Lamoni and Aide have been engaged since last year so in April when we found out we would be moving to Texas in the summer I was already making plans on how to return for their wedding because there was no way I was going to miss it. Danny also wanted to be there but with it being his first month on the job we didn't know if it would work out. After months of talking it over we decided that instead of flying all of us out there, or even taking a week to drive out there and back it would be faster and cheaper for me to just go using my miles. Lamoni and Aide had set the date for September 30th which is Addie's birthday. Danny was in support of me bringing her along and I had enough miles to cover both of our airfares. I booked it in June and was so excited to let her know. I debated waiting to surprise her with the news when it was the week of her birthday but I couldn't hold the secret past three days. She was feeling sad that she would leave all her neighbor friends behind that I ended up telling her pretty fast. It was funny because I had called Danny before and told him that I couldn't wait and he was quick to say that I should have told her that first day haha. Glad I did. It was nice to have this trip to look forward to. Especially during those first few days when we got here and boredom was hitting me. I will admit though that there were plenty of times throughout the last couple of months where I would feel mom guilt about leaving the other kids behind, especially the boys who are old enough to understand that we were taking a plane ride back to Utah and that we would be seeing family there. In a perfect world we all would have flown for the wedding. Hudson is asking if he can go on the next flight to Utah and I feel bad because with Addie being the oldest are we starting a tradition of going on a trip when you turn eight? It is kind of a special birthday. Or do I just chalk it up to it being a coincidence that a family wedding would happen on her birthday and I didn't want to be out of state and miss her day? I personally would love to start a tradition if money wasn't a problem, but then I think of the logistics of that. If we do it for Hudson who has a December birthday (crazy month already) then we'll have to do it for Grant just a year and a half later. And how would the twins work? Do they get individual trips? Or do they have to share the experience?? Haha these are the things I get myself worrying about. Danny tells me I overthink everything. He's definitely not wrong. I have an aunt and uncle who does this for their kids on their 12th birthday and I've always thought that would be awesome. They have three kids though so I imagine that's easier than our family dynamic. Anyway, I'll set aside mom guilt for now and get back to this week. We had so much fun.
Sept 29th Day 1: The night before I barely slept. I was feeling so much anxiety over the plane ride. I've never been this nervous to fly before but it felt so different this time. I was legit scared. I had to hide these intense feelings though because Addie is naturally an anxious person and I didn't want her to even feel a hint of fear coming from me. I wanted her to stay excited. I think I was so scared because for the first time traveling I felt like I had so much to lose if something went wrong. I was leaving Danny and four of our kids in Texas and a part of me hated that we were being separated. It had also been a while since my last flight but I don't know if that made a difference or not. Funny enough my last flight was also with Addie and myself seven years ago. She was about six months old or so and together we flew to Colorado while Danny stayed in Utah for his undergrad. In our nine years of marriage Danny has been on so many flights because of school related conferences and none of them were with me. We still have never flown together. We're definitely going to change that.
Anyway back to day 1. The ride was perfect. Seriously I couldn't have asked for a smoother take off or flight. My heart was pounding like crazy and Addie's remained calm the whole time. She thought it was the coolest thing ever. I think it really helped that there were movies and shows you could watch on the plane screen so she was able to stay occupied the whole time. I was thankful we didn't experience any turbulence. I didn't know you can develop a fear of flying in your later years but apparently having kids and a whole complete family has done that to me. I was grateful for the movie distraction myself and started watching Hocus Pocus in preparation for the new movie that would be released the next day.
The plane landed and I was able to let Giovanna know we landed and then she came on her way. It was so fun to be picked up by her. She was able to drop us off at my parents so that we could borrow my Dad's car for the weekend. The plans were to spend that day at Pollyanna's house where I was hoping to meet her brand new baby but for health reasons she had asked us to wait a day or two before seeing her. Reluctantly I respected that but then that opened up a couple of hours that we were free to do whatever we wanted. We decided on seeing Charisa and her family. It might be one of Addie's favorite places to visit for sure. After a couple of hours we said goodbye to these favorite people of mine and headed to Giovanna's house where we would be staying. They treated us with Addie's favorite dinner, pizza. It was nice to just sit and visit with Giovanna and her family. By 9pm we were so exhausted that we headed to bed and were both asleep by 9:30pm.
Face-timing these sweethearts before bed.
Sept 30th Day 2: Addie's birthday! And wedding day. I had told Addie that because these two things were on the same day that we might not be able to celebrate it exactly how she would wish but that we would set Saturday aside to fit in everything she wants to. She was okay with that and it actually turned out that we had quite a bit of time before the wedding would even start. We started off our morning with generous birthday gifts from Giovanna. She's seriously the best. She loves parties and did everything she could to make sure Addie felt celebrated. She blew up some balloons, got party decor and even a sparkly candle for Addie to blow out. After breakfast we went to their neighborhood playground and it was so fun to watch Addie and Sophia really bond. It made me wish we could be neighbors in real life. Giovanna just moved to Utah right before we left. Bummer timing.
We played until lunch time and then Sophia went down for a nap before the wedding and I took Addie on a one on one lunch at Ihop. I was really excited about this. I don't know if she has ever been before but she's a big fan of pancakes and crepes so I got her both. I even said yes to a milkshake and she was probably thinking this was heaven. I of course embarrassed her by having the staff sing to her. Little cutie.
During this afternoon I was also able to visit Camila via Facetime for a bit. My other sister Melanie had also flown into town for the wedding and was seeing her for the first time since being admitted into the care center. It was a quick little visit but it also broke my heart to see Camila in the condition that she's in. She started 'crying' during the visit and I had never seen that before. Her 'cry' sounded like an infant's cry and I'm a little devastated over just how much she continues to decline. We had just about an hour left until the wedding so we went to my second mom's home where we got to visit with my longest best friend in the world, the Rowzee's. Addie was treated very well by them and was even given another birthday treat. She was able to play with Alyssa's boy until it was time to get dressed and go to the ceremony.
Lamoni's wedding was a blast. The ceremony was beautiful. Their outpouring of love was incredible and seeing family again was the best. There was enough food for everyone and so much dancing. Addie spent most of her time glued to Aria. It was fun seeing those two together again.
I was planning on heading back to Giovanna's house after because I was feeling so tired but we took a detour to Polly's house where Melanie and I got to meet baby Skylar for the first time. She's adorable and so tiny. It was super late so we didn't stay long but I was happy to see her before this Utah trip was over. Addie cried when it was time to leave because we knew we wouldn't have time to see them again before returning back home. It was almost midnight before we fell asleep and word has it that Lamoni and Aide's party was still going strong. Some of my siblings stayed until way after the early hours. I can't do things like that anymore. I'm ready for bed by 10pm.
Oct 1 Day 3: This was Addie's day. The day she could do whatever she wanted for her birthday. It was also the only day that we were able to see Danny's side of the family since the first day was traveling and the second day was wedding stuff. We planned with Jill to meet at the zoo (Addie's choice) for opening hours and we were happy to hear that Grandma Donna would join us. It was a great zoo day and Addie was so happy to see Georgia again.
After the zoo Georgia tagged along in our car while Jill went home so Max could have a nap. We used this time to go shopping for Addie's baptism dress, Donna's treat. It was so nice of her to do that. She actually also ended up paying for our zoo tickets which was super generous as well. Addie picked out a very beautiful dress that I'm excited for her to wear on her special day next week. Because Dave is having eye surgery they won't be able to join us in person so Donna really wanted to chip in with the baptism dress. I'm very grateful for her generosity. After dress shopping I took Addie and Georgia to go see Grandma Great. We sure love her. The girls were treated with popsicles and jewelry. It was fun seeing her again. After Grandma's we had three more stops to do before finally ending at Jill's house for dinner and cake. The first stop was to see Addie's best friends from school (Clara and Bella). She had letters she had written them and was so excited to personally deliver them instead of sending it through the mail. They've been pen pals for the past two months. Clara was so surprised when she saw Addie. I wish I had taken a video because her jaw dropped to the ground. It was pretty cute. Unfortunately Bella wasn't home so we left her letter in the mailbox. Addie was really hoping to see those two again for her birthday and was happy she was at least able to see one of them. The third stop was to see her favorite chick, Margo. Margo has been living at the Fergy farm and honestly I was also excited to see her again. She seems happy in her new environment and is adjusting well which is nice. We then headed to Jill's after picking up Addie's dinner request (McDonald's of course). Both Addie and Georgia had asked for chicken nuggets and of course I didn't double check our order when at the drive thru. I didn't think it would be hard to screw up just two happy meals since I was planning on eating the dinner Jill made but I should have looked. Instead of the requested nuggets both girls wanted there were two cheeseburgers in there. Not what they hoped for. Luckily they accepted it well but I knew Addie was really sad about it internally because she had been talking about McDonald's for her birthday dinner all week. She liked the cake Jill bought and loved being able to play with Georgia until it was time to leave. Georgia was really hoping that Addie would sleep over but since we had to fly home the next day I decided it would be best not to. We stayed until almost 9:30pm which was pushing it because we had an hour drive back to Giovanna's house.
Oct 2 Day 4: Flying home day. It was sad saying goodbye to Giovanna and her family. It made me wish we had more time because everything was so crammed into those few short days. I'm happy we were able to have this opportunity to see anyone at all but still sad it was so quick.
I returned my dad's car and then he drove us to the airport. I was less nervous this time around which was good. I was surprised that this return flight was on a smaller plane. Instead of three seats across there were just two and there were no screens this time around. Luckily Addie didn't seem to mind. I also had the Nintendo Switch with us so I did give her that for part of the flight. I was just excited to see the rest of our clan again. Once we were landed the stewardess asked if Addie wanted a flight pin and then the pilot asked her if she wanted to sit in the cockpit. It was awesome. I was so excited for her. It was probably offered to her because she was one of the only kids on the whole flight but I'm so happy it happened anyway. I think this will be something she will remember for quite some time.
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| She was pretty excited for the window seat. |
I was so excited for her.
We're home now and Addie was finally able to receive her birthday gifts from Danny and I last night. She's still a big fan of the Little Live Pets so we bought her a couple more animals that she didn't have. Danny even made her a birthday cake while we were gone. Oh also we did make it up to her by buying some McDonald's on the way home and this time we made sure that nuggets were indeed included. I know I know it was Sunday 😬so we made sure to emphasize that this was not a new normal. It was kind of nice not to have to go home and cook a late meal. Also, I was impressed Danny was able to hold down the fort here with four young kids ages five and under and manage school drop off and pick up times. I would feel more bad but Danny is actually going to Indiana next month for four days and I'll be home with five kids so I guess it balances itself out haha. Anyway, it's been a great four days. Happy birthday Addie Rae. Thanks for being my travel buddy this week.
Dropping off her school birthday treats today since she wasn't here on Friday.
All About Addie Year Eight
(According to Addie)
Favorite Foods: Pizza
Favorite Shows: Lion Guard
Favorite Songs: Greatest Showman Soundtrack
Favorite Movies: Spirit
Favorite Toy: Little Live Pets
Favorite Books: Harry Potter Series
She Can: Craft, Read all night, make her own food (quesadillas, homemade pizzas, chicken nuggets and sandwiches)
She Loves: Crafts, Art, Nintendo Switch, Friends and School.
She Dislikes: When her brothers fart
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