Grandpa Reeds Birthday Surprise!

Sophie and I surprised my dad for his birthday this year. We bought plane tickets back in July, to fly out on my dad's birthday and surprise him. My sister Nicole was in on the surprise with us, so she came and picked us up from the airport. We landed around 10:20 am, and Nicole was on her way. Sophie and I got off the plane and headed for the baggage claim. Well, I was on the cell phone talking to Jon and I missed the sign for baggage claim in terminal 2 and we ended up at the baggage claim for terminal 1. Nicole called and told me which carousel our luggage was supposed to be on and it was carousel 8, and I was near carousels 1-4. I realized we were in the wrong place, so we walked outside to terminal 2. By the time we got there, the carousel was empty and no one was around. I looked at my watch and it was 11:00 am. I figured the luggage had already come and gone and I missed it. I went to the Delta luggage claim area and sure enough, they had pulled our bags because we hadn't shown up to claim them. Once we got our luggage, we headed to Grandma and Grandpa Reed's for the surprise.

I was so nervous and excited as we got closer to my parent's home. I had Nicole drop us off at the end of the street so that Sophie and I could walk, while Nicole went in the house to make sure they were home. By the time we walked up the driveway, Nicole had come out to tell us that mom and dad weren't home. Nicole talked to them an hour earlier and she told them that she would be there within the hour so they could go to lunch for Dad's birthday. I figured they probably decided to run to the grocery store for a few minutes, so we took our luggage inside and changed clothes. It was cold when we left Minnesota, but it was warm and sunny in Utah. About the time that we were ready to head upstairs and feed Sophie some lunch, we heard the garage door open. Nicole went upstairs first and I sat and listened, waiting for both of my parents to get in the house. Once I could tell that they were inside, I had Sophie start walking up the stairs. She wasn't quite sure what was going on. Nicole wished Dad a Happy Birthday and then she told him that someone else wanted to wish him a Happy Birthday. At that time he looked toward the stairs just as I lifted Sophie up to the top step. When Grandpa saw Sophie, he yelled. He was so excited to see her, he just couldn't hold it in. He wanted to scream some more, but he was worried about scaring Sophie, so he picked her up and cried instead. It was wonderful! My mom was in the kitchen trying to figure out who Grandpa was holding. Once she saw me, she knew exactly who it was and she started to cry. It was truly wonderful! Their reactions were the best. Dad told me later, when he saw Sophie he thought he was seeing things. He said "I wanted it to be her so bad, I thought I was imagining her." It was the best birthday present Grandpa could have ever wished for.

We didn't end up going to lunch, because Sophie needed to take a nap. By this time she had been up for almost 8 hours and she was sleepy. After her nap, we went to the park at the end of the street. It's perfect, because it's half a block away so Sophie could walk to the park. She had so much fun swinging, but most of all she had fun playing with the wood chips and finding dead dandelions. Sophie loves picking dandelions that have died. She shakes them to make all the seeds blow away. Poor Grandma, she has really bad allergies, so Sophie shaking dandelion seeds didn't help much.
My cute little girl! She had so much fun playing with Grandma and Grandpa Reed. She loved that they have a park so close to their house. She got to walk down to the park everyday while we were there. She also got to see lots of airplanes. There is a small airport near my parent's house, so there were planes constantly in the air. Sophie got so excited any time she heard a plane, she'd stop whatever she was doing and look for the plane. If we were inside, she'd run to the nearest window to try and see the plane. I was amazed at how well she can hear and see. We'd be outside and she'd start pointing to something and I'd look and sure enough off in the distance was a large commercial airplane way up in the sky. Aunt Nicole went outside with Sophie and anytime Sophie heard a plane she'd run to Nicole and try climbing up aunt Nicole so she could see the plane better. What a silly girl! I never knew she likes airplanes so much. It truly amazes me the things that she notices. I realize how much I tune out or take for granted. Sophie sees the smallest thing and thinks it's truly amazing and I never even noticed that it was there. The same thing with the airplanes, we tune them out so much, we don't even realize they are flying right above us. Thanks to my Sophie, I notice things I never noticed before.
Sophie playing with Grandma Reed. Doesn't she look so cute with her little pig tails? I realized one day that her hair looked a little shaggy. I told her that she looked like a little orphan, so I decided to try putting some pig tails in and she held so still. I was amazed! She does really well while I put them in, but once she realizes they are there, she pulls them out. I usually end up putting them in at least two to three times a day.

Sunday afternoon Nick and Ashley and the girls (Ashtyn and Avery) came over for dinner. Aunt Nicole stayed over night the night before, and uncle Scott came over just before church. After dinner Sophie went outside with Grandma and the girls and they found uncle Nick's skateboards, and of course Sophie had to try it out.
We also went to the park with Grandma and the girls. The swing that Ashtynwas swinging on was so high, I had to lift her up so she could swing. Luckily Grandma was close by, because Ashtyn fell off the swing, but she hung on until Grandma got to her and helped her down. Sophie and Avery got to swing in the baby swings, so they were safe.

While we were in Utah, we spent a day with Grandma and Grandpa Harper. Grandma fixed a yummy lunch and invited aunt Jenny, aunt Jesse and aunt Amber over for lunch. Sophie got to play with some of her cousins and they had a great time. She especially liked playing with Dustin. He knew just how to make Sophie laugh. Before we left, Sophie and Grandpa walked over to Jeff and Jesse's so that I could buy some pumpkins. Our nephews Braden and Dustin grew pumpkins at Grandpa's and now they are trying to sell their pumpkins. I wanted to buy a pumpkin, but I didn't think it would be very easy to take on the plane with us. Instead I bought a few gourds and some small pumpkins for my Mom to decorate with. Before we left I laid Sophie down so I could change her diaper and I noticed a big goose egg on her head. When I showed it to Grandpa he told me that Sophie tripped while they were walking over. He said she cried, but he didn't see anything. She must of have hit her head on the pavement when she tripped. I think it looked worse than it felt, because it didn't seem to bother her.

Snuggling with Grandpa Reed. She loves him so much! She learned how to say "papa" while we were in Utah, which made Grandpa so happy. She also started saying "bye, bye". We had such a fun week! Grandpa Reed was able to take some time off, so he got to stay home and play with Sophie. It was a busy week, but a great week. I got to meet up with four friends, two from high school, Jaynee and Sheri and two from college, Julie and April. It was so good to see each of them. Thanks ladies for taking the time to meet up with us. I sure had a great time!