Surprise Trip to Portland

This past weekend my parents flew Kim and me to Portland for Allison's baptism. My parents wanted to make it a surprise for Jen and I'm glad we were able to keep it a secret. She was shocked when she walked into the living room and saw us standing there. It was fun to see her reaction. Allison didn't act surprised and we later found out that Earl told her that morning on the way to school that we were coming. My dad picked Ethan up from school and told him there was a surprise at home. Apparently we weren't what he had in mind for a surprise because he quickly left the room when he got home. Sorry E! Poor Tyson was so sick but he still managed to entertain us with his humming of "Old McDonald Had a Farm" as he rocked back and forth on his knees. It was a fun weekend. We went to Allison's baptism and Morag spoke on the Holy Ghost. She did a great job and I think Allison was thrilled to have her be a part of her special day. After the baptism we stuffed ourselves (at least I did) with so much food for lunch that I didn't eat anything the rest of the day. (I forgot to take my camera to the baptism so I took the first 3 pictures off of Jen and Kim's blog. I can't believe we didn't get a picture of us sisters!)

Thanks Andy for being such a great husband and letting me leave for the weekend! The kids of course loved every minute of being with Andy. They went to the dinosaur museum and Provo to see their new cousin Bradley. He braved a trip to Costco on Saturday and took the kids to church on Sunday. Andy said he tried to put "hair pretties" in Taylor and Ella's hair but he couldn't figure it out. I've had a few friends comment on how impressed they were that Andy was at church with all 3 kids by himself. (What can I say, I married a pretty incredible guy.) When I came home Andy was in the kitchen cooking dinner (roast, potatoes, carrots... I think I should leave more often ;) ) and Taylor saw me walk into the family room and said "Hey Mom" as if I was there the entire time and went back to what she was playing with. About 10 minutes later she yelled, "Dad, Mom's home!" and ran and gave me a big hug. Ella clung to me the rest of the evening and kept saying, "Mommy's home!" Braden wanted to read books with me. It's nice to know I was missed.