[or actually since September 3rd] finally arrived!
Seriously, it felt like it was taking FOR-EV-ER to get here!
It had been five months since I had last seen my baby nephew, Benjamin
and now his first birthday was approaching.
Those five months felt like they were twice as long as they really were,
without that adorable bit of sunshine in my life.
After planning my trip, I worried,
"Will Benjamin remember me?"
I knew I would be absolutely heartbroken if he cried
or turned away when he saw me again.
So I tried to have a Skype session once a week.
[Although I think that ended up being so I could see him,
since I don't think he really looked at the camera to see me.]
I would also call frequently, so he would be familiar with my voice.
[Again, more for me so I could I hear his cute noises and giggles.]
The morning of my flight, I was anxious to see him
and wondered what his reaction would be when he saw me.
As I was packing up the last few items,
the phone rang. It was the sister missionaries.
They had an appointment cancel on them and were in the area
and wanted to know if they could stop by.
I told them they could come over, thinking I would have enough time
to make myself more presentable [No makeup on yet.]
and to wake Trisha up before they arrived.
Well, they arrived quicker than I thought...so my face was still bare.
We chatted for a bit and they made plans to visit Trisha while I was gone.
I told them that I had ulterior motives when accepting their offer to stop by,
when I realized that extra hands would be helpful, so it wouldn't take more
than one trip to bring my luggage down 3 flights of stairs!
I arrived at Love Field a bit later than I planned, but still in plenty of time
to check in my bags and wait for my flight to board.
I of course, would have preferred a nonstop flight to SLC,
but making multiple stops has some little perks.
The flight was fully booked, so thankfully, I was fortunate enough to get
a window seat near the wings. [I prefer to be near the wings or front.]
The first leg of my flight stopped in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
A whole lot more people than I expected got off there.
The plane was heading next to Denver, Colorado.
The flight wasn't as full, so there was an empty middle seat by me. [YAY!]
When I arrived in Denver, I was welcomed by frigidly cold air!
[It was -4 degrees!]
Brr!! No wonder I could see my breath while walking through the jet way!
My layover there went by rather quickly.
I went to the bathroom and when I came out and looked for the gate
for my flight to Salt Lake City, it ended up being the gate I had just left!
[Apparently they had switched gates/planes for that flight!]
So I ended up being on the same plane for the entire flight!
Unfortunately though, I lost my cushy spot on the plane and ended up
with an aisle seat towards the back of the plane! UGH!
But, the perks with each "new" flight were more free snacks and drinks!
[Which helped since I didn't have enough time to get lunch while in Denver.]
While waiting in Denver, I got a text from my sister letting me know that her husband,
Robbie would be picking me up at the airport on his way home from work.
I was disappointed that her and the baby wouldn't be there to greet me.
I didn't want to wait any longer than I had to before seeing that cute baby again!
When I arrived in Salt Lake, Robbie was there waiting for me and so was my luggage.
Thankfully, they are only 15 minutes away from the airport,
so it wasn't that long of a wait to see Benjamin.
When we arrived, I saw my sister and the baby peeking out from a window.
I was walking over to grab my bags and decided heck with my bags...
I WANT THAT BABY!!!
He had a big smile on his face when he saw me and reached out for me to hold him!
I grabbed that baby and covered him in kisses and tears of gratitude.
[Wish I had a picture of that moment, but I was just concentrating on that baby!]
Benjamin had changed so much in those five months and yet,
in many ways was still the sweet smoochy baby I remembered.
Benjamin's changes:
Even though I had told him countless times that he better not change his eyes,
because he had his mama's big blue eyes...his eyes changed to hazel.
He was just starting to scoot around and working on crawling
when they moved away in September
and now he's walking and running around all over the place!
I missed out on those major milestones. ::sniff::
The one change I was happy with:
He finally got some 'toofies' in! Two on top and two on the bottom.
[With more on their way.]
Makes his smiles even cuter!
Benjamin still loves music!
He even has favorite singers and songs.
Katrina said that sometimes he'll come running from his room
when he hears one of "his songs" come on in the living room.
A few of his favorites are "Royals" by Lorde, "Counting Stars" by OneRepublic,
"Let Her Go" by Passenger and "Pompeii" by Bastille.
And he dances...oh how he dances!
Shaking that cute little booty of his and flapping his arms around like he's about to fly.
FREAKING ADORABLE!!!
Don't believe me? See for yourself...
Later that evening, we went out for dinner, picking up some crispy burritos
from Taco Time and getting more Mexican food at Freebirds. [YUM!]
I shared some of my burrito with the baby.
[I think eating is one of his favorite things!]
Oh, how I love and have missed this cute baby!
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