I've had a little Christmas surprise up my sleeve for a few weeks now.  As it turned out, I had to make a few adjustments to the plan but execution was still mine!

I decided to surprise the kids and their Uncle Forrest with a visit for Christmas time.   Obviously, Forrest had to be in on the surprise, but the secrecy only heightened his excitement!! 

Originally I intended to book a flight from Mississippi on Christmas Eve so that the kids would wake Christmas morning to Uncle Forrest hiding in a large refrigerator box in the living room.  I tracked down a box, but getting a Christmas Eve flight turned out to be the hang up in my plan. 

Patrick learned of my shenanigans, but I never let on that the Christmas Eve plan had fallen through.  Somehow Caleb got wind of someone arriving on Christmas Eve and guessed that it would be Forrest.  They both kept the surprise hush, hush!...

I kept mine more hush, hushier!

So, one afternoon, with the guise of needing to run some Christmas errands, I took only Whittaker with me and left the kids a list of chores to do.  I even promised to bring home a treat for dinner if they finished the to do list!  I did run a couple Christmas errands and then... off to the airport to fetch a 'treat for dinner'!!

Forrest is the biggest kid of the bunch.  I don't mean because he's so tall either!  He couldn't sleep the night before his flight because he was sooo excited.  Now I'm a bit concerned about Christmas morning... I have a tough time keeping the little kids from waking too early...


We arrived home and I had a few groceries in the van.  I carried Whittaker in and told the kids they did a great job with the to do list, could they run out and help unload groceries from the van.  I quickly grabbed the camera to get their reactions, but I wasn't really fast enough.  They were flabbergasted, shocked, thrilled, wowed, knocked out of their socks!! 


The fun and games began immediately!  They quickly hid his suitcases downstairs and tidied up any sign of a visitor and prepared to be 'in on the surprise', when Daddy came home.  Patrick came in quietly though and we didn't know he was in the mudroom!  He heard Forrest's voice and then we heard laughter and a loud, "No way!" from the mudroom.

A week still until Christmas and they've already started to be spoiled!  It's a party every minute!

An impromptu visit to downtown while Pat's brother Forrest was visiting. No real plan of what we'd do or see but we headed there anyway. We ended up walking .... a lot!
We looked at the historical log cabin by the Genealogical library, we gazed up high at the temple, and explained the tabernacle building.
We decided to ride the trax train to the gateway and took a stroll through the Clark Planetarium and the mall. We ran through the fountains without getting wet at the gateway!
Forrest with his ever louder exclamations that all this walking of this thin dry Utah air wasn't good for his Mississippi lungs and myself starting to wonder why my fingers were swelling and my belly tightening, were voting for an end to all the walking of downtown and go home!
So we went back to the trax station to ride the whopping two stations back to the car. (Hooray for the free ride zone!)

We arrived at our station and began to disembark... I looked up to see Grandma giving me a quizzical look about how to open the door near her. Not sure what to do I left my stairwell and went to assist Grandma.

The doors closed and the train began to move.

The kids and fortunately Forrest were all giving concerned looks from their spot on the station. Grandma and I took our seats wondering how the kids were faring with the sudden change of events. Neither of us very quick on our feet or our seats, were grateful to the gentleman who had been witness to our plight and offered us the use of a phone in case we could call them? Ah... thank you... we had our own phone in our pocket... we're just to shocked to think of using it!

Forrest and I have a 'special' relationship. As hostess for his visit, I provided an ash tray outside in the snow and access to tea making items. As a true friend though, pointing out that these weren't good habits was far more important than accommodating them. Forrest quickly joined the 'Nova's cold turkey method'. (since there wasn't really an option not to join) In order to replenish his cigarette stash he had to walk to the nearest gas station... up and over the skywalk of Bangerter Highway. If that wasn't enough of a deterrent to the small town Mississippi boy, we took him on long historical outings where of course there wouldn't be any smoking allowed. Obviously if you can go all day without one, then really that should prove that you don't even need them in the first place... it's just a bad habit!

So Forrest... since you no longer will need the ash tray... I've repurposed it as a great plant saucer. I really don't think I can part with it now! And with all the money you'll save not buying cigarrettes... you can finally open that IFA down in Sturgis! Thanking me isn't necessary... Just knowing that I've helped to improve the quality of your life is thanks enough for me.