Fortress of Femininity

Because I have such an AWESOME friend (EMILY HATCH), I was able to make a very QUICK trip out to Orem,UT this weekend (Sat-Mon) to visit Andrea. I left Saturday morning and got in SLC around 12:30 and Kate picked me up on her way home from Bountiful. I was kind of sad because it was rainy and cold. I was hoping the weather would've been as nice as it was the whole week before I got there. My brother Greg let me borrow one of their cars to drive around, which was WONDERFUL. And so we went and picked it up and then I headed down to Orem to surprise Andrea. We often do iChat with each other, and haven't in a while- for obvious reasons, and so I called her after I'd pulled up to her house and parked near the end of the driveway. I asked her if she wanted to do a chat with each other since I hadn't seen her in so long. She didn't answer her phone the first 3 times I called it, so I had to get Travis to take her his phone. He was in on the surprise, so he helped a sista out. Andrea agreed to do the iChat, but what she didn't know was when she was sending the invite to chat, she was just sending it to Ryan in GA and I was at her front door! She said "hi" to Ryan, and just about the time she was about to ask where I was I had walked through the door and said "HI!". She was SO confused and said "WHAT THE HECK! What are you doing here!?!!!" Ryan got to see all of it, which he was super excited about since it was all his idea to do it that way.

We had a lovely time with each other. I am really glad I got to go out and spend time with her and talk and cry and laugh and see her family and listen to the funeral and talk about how wonderful Sister Green was. I really will miss her. She was such a bright influence in the lives of many. She was always so welcoming to me and all of our friends, and always, ALWAYS had a smile on her face. There is a quote they have hanging in a picture frame on their wall in the living room that says "Don't cry because it's over; smile because it happened". I don't believe it could be more fitting for what they are going through. I know it will be especially hard in the next few weeks to come though... I can't change that. I wish I could make things easier, but I know they are relying on the Lord heavily and will be blessed with comfort and peace. We got to go to the grave site and there were still flowers from the funeral there and so Andrea and her sisters picked a few out they wanted to dry. And it was cloudy and gloomy and then all of a sudden, the sun came out and shown down on us and the grave and lit it up. It was a neat and special moment for me. I was glad I got to be there. We ate at Cafe Rio! YESSS! I also got to take some pictures of Travis and his CUTE fiance Tiffany, not with my own camera, but I borrowed Kate and Ryan Webb's and they turned out pretty good! (You can see a few of them here!) I got to spend some time with my Em, and even got to stay at the F.O.F. where I lived with her and two of her sisters and Jill W and Korina. It brought back a FLOOD of memories and it was fun to stay there again. I went to Church with Greg and Sam and the CUTE girls. So it was a good visit.

I did miss my boys like crazy, and we did iChats a couple times which was nice. Ryan is a wonderful husband and father and supported me going and being there for Andrea. I felt very strongly that I needed to be there for her (and Travis) and I'm grateful for all the help from Ryan while I was gone. I know it was good for he and Ben to have some Father and Son time- even though Sunday pretty much every diaper change was a poop! I can't wait to take my boys with me next time. I don't think Ryan will let me go anywhere alone again anytime soon either!

Ben is starting to associate pretty much ANY animal with Ally and calls anything that doesn't look human "Ayee". It's pretty cute. He's knows where his shoes go and when I go to put them on he'll grab the other and hold it up to his foot. He's also blowing kisses, and he makes a sound when he's doing it like I make when I do it. I asked him the other day if he wanted to go night-night, and he said back to me plain as day "nigh nigh". It was cute. He hasn't said it again... but I got excited anyway. When we leave the house he says "Bu bye" because we usually tell Ally that before we leave. I'm a little anxious to see how he does on the plane out to UT. He's a good kid, I'm just afraid he'll get a little antsy and claustrophobic. I guess we'll see!

I'm really in to this season of The Biggest Loser... I am so amazed with and proud of those people. Yeah, I know- they like lose that weight in an unnatural time frame... but still. They look so good. And I look so gross and huge. So why is it... that whenever I watch it, all I want to do is eat ice cream?

P.S. Does the first line of this post make you want to sing "Because I have been given much..." for a second? Because it makes me want to.