So last week I took the shuttle to Vegas airport and flew to DC. It was a pretty long day as flying usually is not to mention all the public transit you have to take to get to and from wherever your going. Anyway needless to say it was great. I met Becca at the mall where she was doing a flash mob said hi to some friends and headed back to her house to get started on things. There were lots of fun events going on everyday, ward parties, going away parties, packing, cleaning, organizing, running errands, etc :) Friday while everybody was at work I cleaned the house and baked goodies for the party on Saturday. Then Friday night we went to the ward party where I got take part in the talent portion. haha nothing like not being in a ward, but performing :) Our friend Bill was Elvis and sang "Blue Christmas" and me, Becca, and Kayla were his back up dancers. It was pretty amazing. I might consider posting the video.....Saturday we worked all day on getting Becca packed and ready to go, as well as getting the house decorated and ready for the party. The going away party was a huge success and it was fun to see a lot of friends. After the party we went to Bob & Edith's Diner haha it was pretty comical. Who knew so many people wanted to go there at 1 am....wow! Sunday was the Christmas program with a night full of watching Christmas Lifetime movies and organizing more stuff. Monday morning I woke up SUPER early to catch a bus up to DC (also received a text from my sister Janae saying that she had her baby!! Hooray! Little Kate was born at 2:23 am on Monday. Can't wait to meet her)
I took the bus up to NYC. I just couldn't stand being so close and not being able to see everybody. Anyway got to the city rode the train into Jersey where Olivia picked me up. The kids were over making sugar cookies and so I went and met them. AHHHHHH they are so cute! Braden was so excited he got off the chair and started dancing around. It pretty much made my life! I miss them a lot! After cookies and chatting I ran to say a quick hello to Sister Cooley and her new companion Sister Scoville. LOVE THEM! It was so great to see them. Then I stopped by Brad and Dianna's to say hello and see little Cole. He is adorable and I was so glad I could stop in and say hello. They are so great and were so kind to let me stop in. Then we headed into the city. Olivia was the only one that knew I was coming to so it was a great surprise!! Brittany about had a heartattack! haha We also went to dinner with Olivia' sister Amber and her friends that were in town. The whole ward was coming in to see the tree in Rockefeller so we met up with them. It was so fun to see everybody and chat for a little bit. I drove Ted's truck back to DC the next morning.
I got back to DC and we started working to get things done. We were supposed to pull out Wed around 1:00, but got a little behind schedule. :) Luckily we got everything into her car with only a few things on top and we were on our way. So weird to say good-bye to her roommates and house. LOVE THEM! We decided that since this is a cross country road trip and at Christmas time that in addition to taking pictures at all the state lines we also needed to be wearing Santa hats. So look forward to our amazing photos :) haha
So we headed down to NC first to stay with Curtis and Lindsay. We got there a little late, but stayed up chatting and they were so great! They even made us blueberry pancakes for breakfast! It was so fun to see them and cute Ande!
The next morning we stopped in to see Becca's old roommate Ane and her brand new baby Camilla. She is adorable!
We continued our day into South Carolina, then Georgia where we stopped at the Houghtalings. LOVE THEM! They took us to one of their favorite BBQ places called Cafe Pig it was pretty delicious. We had a blast staying up and chatting with them. They are the greatest! Pretty sure we need to plan a reunion with you guys, stat! Either that or I'm on the waiting list for the Houghtaling one ;) Andi made us amazing pancakes for breakfast, Claire took us on a golf cart ride around the neighborhood and unfortunately we had to be on our way.
Today has been pretty eventful. haha the driving wasn't too long, but we of course had to make so stops along the way as we passed through Alabama, Florida (only a little out of the way, but we decided we had to since we were so close), Mississippi, and Louisiana.
we of course were watching Sweet Home Alabama while driving through :)
We had to make the "Fl" since we passed into Florida on some backroad there was no sign :(
Biloxi, where Grandpa & Grandma Haynie got engaged :)
(yeah check out that self-timer jumping photo...pretty much amazing!
last stop for today, Louisiana.