Dave, Jenny and the monsters: October 2010

So, no pictures here, but a great story. One that shows how amazing and thoughtful my husband is:

It all started on Friday May 28th at 7:30 am. I woke up to find my husband gone and a note on my bed. It read:

Good Morning Beautiful!!! You are headed out of town. I will pick you up at the house today at about 11:40 am. Please be ready.

You need to have a carry on piece of luggage packed with stuff for 3 1/2 days. Keep it pretty casual, you might throw in a skirt and a book. You don't need much. Maybe take your running shoes.

No need to ask me too many questions.

I love you

I was very excited to be heading out of town with my hubby...until I read the note again and realized that is said "you are headed out of town". Ugh...this ment I was going by myself.  I don't like being by myself:( Trying to keep a positive attitude (after all, my husband was giving me a vacation), I packed my bag.

He picked me up and comforted me of my concerns and dropped me off at the airport. As he was leaving, he handed me a stack of envelopes numbered 1-6 and the GPS.  He then told me that when he drove away, that I was to open envelope #1. It read:

Hey Wonderful Wife.  Sorry to just leave you at the airport by yourself. I would love to go with you, but you know somebody has to take care of the kiddos.

You are headed on a trip to Salt Lake City. Boarding pass included. You don't need to check in. The majority of your trip has been planned. Please follow directions and everything will go smoothly.

So what are you waiting for?

Enjoy your flight!

Love Dave

Once on the plane and in the air you can read card 2.

So, I was okay. I was going to Salt Lake where I had plenty of family and friends. I guess I would be able to survive:) And my sister had just had a baby, so I could meet him. This could be fun:) I boarded the plane, got into the air and opened envelope #2. It included a cute picture of Kiya and another of the 3 boys...so thoughful (however, I began crying...which is not unusual for me. In fact I had been crying the whole morning). It read:

Hey Sexy Lady,

So now that you are on the plane I hope you can sit back and relax.  I have everything under control or at least I hope. I figure you can go see Liam although Tia does not know you are coming. I gave John a heads up that you may show up but I did not say much to him. Just barge in the door with a black mask and say surprise. You will have their address text'd to you. The GPS will help.

I wanted to let you know I love you and all the the work you do. You are a wonderful woman. I am a lucky guy and would like to be sitting next to you but but right about now I am probably carting McKay with me to work and will pick up Lincoln at 2pm.

I know I didn't help out much this week. Things got a bit crazy. So I hope you have fun! Sitting on the plane is a great woman that deserves a getaway. We will miss you and when you come back things will still be crazy.

You are loved dearly. The kids have the greatest Mom. You are beautiful.

Love your Husband
BTW..I realize Lincoln gets out at 1pm.

When you get off the plane you can read card 3.

So, guess what, more tears:) However, that letter made me want him with me even more. But, I was getting excited to surprise Tia and meet Liam so I quickly shook the tears and began reading and doing logic puzzles ( I think logic puzzles are really fun!). So, the plane landed and after leaving the terminal, I opened envelope #3. It read:

You are going to need some WHEELS.

Head to Enterprise. Your car waits with no car seats.

Reservation is under Jenny Smith.

Once in the car you can read card 4

So, I head to Enterprise. Without kids tagging along, I was able to manuever very quickly through the airport.  I was heading to the front desk to claim my reserved car when I heard someone say "Hey". Not necessarily knowing they were talking to me, I turned their way and thought.."that sure looks like Mom". After a second look, I realized that it was my mom and, yes, I began to cry again.She was also crying. To surprise me even more, Dave and flown Mom down to Salt Lake to hang out with me and to meet little Liam as well. Wow! I still had 3 more envelopes to open. How could he surprise me any more? AMAZING!!

So, Mom and I got our car, without carseats, and called John to get their address. Tia still had no clue we were coming. Mom and I were Giddy with excitement and splotchy from crying:) So, we were in the car and we opened envelope #4. It read:

Hey Babe!

By now you should have a traveler with you. If you don't have one we have a problem.  But where are you going to stay? Oh, don't worry I have taken care of it. I realize you may first go see Liam that is okay the Hotel will still be there. You will have to pay $5/day for parking.

Please enter on the GPS the address below to find your Hotel

Sleeping alone kinda sucks but I think you will find this a nice enough place.

Love Ya
Dave

After breakfast Saturday morning read card 5.

So we did...we went to meet Liam.  Finding Tia's was easy. In 40 minutes, we were pulling up in front of her house. We could see her sitting, feeding the baby in front of their big front windows. When she saw us guess what she did...yep...cried.  The tears fell again. Daughters who become Mothers know how special it is to have your own mother around. Something about it is very comforting, especially right after having a baby. And what a cutie that babe is. We spent a few hours holding the baby, playing with the other kids and talking up a storm. It was fantastic!! It was getting late, so Mom and I typed in the address of the hotel and headed back to Salt Lake for the night.

Once again, we got to where we needed to, easily. We checked into our room, parked the car (the $5/day will be on the bill I'm sure), and headed to our room. And SURPRISE...there were roses waiting for us. Dave sent us each a single rose with a little note. Mine read:

I'm glad you made it to your hotel. You are a super-duper awesome woman! We will miss you! Sleep well!

Love
Dave

This man of mine thinks of everything.  Mom and I felt so special!!

We got a good nights sleep and even slept in a bit in the morning. We grabbed breakfast by the hotel and then went back to the room to open envelope #5. Inside was a coupon to Yogurt Stop, $ and a letter it read:

Hey Hot Lady--Cool down with some yogurt. After lunch take everybody here! Everything is 50% off so you can take everybody and load up on as many toppings as you want. The included cash should take care of everybody. There is some small print on the coupon so be careful.

GPS the below address....

Jenny, After you eat yogurt you can read card 6. You need to be done with yogurt no later than 4:30pm. Otherwise...well lets just not go there. You have plans that only involve you and a place you need to go solo.

Holy Cow! When will the surprises end. I loved how he was so thoughtful to even include the money to pay for the yogurt.

Well, Mom and I headed to Tia's house for some more baby love!! Then we all went to a Mexican restaurant for lunch. It was great to chat and enjoy each others company. And we did take advantage of the coupon Dave sent with me. It ended up being for customer appreciation day. Plenty of yogurt was eaten and lots of speculation was made as to who I was meeting up with and Tia ended up treating with a gift card she had, so I was able to pocket the money Dave sent:) It was a great time!

It was getting close to 4:30 and so we decided to read envelope #6.  It read:

Hungry? You have a 6pm dinner date! With who? Go find out.

Head the below address....
PAGO

You need to be here 6pm sharp. You have dinner company. This is only for you. Reservation is booked.

I sent Mom with Tia and John and I headed off on my own back to
Salt Lake. Hummm..Once again by myself? By now, I knew Dave was taking good care of me, but I had no clue who I would be meeting up with. Kind of an odd feeling. A very large portion of me wanted it to be Dave:) The ultimate surprise!!

When I get back to the hotel, I got changed and headed out using the GPS as my guide. I arrived at PAGO just before 6. I went to check in and they don't have my name on the reservation. I also try Dave's name. It wasn't there either. So, the reservation was made under the name of the person I was meeting...though I had no idea who that was going to be. I decided to wait outside for the unnameable and that's when I saw Alice! She is my friend from Seattle, who then moved to Utah but went to Guatemala with me. Yeah!! I was so excited. She also did not know who she was meeting, so we were both surprised to see each other. It was so much fun hanging out together!

It was getting late and I still had to go back to get Mom from Tia and John's, so we called it a night...a very good night!

I picked up Mom and then we headed back to the hotel. We were in much need of a good night sleep, and once again slept in.

We headed to Tia's in the morning to go to church with her family. We just went to sacrament with the much appropriate excuse of Tia just having a baby. Then Mom and I pampered Tia a little with gifts for Liam and goodies for all.

After lunch, Mom and I started talking about how early we had to get up to catch our flights the next morning and how it would be so nice to be able to catch a later flight. I hated to do it, but I did it anyway. I asked Dave to change our flights to a later time. Even after all that he had already done for us, he found us later flights! What an amazing husband and son-in-law and brother-in-law ( and much, much more)!

This flight change gave Mom and I the freedom to say our goodbyes to Tia, John and the kiddos and then head back to Salt Lake for a late movie (after all, we didn't need to wake up early in the morning any more).

The next morning, instead of making an early departure, we were able to roam Temple Square. Mom hadn't been back to Temple Square since Dave and I got married 13 years ago, so it was really nice to spend time with her there. We also took a tour of the Beehive House and saw the Joseph Smith movie (more crying).

And then...it was time to head home. We headed off to the airport, dropped off our rental car and said our "see ya soon"s and "love you"s then boarded separate planes. Both of us feeling refreshed and special!

I cannot express my gratitude for my amazing husband. He is wonderful and thoughtful and knows how much my family means to me and how much I enjoy spending time with them. He planned this trip especially with my interests in mind. I love him so much! I thank my Heavenly Father everyday for bringing him into my life! Love you Dave!!