Utah

I had the opportunity last month to travel to Utah and escort my "niece" Sara thru the temple for her first time and witness the sealing of her to her husband, Skyler and infant daughter, Abigail. It was such a wonderful experience. I flew (yes, flew...first time on a plane since I was 16) into Salt Lake City airport on a Monday evening (first day of school for my kids) and flew home Wednesday night back to Sacramento. Fast trip. I wish I would have been able to stay longer, but since it was the kids first week of school, I needed to be back before Thursday for back to school night when the teachers tell you what they expect of your child that year. I am SO glad I was back for that. LOTS of information I would have missed out on otherwise. But I was bummed that I had to go and come home from Utah so quickly.

So, Sara, Skyler and Abigail picked me up from the airport Monday night and I stayed overnight with them. Sara and I stayed up and gabbed for a while Monday night and I got to hold and play with sweet Abigail for a while. I tried so hard to teach her the bad habit of sticking her tongue out, but she wouldn't do it. She kept looking at me as if to say, "who the heck are you!?" It made me giggle. Sara texted me just last week and told me that Abigail started sticking her tongue out a couple days after I left. VICTORY!!! (I was lame and didn't take any pictures of them while I was there, except for one of Abigail in her car seat with HUGE sunglasses on...) just can't get enough of that little face :)

We were at the temple pretty much all day Tuesday, and it was WONDERFUL! I don't remember feeling hungry once, and the ladies in the temple were SO great and loving toward Sara, Skyler and Abigail. The PERFECT first experience if you ask me. :) After the temple, Sara's dad treated everyone to dinner at The Lion's Club (I think that's what the name of the restaurant was). It was yummy! Salad, home made rolls, chicken cordon blue, rice, veggies and raspberry cheesecake. It was so nice to sit and visit with her family that I hadn't seen in almost 4 years.

After dinner we headed further into the valley to meet up with my sister so I could spend the night and all day Wednesday with them before my flight left. We met about half way between Salt Lake and Pleasant Grove (where my sister lives) and off I went. My sister,Tiffany, niece, Kylie and I laughed the whole way to the house. Before bed, Tiffany asked me if I could bring my camera along to take some pictures of the kids at a favorite spot of theirs they wanted to go to. I tagged along with my camera and got some cute shots. These are all 4 of my sister's kids. Aybree (the baby), Kylie, Joshua and Trenton. I love them. Kylie Jordan...she's gettin' too big! Trenton Lee...what a stud! :) Joshua Izaiah...he's so handsome! And then of course... Aybree Sky...she melts my heart. I HATE HATE HATE being so far away from them, missing birthdays and other fun holidays and school stuff with them. Hopefully soon that will change. In the meantime, I get to have little glimpses of heaven like this and this . I can't wait to kiss that little face all over again!

I was welcomed home curbside at the airport by Tim and both kids. We were all so tired. I gabbed about my trip the whole way home and we put the kids and ourselves to bed. Like I said, way too short of a trip, but I'm glad I was home to learn about the kid's classes and teachers the next evening. I will post about that another time. Until then, I miss my babies out in Utah (including the ones I didn't get to see - i.e. Aaron and Helen's kids, and Wendy and Dan's little man :) Love you guys)