Thanksgiving

Kyle and his family got sealed together the week of Thanksgiving and I wasn't even sure if I was going to be able to go or not but last minute I went! I am so happy I could make it work with my school schedule. It was difficult because I had this huge poster presentation Monday morning that my final grade pretty much depended on so I couldn't miss that. That left me a very small window to leave on Monday afternoon, be there for the sealing on Tuesday, and then leave Wednesday to get back in time to have Thanksgiving with my own family.

They were sealed in the Gilbert Arizona temple which was beautiful! It has this agave theme throughout which was really neat to learn about the life cycle of the agave plant (very symbolic). Chloe & Lana looked so beautiful and it was amazing to be able to spend time with them. It broke my heart to leave. Of course it was good to see Kyle also, I haven't seen him since 2008 before Ava was even born. In typical Kyle fashion he got lost in the airport but we finally found our way to In-N-Out which was my dream.

It was a whirlwind of spiritual moments, seeing my family, and spending time with my grandparents. My grandparents took me shopping for a graduation present and to be able to spend time with just them was incredible. Something I miss terribly. Then we met my aunt and uncle for lunch and then went pretty much straight to the temple. After that we did pictures, then this BBQ restaurant and then that was about it.

I flew from Phoenix to Charlotte and was supposed to fly from Charlotte to Wilmington but then of course my flight was cancelled and so after an insane night in which the ticket counter agent ran away from us, some guy got arrested, and the news came out to do a story on our flight (uhh being interviewed at 2 am?? No thank you) I checked into a hotel at 2:30 and then was back at the airport at 5:30 am to be on standby. Depressing day.

I finally got home early afternoon and just wanted to shower. So I did that for a loooooong time and then we went to Golden Corral. It was disgusting.

After Golden Corral we all went to see Penguins of Madagascar (it was ok) and I'm pretty sure I slept through about 89% of that movie. John was with us and I was just happy to end up with my family on Thanksgiving at all. So next year I think I won't be doing any traveling the night before a major holiday unless it is to the Bahamas.

 

Ava and Kael were pretty good sports about it, well Kael was anyway. Ava was pretty upset with me. I will say that I have never traveled anywhere alone and I missed them fiercely. When I walked out of the gate at ILM they both came running up to me and I crouched down to hug them and neither one of them would let go. Ava started crying and said in my ear, "Mommy, NEVER go on an airplane without us, EVER!!!" I knew they missed me I guess but I didn't realize how much. And Kael said, "Mom, if you don't have enough money for all of us to go then nobody goes."

Thanks guys. I missed you too.