A suburban of girls

I got this crazy idea to surprise a cousin at her wedding reception on Friday. Thing is, it was over seven hours away. I called two of my sisters, wondered if they had a spontaneous bone in their bodies and asked them if they wanted to go along. They were both in. We loaded up my two girls, my two sisters, three nieces, and myself in the suburban and we were off.

It was so much fun. After hours of travelling, we pulled up to our motel, quickly changed our clothes and darted off to the reception. When we arrived, we were like little kids getting out of the car. Anxious to be sneaky right up until we greeted our family for the big surprise. The closer we got, the more giggling we did as we began to recognize familiar laughs. We were so close, and then finally...they saw us. It was worth the long trek. My aunt got emotional and asked, "Why did you come?" I quickly replied, "Because we love our family". It was that simple.

We enjoyed the next hour while visiting with cousins, aunts, uncles, and even mom and dad. Even they didn't know we were going.

The park was gorgeous. We got some great pictures by the lake with the sun going down. My favorite? I saw my sister do one of her huge laughs. I then suggested, "let's take a picture of our huge laughs". (we all have them) So while doing fake huge laughs, it triggered the real huge laughs. I love it! Now that makes me smile. That makes me LOL!!!

My sister E, mom, me, and sister C.

After the reception, we loaded up again and headed for the motel. It was a riot. Actually, it was in the hood. For real. Anyway. It was fine. We had all eight of us in one room. That's two double beds, a roll away, and three pack-n-plays. We melted all throughout the night since none of us had a brain to turn on the air, and we or I woke up saying, "oh my achin' back!". I must be getting old, because those were some seriously bad beds. Breakfast wasn't bad though. We made our own waffles, juice, hot chocolate, and cereal. It was a hit for the girls.

Heading back home yesterday, we really didn't have many plans. Just whatever. Seriously! We're one big happy whatever, I don't care, it doesn't matter, whatever you want, family.

We stopped by my aunt's house and visited for a little bit where she threw beautifully iced (that's for you aJ) cookies, punch, and strawberries at us to eat.

I met up with one of my young women I had in KY for lunch. It was so much fun visiting with her.

After lunch we decided that we were so close to Temple Square, we should go drive by and see the temple. We caught a glimpse of the flowers and decided we needed pictures. We only circled the temple three times looking for a parking spot, then circled the conference center to locate the parking lot, only to realize we needed to drive down into the black hole to park. When we arrived on Temple Square, it was amazing. The flowers were gorgeous, the brides were gorgeous, the temple was gorgeous. We got some great shots of the girls. I got really emotional when I saw the temple up close. I love that talk, "You're never lost when you can see the temple".

Next, we visited a 1st cousin once removed. How do you figure out that stuff anyway? It was fun seeing her.

For our last stop, curd for dad. We pulled off the freeway, excited to get fresh curd, and saw a closed sign on the small town cheese factory. Too bad.

I dropped off my sisters and nieces and stopped at my parents for a quick breather. Well, my breather ended up talking until almost 2:00 A.M. and I didn't leave until 8:30 this morning. I hugged my dad, gave my mom a hug and wished her Happy Mother's Day, and headed home.

It was great. I loved the spontaneity of it all. I loved the surprise. I loved the time with my sisters. I loved the temple. I loved our huge laughs. I loved seeing my mom on Mother's Day. Most of all, I loved that D let me go. He was busy running and playing both parents while I was gone. Thank you. That was the best Mother's Day gift!