SURPRISE!!!

This past weekend was wonderful! Cathy and I flew to California to visit Cynthia as a surprise! We wanted to be there to help her with and be there for Matthew's baby blessing. A couple of weeks ago Cathy and I bought our plane tickets and made arrangements with Brett to be picked up from the airport and stay with Cynthia and Brett.

Last Friday, Cathy (with Abbie) and I boarded the plane and flew to Long Beach Aiport where Brett was waiting to pick us up. When we were driving to Cynthia's from the airport, she called Brett on his cell phone to ask where he was and he said, "I'm on the freeway - somewhere." I thought that was pretty funny. They were supposed to be going to a wedding reception that night together for which she had made the cake. She was disappointed when Brett said he didn't think he'd make it home on time to go with her to the reception and she went over there alone. It was sad to know she was frustrated about that, but little did she know the reason he was going to be home late! When we got close to her house, Brett called home and was told Cynthia was still gone, so we drove over to the church.

When we got there, she was sitting at a table visiting with friends, her back was towards us. Cathy and I snuck into the room and I went over and put my arms around her. She said, "What the heck? Who has their arms around me?" Then she tried to turn around and she didn't see me, but she saw Cathy. Then she started laughing, smacked me in the head, and said, "What are you guys doing here?!" Cynthia was so happy she almost started to cry and she said, "I'm so glad you came!" :) While we were there we got to hold Matthew for the first time and taste a couple of her delicious cakes she made for the wedding. Matthew is so tiny, and perfect, and CUTE!


When we got back to Cynthia's house I brought her the gifts that I packed down from Mama, Shauna, Teresa and I and we had an informal family baby shower. Here is Cynthia holding Matthew and the blanket I brought for him.

I had to take this picture because Shauna gave Matthew a cute little outfit that was size 9 months. He is so tiny that we were laughing at the size difference. Here he is with his new pants! They will look really cute on him when they fit. :)

Ok, I didn't look in the gifts beforehand and I can't remember if the next two are from Mama and Teresa, or Teresa and Mama, but here is Cynthia enjoying them!

The little Mickey shirt was a big hit! Of course you can't go wrong giving Cynthia some Mickey attire.

Here are Abbie (3 months) and Matthew (1 month) on the floor together in their PJs making friends.

Saturday was spent cleaning, cleaning, cleaning, and preparing for the blessing. Cathy and I helped Cynthia to get on top of the house (literally! jk) with the cleaning. Later in the afternoon we left to go shopping. We did make a stop for me to get some jeans that fit (which I desperately needed and it was amazing how much better the shopping experience was without kids!) and we went to get groceries for the blessing lunch. Cynthia, Cathy and I ate dinner together at TGI Fridays. Not my favorite place, but the company was wonderful. We stayed there and talked for about 1 1/2 hours! It's so nice to get together with sisters! After our late dinner we stopped at a couple more grocery stores, then home to start preparing soups and desserts. This part didn't go so well. Cathy and I started on the food preparations, but it was getting late and I was done for. I sat down on the couch and zonked. Cathy was really tired too and had to go to bed. Sorry Cynthia! Cynthia ended up finishing cooking 4 soups and a batch of cookies.

Sunday morning we got up and went to church for Matthew's blessing. All of Brett's siblings and mom were there. Brett gave Matthew an amazing blessing, better than any other I've heard. I'm truly grateful I was able to be there to hear his blessing and it touched many people in the congregation. Matthew is really a special little boy and I love him! Afterwards we finished church and headed to Cynthia's house for FOOD.

This picture is all of Brett's family and Cathy and I. Cynthia had a few of her close friends come, but they aren't pictured because they are taking the pictures.

Cynthia holding Matthew in his blessing blanket.

Just Cynthia's immediate family (nice pose, Callie).

We all ate our yummy lunch and played lots of games. I especially enjoyed playing games with Brett's brothers. It was just like old times! It was fun to meet some of Cynthia's close friends, too. She has a great support system around her with very good people. Sunday was very relaxing, finally! All of our hard work paid off and we got to just sit around and enjoy being there. After everyone left, Cathy, Cynthia, and I didn't want to go to bed because we knew Cathy and I had to leave early in the morning. I held Matthew for a long time while we talked and he just snuggled into me. We stayed up WAY TOO LATE talking and finally stumbled to bed. I laid down at about 1:30 and tossed and turned. The last time I looked at my clock it was 3:30. Then at 4:15 my alarm went off. No point trying to get any extra sleep, so I got up, showered, and got ready to leave.

I did get hold Matthew one last time before we left. He has a very special spirit and you can feel it when you hold him. This picture was taken at 5 am Monday morning, before we left for the airport.

Cathy, what the heck??? :) She did this on purpose, and it was the only picture I got of us all together before we left, so it's going on my blog!

I'm grateful for the opportunity I had to go to California and spend time helping and being with Cynthia and her family. I'm also grateful Jeremy was willing to let me go and have him stay home with the kids for the weekend. He had fun with the kids and then took Monday off work to pick Cathy and I up from the airport. This weekend was a great experience for me and I love my family!