Turning 26 in Texas

So I must admit that I wasn't looking forward to my birthday this year, 26 just seemed.... OLD. I know that it's not that old but for some reason as I looked at it it seemed that way. Perhaps that it's also where I am in my life, about to graduate and facing the 'real world'. In January I received a text from Ephraim that went as follows " I have a plan, it involves a plane ticket and you coming to Texas". So that's what we did. Within a few days I had bought a ticket to Dallas Texas and on Friday, February 4th I drove to Salt Lake. Big Thanks again to the Pease family for letting me stay the night with them!

Saturday morning bright and early I found myself sitting in the SLC Airport waiting for my flight. 45 minutes after we were supposed to leave we finally boarded due to a sick flight attendant who had to be replaced so we could leave. When I got to Texas I was enthusiastically greeted by Ephraim and we quickly set off the start our weekend together. Our first stop was at the Gaylord Texan, a huge resort which has an atrium in the middle, Ephraim knows I'm a nut for those types of things. We had a great time looking at everything and oohing and awing, as well as geekily naming as many of the plants as we could!

After stopping to grab a small bite to eat and walking around in a park we drove to Ephraim's house where I fell asleep cuddling, three hours of sleep at night is defiantly not enough for me to function on. That evening we went to a restaurant called Babe's with Ephraim's  three best friends and his sister Estrella. On the way there I was the at the center of a series of questions as Eph's friends tried to get to know me better. By the time we got to the restaurant we had determined what our assassin names were, what super power and weapon we would have and many other interesting topics. The food was so yummy and I had a great time despite the fact that I had to wear a horrible chicken hat while they sang to me (stupid birthday traditions anyway), needless to say I was thoroughly embarrassed and flat out refused to do the chicken dance. We finished up the night at Allen and Jen's house playing games. What a fun night!

The next day was Sunday and stake conference for Ephraim's family so we went to church and there I got to meet many the important people in Ephraim's life.
After church we watched the super bowl,mostly for the commercials and the excuse to have a lazy day. Ephraim's mom made a really yummy apple cake for my birthday. Ephraim's adopted nephew Adam was really happy when we finally cup into the pie! It took him a while to warm up to me (He's 2) but once he did it was really cute because he came and wanted to cuddle with me, between Adam and Ephraim I was occasionally a Vallie sandwich, which was fine with me! 

Monday I found myself back at the airport waiting for my 12:15 flight. At 12:20 I realized something was up because they weren't announcing the flight, they weren't loading and come to find out when I went and asked what was going on it wasn't even at the airport anymore, having taken off ten minutes earlier. Apparent;y they like changing gates without telling their passengers  at the DFW airport. After six miserable hours at the airport I finally was able to get a ticket to SLC leaving at 8:55 pm. Ephraim came back to the airport and as I was a mess by then and stressed almost beyond my ability to handle. We sat and talked and hugged for about thirty minutes before I went back through security and finally flew back to SLC. I then drove 2 hours to Pocatello where I crashed on my brothers couch for the night before heading the rest of the way home the next morning.

So in conclusion, being 26 isn't so bad, especially when you've got a great boyfriend and his Friends and family to help make the day a memorable one! Thanks again Strasser Family and FATS for making it a

great weekend!