Last Minute Trip? Let's Go!

For anyone that doesn't know us, Jonathan and I are not last minute people. We plan just about everything out that we can. There are a few times that we make exceptions and this was one of them.

In early January, my cousin and his wife announced that they were going to be sealed in the Draper Utah temple. I asked Jonathan if I was crazy because I wanted to try to be there. He was kind and told me that I wasn't. We quickly figured out that we could take a few days off of work and fly there. So, we quickly booked the flights!

It didn't seem like we were really doing this even when we were packing for to leave the night before. Garrett was nice enough to drive us to the airport (along with my mom). We got the airport more than an hour early, so we were feeling pretty good.

We used a kiosk to print out our tickets and took the little train to the security check point. I started looking at my ticket and it had Jonathan's name on it. I realized that I had Jonathan's second ticket and not my own! A minor panic attack happened as we quickly went back to the kiosk hoping that my tickets were still there. We made it to the machine and sure enough, my tickets were right were we left them! After that, the rest of our travels were pretty normal.

We had a layover in lovely Long Beach. We weren't sure if we really wanted to continue knowing how freezing cold it would be. We went to Utah anyways. As the plane descended, everything was covered in a layer of white. I just started laughing. I do not like "cold California weather" let alone having it be cold enough for snow to stick to the ground. It was cold, but I somehow survived!

We decided to play in Temple Square before heading down to my uncle's house. There was hardly anyone outside. (Probably because the temperature was in the teens.) We walked around the Salt Lake Temple and as we were around the reflection pool, I hit Jonathan in the back with a snowball. (This was our first time in the snow together.) He wasn't too happy and started forming a snowball of his own. I begged him to be nice and not hit me in the head because I was nice and hit him in the back. Well, I turned and walked away quickly and he said something and I turned to say what and you know what happened? Yes, his snowball hit me in the face, but it gets even better. He hit me in my right eye. Can I just say that from personal experience, it is far better to get hit in the eye with a tennis ball than a snowball. Yeah it hurt, but what was worse was that each time I blinked freezing cold snow would get into my eye and melt. Lucky for him, I only brought it up about a dozen times during the rest of our trip.

We headed back to our car because we were both freezing! We were about 5 minutes away from my uncle's house and it started to lightly snow on us. (I was so grateful that Jonathan did all of the driving!)  We got all nice and warm by a lovely fire.

The next morning was so wonderful and exciting! My cousin Joe and his wonderful wife Courtney were sealed in the Draper Temple on their third anniversary. I've only been to three other sealings (including my own), but this one was by far the most special one. As soon as Joe and Courtney entered the room, I started crying. They were both glowing and overflowing with joy. It will be an experience that I will never forget.

We were in a winter wonderland.

The happy couple!!!

After the sealing, we took a few quick pictures and then had a brunch with all of the family. Jonathan finally got to meet my cousin Kinzie and her children. (He actually terrified her two little boys while we were waiting to leave the temple, luckily they did not scream stranger danger while they ran to their mother.) It was fun seeing my cousin Kurtis's little girl again. She is seriously the most smiley baby I have ever been around and she was even sick! As we were sitting around the table, someone asked how Jonathan and I ended up together. It was fun retelling our story, but I especially love seeing peoples' reaction when they find out that I shot Jonathan down about nine months before our first date. (What can I say, I was 19 and he was 26 when we met!) 

After everyone left, we headed back up to Salt Lake for some fun. We had dinner at the Lion House and checked out Deseret Book and a cool toy store.

22 degrees at that time was considered to be warm...

On our last morning, we went to Provo to visit one of Jonathan's old roommates from college. It's sometimes weird to think that Jonathan had so many years before he met me. Jonathan drove me around showing me some of the old apartments he lived in. Including his first apartment where his parents met for the first time way back in the day.

This trip was very quick, but so much fun! I am so grateful that we were able to be at my cousin's sealing. I am grateful that there are temples on the earth today so we can have eternal families. As I hugged Courtney after the ceremony, I reminded her that now she is stuck with all of us Pattersons forever. She was thrilled and I am so glad that she is part of our family too!

I'm also grateful for my Mr. Nelson for making this trip possible.