Wednesday 12/16/15: Ellie and I had a good traveling day. I was very thankful :) (Especially after our trip to Myrtle Beach where she did not do so well on the plane...) I think it probably helped that we flew out at a normal time of day and she wasn't way off schedule. Either way, I'm glad it went well. We went down to Salt Lake a little early to visit with Jess. I have missed her so much and it was so good to see her. And she is so great and took us to the airport. We got checked in and through security and then found out our flight was delayed an hour...but we luckily had a direct flight, so it wasn't too big of a deal. Ellie loved looking out at the airplanes. She has been talking about flying on the airplane for months now and was so excited to do it. I was trying to keep her entertained while waiting in the airport so we took a little walk and stumbled upon Santa's little corner. Ellie was in heaven! And it saved us :) It made the wait much more bearable. Eventually we got on the plane and Ellie was so excited. She did so well on the plane. She climbed right up into her seat and put her seat belt on. Of course she got a little antsy as we waited to get going and kept doing and undoing her seat belt and getting up and looking out the window. But once we got in the air she sat still and played with toys and books and the iPad almost the entire time. It was a good thing because I had to take a Dramamine and it kind of knocked me out and I think I fell asleep for a little while. Eventually I had to get up and go to the bathroom, but luckily it was toward the end of the flight because after that Ellie wanted to get up and move around. The last 30 - 45 minutes she was pretty antsy, but we made it! It was so nice to get off the plane and finally see Grandma Beth and Poppa Tom! Ellie was so excited!!! Too bad we flew into Chicago (because it was so much cheaper) and had a 3 hour drive, but hey, you do what you gotta do. I was so happy to finally get home. I'm really glad we had a good day and things went smoothly.
Friday 12/18/15: Today we spent the morning at home, then we took Ellie to experience one of my favorite Christmas traditions - Christmas Tree shopping! I told Mom and Dad that they had to wait to get a Christmas tree until we got there so we could take Ellie. Going to pick out and cut down a tree was always one of my favorite things to do. We got to the Christmas tree farm and the guy told us that it was pretty late in the season so there wasn't a huge selection of trees to cut down, but we did it more for the experience. So it was fine with us. Even though it was freezing cold and super windy we had fun walking around and trying to pick one. Eventually we gave in and looked at the pre-cut ones and found a beautiful fir to take home. We just had to recreate the cutting of the tree ;) No shame! All in all, it was a fun adventure and I'm so glad we did it! Afterward Mom, Ellie and I headed to Lafayette to do some Christmas shopping. Ellie was so funny most of the time while we were out. There were a few moments when we were out that she said she didn't feel well. I didn't know what to do to help her and then she would start acting fine, so I didn't worry too much about it. Well, we got home and within 10 minutes of being home she coughed a really weird cough and I thought that we should get her to the bathroom...and we did just in time for her to get sick...but we made it into the toilet! Yeah! Unfortunately for Mom she had to take care of Ellie because it sent me running to the upstairs bathroom. AH! I somehow didn't get sick, but I sure did pee my pants...the joys of pregnancy. Luckily, Ellie only got sick that one time. I think she was just exhausted and has over done it the past few days.
Right afterward we ran home and changed and then headed up to South Bend to go visit Grandma Barrell and have a family party. Ellie and Claire were the stars of the show! They were so cute together and had a blast playing. I just loved watching them play. It was a really fun afternoon visiting and playing with the girls. As you can see, they loved each other. And I'm always happy to see Grandma. She is doing pretty well physically, but I noticed that she is starting to have a harder time mentally theses days. It is pretty hard to watch her struggle. It's just hard watching anyone you love getting older. I'm so grateful that Ellie has at least gotten to meet her Great Grandma a few times. Right before we were leaving I gave Grandma a big hug and she got emotional, which made me emotional, and we just cried together for a minute. I love that woman. Even though it is a long trip to do in one day, I'm always so glad that we make an effort to get up and see Grandma...you just never know how much longer you have with someone, especially when you live across the country. I also am glad that the rest of the family was able to come too. Family is everything.
So, I have to share this funny story. When we were getting ready to leave for South Bend Mom told me I should probably take a change of underwear and pants...just in case I have an accident again!!! HAHAHAHA! Yes, I peed my pants last night, but I didn't even think about about it. And my track record over the past month or so hasn't been great, especially if Ellie gets sick or something like that. What made it even more hilarious was when Dad says, "You know, it's never a good sign when the driver of the car tells you to bring an extra pair of underwear!!!" I about died. It was so funny...maybe you just had to be there...but I was laughing so hard. So I made sure to pack a change of clothes...and so did Dad ;)
As the day went on I was able to get some more fluids in and finally by the evening I had enough energy to join the land of the living...on the couch at least. Ha. That was about all I could muster. I did call the doctor's office to make sure I didn't need to go in and get checked out, but they said as long as the baby was still moving like normal and I was able to keep fluids down to wait it out and that the baby would get what it needed. Well, the baby sure took what she needed...it took me longer to recover than normal because that baby sucked every nutrient I put into my body! But it's fine, I let her have it :) My body was so sore for a few days and it really did take me a few days to replenish my energy, but by Wednesday I was feeling much better. Tuesday I pushed myself a little in the afternoon/evening and went with Mom to finish up her Christmas shopping. It was nice to get out, but I sure did get tired much faster.
I'm just really grateful I was with family who could take care of Ellie. I don't know what I would have done if I was home by myself. She actually got pretty spoiled because her cousin Bradyn came over for a few days and she LOVES him. So much. He is so good with her. She started telling me that he is her best friend. It was adorable. She loved having someone to play with for 3 days. I'm so glad she got to have that time with her cousin. Oh, and these Hulk gloves, they make a crashing noise when you hit something. When we first got home Ellie wasn't too sure about them...but Bradyn sure got her loving them...and then she kind of turned into the Hulk! She loved beating up on him!
When we got home from the temple we finally decorated the Christmas tree with Ellie and Bradyn. Yes, we are behind on the Christmas decorating, but it's more about the experience, right?! Ellie is pretty obsessed with Christmas trees this year. She keeps saying they are her favorite part. So she was excited to get to decorate a second one. She especially loved helping Grandma put the tinsel on! I mean, what 2 year old doesn't love shiny, sparkly tinsel?! What was funny though was that she would only put it on one branch. I'm just glad she was having fun :)
Previous to his flight being canceled he had a ridiculous traveling day just getting to the airport. I had it all set up for him to take the shuttle from Logan to the airport and I had Arien arranged to get him to the shuttle. She got him there on time and after she left he realized he left his headphones in her car! It took him a bit to get a hold of her, but she was able to get back there and get him his headphones. Then he sat there and waited and waited because the shuttle was late. He finally gets on the shuttle and it has to make lots of stops and gets even more behind schedule really quickly. Some other people they were picking up decided to not get on and just drive to the airport because the guy was so far behind schedule. So as they are driving down to Salt Lake he had to make a stop in Ogden and the guy completely missed the exit (by a few exits!) so they had to back track. Then he got back on I-15 going the wrong way and had to get turned around. It was a complete disaster. You would think if it is your job to drive you would know where you are going... I had scheduled the shuttle so that Landen would be to the airport almost 2 1/2 hours early and thank goodness I did! And then we found out his flight was delayed which actually was a huge blessing because he probably would have barely missed his flight if it had been on time. I was just really happy to hear that he made it to the airport and on the plane at that point!!! And then the little fiasco in Chicago didn't help. But he made it here and that's all that is important. Looking back it was way more stressful than it feels like now...but it really was such a long day for him and frustrating. We just have to try and look at the positive and that he made it here safe...FINALLY!
The rest of the trip: Can we just talk about food for a minute?! Of course I always have to hit Arni's and Steak'n'Shake as many times as possible when I'm home. Well, due to being so busy the first few days home and then the stomach flu and then the holidays I didn't get either of them until Landen got there!!! On Christmas Eve we got to go on a date to Steak'n'Shake...luckily I called and asked what time they closed so we made it there in time to eat... We hit it up one other night and met Nikki there to visit for awhile. I didn't get Arni's until Saturday 12/26!!!!!!!! That was the worst thing ever! I love that place so much and made sure to fit in another trip there before we left. I'm already missing it... Gosh it's delicious. I, of course, had to take the traditional picture to send to Jared to make him jealous :)
Mom and Dad were so great to watch Ellie so we could have a few dates while we were home. We also got to go see the new Star Wars movie, which was better than I was expecting. It wasn't my first choice, I wanted to see Mockingjay Part 2, but our theater wasn't showing it anymore and the closest one was in Indy...it just wasn't worth it to drive an hour. At this point we'll just wait until it goes to the cheap theater in Logan :) Anyway, it was just nice to go to the theater! It's been awhile.
Our last Sunday home we had all of my family out for our Christmas party. It was so fun to get together with all of my siblings and families. All my nieces and nephews are getting so big, it's ridiculous. We almost all don't fit in the house anymore. We did a white elephant gift exchange which was quite hilarious. Ellie loved having all of her cousins there to play with, especially to have Bradyn there again. It was a really fun day just visiting.
The last few days we just hung out and relaxed most of the time. I needed a few down days. It was just so good to get away and go home and be with my parents and Landen and Ellie. We needed this vacation so bad and it was perfect. I am so grateful we were able to make this happen. Ellie was so spoiled and got all the attention her little heart could desire. She loved getting rides to bed on Poppa Tom's shoulders. And she loved sleeping in her big girl bed. I'm so glad she got to experience Indiana again :)
We flew home yesterday. We had to get up really early to drive to Chicago and hit some bad weather, but we made it there. The airport was INSANE. I have never seen so many people in an airport before. The lines were absolutely nuts. We got checked in quickly, but then we had to wait in line for so long. Security was a joke and took forever. And it didn't help to have people around you freaking out because they thought they were going to miss their flight...which happened to be the same flight we were on... Yes, we were cutting it close, but there were a ton of us stuck in that line and we barely made it through in time...just to find out that the flight was delayed! HA! But I was okay with that so that I could get some breakfast. It ended up being fine. The flight home was good and Ellie did well again. She was a little more antsy this time, but she was tired. We had to leave so early that I figured she would sleep in the car on the way to Chicago...NOPE. Not a wink. But of course, the last 20 minutes of the flight she crashed! She has a knack for doing that...oh well. It was just good to get home. Jess picked us up and we visited with her for a few minutes, hit the chiropractor (I was so excited to fly in at a normal time of day on a weekday so we could go after our trip!), then met Amber for dinner. We made it home and got Ellie in bed and we went straight to bed too. We were exhausted. Now I just need a vacation from my vacation...
Thursday 12/31/15: We finally finished up Christmas today :) We tried to do Christmas pretty low key this year with Ellie. She got her Anna doll and dry erase book in Indiana. Then today we let her finish opening her gifts. She got a new book, a toy that teaches about some fruits and veggies and her big gift was a toy kitchen from Santa! She absolutely loved it!!! She is really starting to actually play with toys and make believe so I thought this would be the perfect time to get the kitchen. I told Grandma Nita we were getting it so she got her a food set to use with the kitchen. I'm so glad this was a win! It was such a great Christmas :) (And to be honest I'm so grateful it's over...all the commercial side of it that is. I was so happy to get the tree and decorations down and have my house back to normal.)
Our kitchen table was completely covered and there were bags and boxes all over the floor of gifts. It was incredible. I didn't even know where to start. And I was feeling so grateful for the kindness shown to us. I can't even begin to list everything they gave us, but I will try: a Melissa and Doug nativity set; bags and boxes of food - some for meals and others were treats; coloring and sticker books, 5 or 6 regular books, 3 puzzles, stuffed animals, etc. for Ellie; a new set of bath towels - the huge bath sheets ones that are amazing!; a framed picture of Christ; a throw blanket; mugs with tons of hot cocoa stuff; a new 9x9 baking dish...gosh, there was so much more but I can't even think of it all right now. And that's not what it was about. I was in tears by the time we were done going through all the bags and boxes. Oh, I didn't even mention the 6 or 7 wrapped gifts for Ellie: a Melissa and Doug percussion set; 2 outfits, cute boots included; pajamas, socks, a hat and mittens; and a few other things. She was so spoiled...in a good way :)
But the part that got me was in an envelope we found in the bag with the picture of Christ. I opened it up and there were two giftcards in there. I figured they probably had $25 dollars-ish on them. I turned over the Lee's one and just started crying. It was for $300. I about died. Then we looked at the Walmart giftcard and it was for $200. Tears. I just cried. We stood there just blown away. I just said a little prayer in my heart to thank Heavenly Father for the kindness that was shown to us from this incredible family. Words cannot even describe how blessed I feel right now. I still get teary when I talk about this and as I'm writing this. Landen and I decided to just tuck the giftcards away for when the baby comes so we can use them for formula and diapers. Just knowing we have a little money put away for those things has relieved a lot of stress for me. Again, I am so overcome with gratitude. I don't know why this family chose us, but I will be forever grateful to them for this gift of charity they shared with us this Christmas season. They showed us the true meaning of Christmas in their act of kindness to our family. I am so blessed to be surrounded by such wonderful, Christlike individuals...even if I don't know who they are. Merry Christmas!
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