Suprise Idaho Trip

In January mom called and said Stacie you should come home for Kylie's Jr. Miss pageant and I will pay for half of it. Little did she know I had already bought my ticket to come home for Kylie's Jr. Miss pageant. I was planning on surprising Mom and Dad so I said I couldn't because I was coaching the YW's basketball team and the big final tournament was that day and I just couldn't leave them for that and believe it or not she bought it. I think she was a little mad that I would choose that over coming home at half price, but she believed me. So on March 10th I started my journey home, which didn't go as planned and after a night in the Dallas airport I arrived in Salt Lake early on the 11th. I was sad that my surprise wasn't going according to plan, but it worked out and I just kept saying how grateful I was that I wasn't with my four girls going through this. That would have been a real nightmare. The next morning Ryan picked me up at the airport and Starla and the girls drove me up to Idaho, where Kim was in charge of keeping tabs on Mom. They ended up in Idaho Falls at Babes bakery for lunch just in time for us to drop in as surprise guests. I had Emma with me when I walked in so mom couldn't place me at first, she thought I must be Starla. After a double take she realized it was me and started crying, then I started crying. Then just as I had planned she asked me if I was alone and I said well, not exactly alone, I do have a baby in my belly. I had just taken a pregnancy test a few days before and couldn't wait to tell her, but I held off so I could add one more surprise to the day. It was so fun to see her face and try and figure out how it was possible for me to be walking into Babe's Bakery at that moment. Priceless. I really love surprises. I had such a great time on this trip. It was only 5 days, but you can fit a lot into 5 days. I got to see everyone because of Jr. Miss and it was so fun to get to help a little bit with Kylie. Kylie did such a great job, I was so proud of her. The only sad part was as I watched the pageant I just kept leaning over to mom saying how much the girls would have loved seeing Kylie do this.

One afternoon we were able to go to Bear World where they were letting people hold the newborn baby bears. There were tons of people and I just kept thinking about my newborn babies and how overstimulated they get in big crowds and it made me really sad for those poor little bears, but we still stood in line to hold them and get our pictures taken and boy were they cute. Again I was very sad my girls weren't there. Lillie would have absolutely died for the opportunity to hold a baby bear.

I loved taking a trip all by my big self. This was the first time I have ever traveled on an airplane all by myself and despite my brief crying episode at the Dallas airport, I think I handled it very well. But as much fun as it was to be by myself, I missed Whit and my girls so much, and apparently Addie missed me too because she sucked blisters on her two little fingers while I was gone. She always sucks on her fingers, but has never caused blisters. It made me really sad to see them, but also happy that she missed me so much. Being away was a good reminder of how much I love my little family and it reminded them of how much they love me.