(This is the weather we left in Oregon...)It is amazing to me that Jeff knows me as well as he does. It is almost spooky. I had the most wonderful weekend, all thanks to the amount of thought and love that my husband put into this trip. There are so many details that he went to great lengths to make sure were perfect!
It started out a little crazy with us missing our flight (basically Bryce woke up early, and there was an accident on the freeway), and Jeff just looked so depressed as he thought about all his plans going out the window, but once we knew we were going to actually make it to our destination, we relaxed and enjoyed reading our books for the extra couple of hours on the plane! So, the destination was...
Orange County, CA! My sister lives in Huntington Beach and Jeff had arranged all of the trip with her and my mom. I didn't think I had talked to Jeff about it much, but he had figured out what I needed. He knew that I needed to be with my family. I have been having such a hard time being away from them since the funeral. What a wonderful surprise to get to spend precious time with them without my cute kiddos hanging on my legs!
He had told me to bring something fancy to wear, but I didn't know what it was for. I figured it was probably a show of some type, but I just waited patiently (kind of!) to find out what he had planned. (Please don't mind the Happy Birthday tiara that my sister made me wear!)
I was so excited when we saw the billboard for Wicked!! I had mentioned once or twice that I wanted to see this. I grew up watching local productions of musicals and I LOVE them. The show was phenomenal and I was grinning and giddy through the whole show. My mom bought me the CD and I have been listening to it on my IPOD ever since! If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it! It was also cool that we went with my sister Crystal and her boyfriend, Tony, and it was in the awesome Pantageous Theater in Hollywood! I felt like a Rock Star, ha ha!
Next up: (Yep, our night was just beginning, it was only 11pm after all!) the Magic Castle. Crystal had some friends hook us up at this really cool place! Basically there are rooms with different magicians doing cool magic tricks. It was a lot of fun and apparently a hip, Hollywood spot. We saw Steve Valentine from Crossing Jordan, if anyone cares about that sort of stuff! We got home about 1:30 and hung out chatting with my mom until about 2:30am. What party animals we are!
Friday morning, we slept in and then woke up and went for a run on the beach, my favorite kind of run!! Jeff had been working hard at the gym to get ready for this run with me. I thought that was so sweet, and it meant more to me than he could know. So, we ran 5 1/2 miles together and it was gorgeous and so much fun. (Although I don't know if it was as fun for him with me talking his ear off!) I wish we could run together more often, but that won't be for a little while. :-) We spent the rest of the day hanging out with the family. We also biked to the beach later on to catch the sunset.
My aunt Marlynn came over with a couple of her kids and we had a nice visit with them. About midnight, we decided to start a game of Cities and Knights, I know, again we are the crazy party animals. I won the game to end a perfect getaway! We had to wake up at 5am to catch the flight home. It was quick, but just what I needed. I love you, Jeff and I am so grateful for all you did!
(These pictures are Jeff's ideas of relaxation (snoozing while listening to the NCAA tournament on TV) and mine (reading my Book Club book at the pool!)We came home to happy kids who were well taken care of by grandma. They also surprised me with a cake! Thanks, Diane for your part in all of this! How blessed I feel and how lucky I am!
