Getting Passports

The day we got passports was a bit crazy! We had already gone to BYU with the Judd family (who are moving to Israel with us at the same time) and gotten photos for everyone. Then we filled out a long form for each of the six children. It took forever. This cost plenty of money two. Between photos, form fees, filing fees, etc., it was almost $100 per child.

Dad (Kerry) got there early and filled out more paperwork in the office. It took a long time, and then he waited. Meanwhile, back at the Ranch, the kids were following Dad's direction and waiting at school for Mom (Julianne) to come pick them up. Only problem is that Dad forgot to tell Mom he had told them that. So she waited at home for them to come home, busily working on building a retaining wall and not paying attention to the time. Dad waited and waited (for over an hour) getting more and more frustrated. The kids waited and waited at the school. Finally Mom noticed the time, figured they were at the school, and went to get them.

When they finally got there, all eight of us filed up the stairs to the little room. That was a lot of kids for a little space with nothing to do but smile at the ladies who were verifying that they were actually the people they claimed to be. We did pretty well, with kids climbing up and standing on the tables only a few times. A few minutes later, and several hundred dollars poorer, and minus the paper work and birth certificates we came with, we left with the hope that one day we would actually receive those precious little blue books that prove our American citizenship and allow us to travel.

The exciting day came several weeks later. Everyone got a package in the mail except poor Kaleb. All the kids were so excited to see their pictures inside such nice books with all sorts of patriotic emblems embossed all around them. Kaleb was a little bummed. But not to worry, the next day he got a party all of his own. It was official, we were ready to travel. Now we just needed to figure out where to and when.