how sweet it is

it's funny how you don't fully appreciate things {like a family} until you've been separated for some time.

let's just say that coming home to my two sweet boys was a wonderful thing.

i flew in friday afternoon around 4 p.m. the flight was great and i sat next to a very nice couple who had never been to utah before. it was fun to see and hear their reactions when they saw the mountains!! they couldn't get over how HUGE they were. danny's mom + sister picked me up from the airport and took me to a vegan restaurant in salt lake where we met up with danny. {no, i haven't turned vegan. however, after spending a week with my vegan sis-in-law i do have a bunch of yummy treats/meals to make for danny...he's going to love it! :)}

it was so good to see danny. we've never been separated for this long {i know, i know...a week really isn't that long. but it felt like forever, ok?} so it was a happy reunion :) that night we attended the ces "evening with a general authority." this year president uchtdorf gave the address...score! seriously though, he is amazing and gave a wonderful talk. i feel so blessed to be a part of such a great organization. after the meeting in the tabernacle, everyone made their way over to the conference center for a light dinner. light being the key word. it was still good though. we mingled with a bunch of our seminary friends and made it to provo around 10:30.

i was sooo tempted to run into max's room and kiss/hug/snuggle with him but i thought it would be best to wait until the morning. my parent's just moved into their brand new house so things were a little hectic but my grandparents had come over and set up an air mattress for danny and i in the room max was sleeping in.

morning couldn't come fast enough. i think i woke up every hour to make sure max was still sleeping. and when he finally woke up, he looked SO dang big!! it's a weird feeling being away from your baby for a full week when prior to leaving you've spent 24/7 together.

he saw me, got a huge smile on his face...and then threw himself onto the floor and started screaming. it just about broke my heart. he wouldn't let me hold him for the first hour he was awake...and the rest of the day he still seemed skeptical about everything. he probably thought i was going to abandon him again. poor guy.

when we got back to our home in nephi, max lost it again. i have never seen him so so sad in his life. we still don't know what happened, but i think his little body had had just about enough. he was confused/sad/mad/happy/etc...all at the same time. it took about an hour for him to finally calm down and i think today {tuesday} is the first time that he hasn't had a break down. yay!! he's finally starting to forgive me.

despite all of the hard feelings from little maximus, the trip to oklahoma was wonderful. some of the high-lights included:

.going to the oklahoma temple with bekah.

.reading {multiple} stories to laney every day.

.visiting mike at his school.

.going on a walk in amazingly warm weather.

.hanging out with bekah.

.getting a "kissing hand" from sweet mariah.

.hearing laney say "hi sal" every morning when she woke up.

.trying new, delicious vegan recipes.

.watching the girls experience their first ever bunk-beds.

.driving through colorado, kansas, and oklahoma.

.learning about bekah's 12-week meal plan. it's genius!.

.watching wipe-out with mike and bekah.

.getting THREE lessons done on my independent study class!!.

.spending time with my sweet nieces.

.listening to laney sing "i belong to the church of jesus christ!" with such enthusiasm.

it really was a good trip. just what i needed to recognize how very blessed i am to:

1. have such amazing extended family

2. have such an amazing husband + son

oh, and guess what my incredibly talented, sweet husband did while i was gone????

checked this off of our home renovation to-do list:

he stayed up until at least one-thirty a.m. every night working on his secret project while i was gone. it was quite the undertaking!! there is still a little bit to be done, and thanks to his amazingly talented co-workers, it is so close. and it looks so. amazing. i'll let him post about it one of these days. he was great to document the whole, messy process so i could see what took place. so stay tuned!