Birthday at Bekah and Nathan's...check.
And now on to Maimie and Pop's house for some fun times and a little bit of spoiling.
Bennett and I were only here for a little while, but it was time well spent. Mary and Wayne gave me my super cute birthday pajamas, and they gave both me and Bennett our Christmas presents early since we won't be there to open them later. Bennett got this fantastic metal Tonka Truck dump truck that is so big he can sit in it. He loves to push it around and make the dump truck noises he is so good at. I am sure there will be many, many good memories and even more dents in our baseboards in the near future. I got to open up mine and Matt's present too, but I can't tell you what it is because people I know reading this blog will be receiving the same thing and I don't want to ruin the surprise. Let me just tell you though, it is SO COOL!! (You know who you are. Get excited.)
Mary and Wayne also gave us a "bonus" present, which I truly treasure. It is tradition in the Hargrave family to frame each couples' wedding announcement with their engagement picture to hang in their home. But when Matt and I got married we weren't thinking and gave all of our announcements away. I was so sad. Just recently though, Mary was cleaning out her desk and found her own personal copy of our announcement, and lovingly had it framed for us. I am so happy to finally have this little piece of our "beginning" to hang in our home. Thank you so much, Mary and Wayne!
After a day of laundry and repacking all of our personal belongings for the fourth time in a week, (AAHHH!) Mary drove me and Bennett to the San Antonio Airport and said good-bye. And the adventure started.
Bennett was fabulous on the first flight. It was a pretty full flight, and the only empty seat on the whole plane just happened to be right by me, so Bennett got to use it. It was so nice and made me long for the age of two when I can rightly justify getting him his own $300 seat.
After a long layover in the Dallas airport--where McDoland's was purchased, naps were taken, a book was read, and a full-out yelling match between me and an extremely rude American Airlines worker took place--Bennett and I boarded our final flight for Salt Lake City.
The yelling match is a long and frustrating story involving incompetent workers who couldn't seem to get their information together as to what gate a scheduled flight would leave from. And just so you know, the Dallas Airport is the largest airport in Texas, the second largest in the United States, and the fourth largest in the world. And I'm pretty sure I covered every inch of that airport, with a sleeping child in tow, trying to follow the inaccurate information given to me by clueless, self-important workers. And when I finally found the "right" gate, the lady quite rudely informed me the doors were closed and nobody else could get on. And, to top it off, this was the same lady who had told me to change gates only a few hours earlier and started the whole mess in the first place.
So, to put it simply, I lost it.
I have never, ever, been so horrible to a complete stranger before in my life, but by this point I was near tears and I had to get on that flight! The worker finally did hold the flight for us, but only after several loud and rude comments were exchanged from both sides and a small crowd was forming around us to see what was going on. It would have been really embarrassing if I were in my right mind to care.
Anyway, we made it on, and I spent the rest of the flight attempting to entertain Bennett in a one-foot by two-foot radius and feeling intensely guilty for my actions. But not too guilty, apparently, because even as I write this I still feel like hitting that lady in the face. Oh, what a terrible thing to say...true, but terrible...
When we landed in Salt Lake, my dad and my sister Courtney were there to pick us up and drive us the four hours home. Bennett slept the whole way (he really is a great little traveler) and now we are here!
And we are so happy! We have already been doing lots and lots of fun things, all of which I am sure you will read all about. Bennett is loving the snow, I am loving the free food and child care, and we are both loving spending time with my family.
Bennett opening his present from Maimie and Pop. Bennett had a present for them, too. He can now say "Maimie" and "Pop" and it just about melts your heart. (Well, let's not get ahead of ourselves, here. He actually says "Maimie" and "Pong," but that's close enough, right?)
Watching all the big planes, cars, and trucks through the window of the San Antonio Airport. I am sure Bennett thought he was in some kind of motorized paradise. When we were on the actual plane Bennett and I had a window seat. Right before take-off, Bennett looked out the window and saw the wing of the aircraft and excitedly exclaimed, "A Pain! A Pain!" A few minutes went by and Bennett started playing with the toys in his bag. Suddenly he caught sight of the wing again, and shouted, "A Pain! A Pain!" all over again. He did this about every ten minutes over the course of both our flights. I thought it was pretty cute, although I am now a little concerned for his short-term memory. 
Bennett and Grandpa at the Salt Lake Airport. Yay for finally making it! And this is what we were welcomed with...
Snow! Lots of it!
The snow came early this year. In fact, a lot of the trees here still have their leaves and fruit on them because they didn't have time to fall off before it got so cold. I am not complaining though, because I love the snow. I especially love the snow when I get to just visit it, and then go home to sunny, 70* Texas. But it really does feel like Christmas, now.
Because Bennett slept most of the time in the car on the way home, he didn't see the snow until he woke up the next morning. Here he is with Grandma and Grandpa, getting his first view of the white stuff.
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