We actually planned it as a surprise, but sent an invitation to surprise them about a month earlier. (After all... we needed their calendar empty that night.)
Hyrum was able to take off work on Friday, so I flew to Utah that morning. Friday was low-key--I went to a chiropractor, we ate Cafe Rio, and visited Amie. Courtney was supposed to fly in at midnight, but her flight was cancelled until the next morning. She didn't know that we'd planned a surprise baby shower for her on Saturday at 11, so we were really hoping her morning flight wasn't cancelled. Fortunately, she arrived just in time to change clothes and drive over to Amie's house for the surprise party.
The surprise was on both of us, though. They threw us a combined surprise baby shower, which was nice and completely unnecessary but very thoughtful. I received a gift card, cute clothes, books, and a baby monitor (which I've never had before.) We had an early lunch, played a few baby games and chatted. After, we all went to get our nails done.
Not long after that party ended it was time to drive up to Maddox for dinner at 4. We had a private room and the steak was delicious, as always. It was really the perfect place to celebrate my parents, since I know they (especially my dad) love the food there.
Then to end the night, we played family game games back at my parents' house. Over the last few months I've been reading through the family history my mom wrote, and putting together questions for a Jeopardy game. So we started with my parents doing a not-so-newlywed game, which was hilarious, and ended with the kids competing in family Jeopardy. We tried to make the teams even (Jenna & Courtney vs Amie, Doug, and Matt) but with Jenna in the mix there was no way to even things out. She literally crushed everybody else. Beforehand, Matt said he didn't want to be on Doug's team. We asked if it's because Doug has no memories of his childhood, and Matt responded, "No, it's because that's not even the same Doug. Doug from our childhood was abducted by aliens on his mission." And he wasn't wrong. Doug remembered very few things, including when he started his own first job, and incorrectly guessed that my parents bought their first house a few years before they were even married. That caused a lot of laughs. So in the end, Team Jenna (and Courtney) beat by several thousand points. I think the conclusion was that Jenna and I -- being middle children-- have the best recollection of the growing-up years.
Once that second party ended, Jenna, my mom and I tried to figure out what baby blankets Courtney wanted/needed. We started some packing (wondering how everything would fit in our suitcases) and went to bed. Sunday we had enough time to go to church and eat a delicious dinner before I headed back to the airport.
One note on DFW's parking situation: the airport is SO big, that to get the shuttle from any terminal to long-term parking takes over 30 minutes! It's really ridiculous and I felt like I was never going to get home. Maybe next time I'll uber 5 minutes to the lot.
Meanwhile, back in Texas... Hyrum was having a great time with the kids. Instead of doing regular Friday movie night at home, like we always do with popcorn basically for dinner, Hyrum took the kids to a fancy theater that serves food to see some random movie. Then on Saturday Tiago had a soccer game. In the afternoon Hyrum took the kids to see FC Dallas at the stadium. They got treats and met a famous former US player (Donovan) who was there for a promotional thing. It rained on them, but they still probably ended the weekend wishing I'd leave more often.
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