march. week three.

March 18th:
We celebrated Aunt Kelsey's birthday tonight at Grami & Grandpa's.  Grandpa Alan never fails to be the funnest house on the block and recently bought a popcorn machine!  The boys put quarters in and wait for it to pop their theatre worthy popcorn.  It's awesome!  They love it and especially love it when he pours melted butter & salt on top.  {they're definitely my kids!}
For Kelsey we ate a yummy dinner, I took a "better than most other cakes, cake" and we enjoyed the unwrapping/candles/cake eating portions, especially.  We LOVE aunt Kelsey around here and are so grateful she is a part of our family.  She is quiet upon first meeting, but becomes vocal when she's comfortable with you, is very witty, and has a good sense of humor.  She loves to read {love talking books with her} and is a great mama, wife, aunt, sister and friend.  We are glad we got to celebrate her!

March 20th-25th: {Karli version}
I was totally psyched to cash in my birthday plane ticket from Mom & Dad and Bob & Alison to fly & spend time with Amber & fam.  I have missed her DESPERATELY and the knowledge of this trip was one of the things that made having her 1500 miles away somewhat bearable.

We dropped the boys at T&T's with big hugs and Zac drove me to the airport.  It was a windy/dreary day and we were running a bit late.  Zac made sure I made it to the security, we said goodbye, and I made it with time to spare. (:  Got on the plane and tucked my purse under the seat-thinking I'd pull it out to read my book or get some work done once we took off.  The first panic making moment was when they de-iced the plane & told us they were waiting for the fuel truck to arrive so they couple top it off in case the airways were bad.  Hm..., never the best thing to hear.  My seat was next to the window & my seatmate was a very tall/big man so I tried scrunching next to the window so he'd have more room.  We took off and it was the LONGEST and WORST flight of my life.  It's only about 2.5 hours, but took us three, and about 2 hours 15 minutes of it were the worst turbulence I've ever experienced.  At one point I literally bounced out of my seat and thought I'd end up in my neighbor's lap!  It was eerily quiet and the flight attendancts stayed seated-no snacks/drinks, and I kept thinking I wished I'd left a letter for Zac and the boys telling them how much I love them.  I contemplated pulling my phone off to try & write something in case my phone was found after my death, but was too nervous to reach under my seat, so rather sat for 3 hours with my hands tightly clasping each other or the seat/arm rests.  When we landed {for the record, I don't think the pilot was really worried}, everyone let out nervous laughter and I stood up and felt like I had sea legs!  It was crazy!  I was SO happy to be on land I almost started crying & when I heard Zac's voice on the phone, I about lost it. 

Then I saw Amber and the girls and I was SO happy!  I didn't realize how much I'd really missed her until we were together again.  The entire 6 days flew by and it was all such an amazing experience.  Here are some of my favorite moments:

-Uninterrupted, face to face, daily contact & communication with my best friend.
-Lots of loving on the sweetest chunky baby Wren

-Tons of laughs and book reading with the adorable Miss Ella
-Watching Amber & Todd interact and having fun teasing them, chatting with them, and soaking in their family's goodness
-Seeing their adorable home & town in person

-Being able to help Amber a little during her pregnancy
-Taking a walk in their adorable little town, pulling the girls in the little red wagon

-Getting up close & personal with the jolly green giant

-Visiting the children's museum & library with the kiddos {along with trips to Target, yummy lunches, and TCBY}

-Celebrating Ella's 3rd birthday!

 -Lots of watching shows on Hulu and Netflix, American Idol, looking at blogs together & laughing til we cried and crying til we laughed as we chatted
-Lots of creating meals & eating good stuff together
-Skyping with my adorable boys back home.  They really were happy to see me, I promise.

-Spending an entire 24 hours with just Amber!  Saturday morning we left the girls with Todd and headed to the Twin Cities.  We spent 10 hours walking around the glorious Mall of America, shopping, having a yummy lunch & dinner, and being amazed at what we saw.  When we were worn out, we headed to our hotel which was only a couple miles away and watched some shows, read our books, and talked til we fell asleep.  The next morning Amber drove me to the airport and we said goodbye. 

 It was a WONDERFUL happy trip full of many memories I won't soon forget.  It was exactly what my soul needed and I can't say how grateful I am to my parents & Bob & Alison for paying for the trip, and to Zac for sending me and taking care of the boys.  Of course T&T helped a ton, too, and I'm so grateful for them.  THanks too, to Todd & girls for letting me crash the place and be a part of the Fischer fam for a while. 

March 20th-25th: {Zac & boys version}
Zac & the boys had a great time together and Gray and Beckham were totally looking forward to the time with just him.  Before I left Grayson let me know their plans: build forts, watch movies, play outside, visit the grandparents, play rockband, and of course, play Star Wars.  (:

He did great with them.  He is the best husband!  They had a great time and although I know he was exhausted trying to keep up with them and their schedules as well as all his work duties, he didn't complain and kept telling me not to worry & to enjoy myself.  Taylor had them for several hours each day which allowed him to work and he'd pick them up for the evenings.  Their last evening alone they went to Cleaver's for a BBQ.  I LOVED seeing Zac's instagram pictures that kept me feeling plugged into all of them, and loved the sweet phone calls each night.  They had a great week together. 

Zac took the boys to T&T's ward Sunday and left them in primary while he drove to pick me up.  I was seriously giddy about seeing him.  I'd missed him so much and was just so thankful to be married to a man who allows me to nurture my relationships with my friends, too.  He said he'd just meet me outside, but I was surprised to see him waiting & looking completely handsome in his Sunday best by the baggage claim.  It was a sweet reunion and I just kept admiring him and telling him how much I missed him on the way home.  I told him all the details of the trip we didn't talk about on the phone and he filled me in on the boys.  He said they missed me, and later told someone his world was finally complete & in balance now that I was home, and that made me feel so good.  He was so sweet to let me go, but we are definitely better together.   We had some rest time {Zac needed it!} and I caught up with the boys-who were adorable & so happy to see me!  Then we spent a couple hours at G&G Pete's.  A great great week of memories!