. The visitors didn't leave until noon, and I had to work. But we had a celebratory dinner with the Behling's and had a good time.

Last Friday we spent the day helping the Behling's move to Chicago. Garrett got a job at Price Waterhouse Coopers there. They moved into a brand new complex in Oak Park--they'll love it there. Kevin helped them load in the morning and then we both went up to Chicago to help them unload. It's a good thing we went, because nobody else showed up to help them move. The missionaries came by for the last half hour when most of the stuff had already been moved in. It was super hot and muggy too; we were all drenched in sweat by the time we finished. The Behling's treated us to pizza at a nearby Giordono's, so all was well.

Kevin had a work party on Saturday. He was the official cameraman for the event and took that responsibility very seriously. It was nice getting to meet his coworkers and put faces to names. I liked it because it was at a park with swings.

Our next set of visitors arrive today. My sister Natalie and Ulli are coming for a visit. I'm really excited to show them around. Their trip was a last minute decision. Natalie decided last Monday that she wanted to come out, and that she wanted to come out on August 1st (then a week away). We decided to use our Delta skymiles to purchase the tickets, which began a two day wrestle to redeem them and ensure we had enough miles to purchase the tickets. After all the hustle, everything was finally ready to go- until today. Nat and Ulli missed their flight. That set off a series of scrambles to get them on another flight at a reasonable time. They ended up waiting for seven hours for another flight that had a layover in Cincinnati. Now there's a delay in Cincinnati and they won't leave until midnight at the earliest. That will put them in Chicago at 1:30 am at the earliest. We told them it would be best if the airline got them a hotel in Chicago. Hopefully they'll make it here.

Kevin's mom and aunt are also coming out on Friday (they had their trip planned well in advance). They'll be staying for a short time (until Tuesday) and want the trip to be pure relaxation (perfect, since they will be in South Bend, Indiana). After fitting eight people into the house, six shouldn't be that bad. We're just happy to have visitors.

I've got the yard finished except for two plants I need to order from a catalog. It looks great. I'm very pleased with how everything turned out...except for those darn rabbits. I bought a repellent spray, but you have to reapply it often. I just bought some pelleted predator urine (I don't know how they did that) to place around my plants. We'll see if that works.

Well, I guess I better get some more things ready for our visitors.