Texas 911

Well, we made it back from Dallas in one piece. Though, there were many times I thought for sure we wouldn't. The trip to get there horrendous, but the reward (my family) was SO sweet and well worth the hassle. Let me take you through the adventure...in form of a list. (Haha...I love lists and they make it so much easier for me to think.)

• 1st-It was pouring. Scott was convinced it was a monsoon. We passed a semi truck at the exact time it hit a water puddle/lake and it covered our trailblazer completely in water. We couldn't see a thing and had to gun in blind to get out of the mess. Needless to say, the weather was not on our side and it put us behind schedule a bit.
• 2nd-As we were making our way to the SLC airport, we were following a trailer of trees. Well, not really following, it was a few lanes over and a few cars up. Anyway, a rock/boulder flew off the back and hit our windshield leaving a 6-8 inch break in the windshield. Scariest thing.
• 3rd-Not ten minutes later, we went to get off at the airport exit and the road was closed. Awesome, even more behind schedule.
• 4th-Made it to the airport just in time to board the plane. Like seriously...just in time.
• 5th-Scott and I were watching the few minutes of free TV on the plane when we noticed Tornado warnings in Colorado, which is where we were to connect for Dallas. He laughed it off and said we would be fine. We weren't. We had to 'hold' as the pilot called it in the air for about an hour due to weather. So basically, we flew in circles Denver waiting for the tornado's to go away.
• 6th-The tornado's went away. For about 30 minutes, long enough for us to land. Within 10 minutes of being at the Denver airport the skies went black, sirens went off and everyone was rushed to the bathrooms, AKA-tornado shelter. And there we sat. For 3 hours. At 10 PM. With a screaming child. More awesomeness.
• 7th-They finally got us out of Denver onto a very bumpy flight that took us into Dallas. It was about 2:00 AM when we settled into the hotel, broke open the luggage, only to find it was soaking wet. Everything was soaking wet. We knew the outside of the suitcase was wet, but what we didn't realize is that they never brought in our luggage during the tornado warnings. We had zero dry clothes. Luckily, the housekeeping was able to throw it in the dryer so Scott would have dry clothes for his conference and Tayden and I wouldn't have to wear the same clothes.

So there you have it, the adventure to Dallas. Once we got there, things were great! The minute I saw my family, everything was perfect. We had such a great time. I forgot my camera, naturally, so I only caught a few pictures with my phone.

Echo and I took the kids to the Zoo on Wednesday. It was so fun! We spent a few hours there and saw alot of cool animals. The Fort Worth Zoo is seriously worth going to see. It was a blast. I think I enjoyed it as much as the kids. Unfortunately, this was the only day Tayden decided to cooperate. He was a major pain the whole trip. I think he was either crying or whining 95% of the time. And if he wasn't doing either of those, we was flailing on the ground. My five year old nephew, Coda, said, "There he goes again" about 167 times, in regards to the behavior. I actually considered leaving him there...haha. (obviously just kidding.) But in all honestly, it was weird. I am not used to having a kid like that. I felt bad that Justin and Echo didn't have the chance to see my hilarious, good natured, sweet little boy. All they saw was a little monster. Boo. Anyway, here is a picture of the drive home from the zoo. It must have been fun!

My all time favorite picture. Tayden looking out the window of our hotel for birds in the nude. Isn't he something else?

Okay, so one more little story and this post will be over. I love this picture. Not because of the quality, but because of the story behind it.

My sister in law is an amazing mom. And when I say amazing, she is phenomenal. She limits the amount of TV in the morning and then helps the kids find something else fun to do. This particular morning it was playing games with Mom. How fun is she? And you will never guess what is they were listening to on the CD player....primary songs. For real. And not for a show for me...because that is what they do. The kids knew the songs and were singing along playing a board game with their mom. I had to hold back the tears as I watched. And on top of that, she cooks, she cleans, she solves problems, she listens, she disciplines, she gives herself to her family. She is my inspiration and I truly aspire to be like her.

So after the zoo, being lazy, Joe's Crab Shack, the blistering heat, countless laughs, a banana cream pie shake, a bucket of golf balls and some good quality time with my family....we headed home. Even after the airport called and told us our flight home had been canceled and had to reroute us...we made it.

Thanks Justin, Echo, Coda and Princess Gracie for the wonderful time. It went by to fast and I miss you everyday.