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So, I made it home...finally! It was an adventure to say the least. I'll post pictures of my visit a little later. I have way too much other "stuff" to catch up on before I post about my Idaho visit. But, I wanted to share a little about our amazing family and friends that made our Christmas much better than it could have been.

Most of Christmas day was spent with my family in Malad watching it blizzard outside. It seriously dropped about 14 inches of snow that day. My mom and dad ended up driving me to Ririe, to Shayne's family, that night so I could catch my plane in Idaho Falls the next morning at 6am. What should have taken 1 1/2 hours took over 3 to get to Ririe. It was pretty insane. About 1/2 hour after getting to Ririe, my little brother Bowdrie called to say that Alaska Airlines had called my parents house to say that my Idaho Falls to Boise flight for the next morning was canceled! If I were to reschedule that flight, I wouldn't fly out until Sunday the 28th, this was after already being delayed three days from my original flight. However, Shayne's family saved the day. They knew how bad I wanted to get home, so Shayne's dad, Dana, and his littlest brother, Dallan, offered to drive me to Boise to catch the second leg of my flight into Anchorage. My flight was scheduled to leave Boise at 10am, so we left at 4am to make sure we got there on time. What should have taken 4 hours, took 5 because of the terrible road conditions. However, they got me to the airport on time and I was able to catch my flight into Seattle, and then Seattle onto Ancorage. Dana and Dallan drove all the way back to Ririe after dropping me off on worse road conditions than on the drive to Boise.

I flew into Anchorage around 5pm and Shayne was there waiting for me at the airport. When our friends in Anchorage,Kaye and Jared, found out I wasn't making it back to Alaska for Christmas, they decided Shayne needed some company. So, Jared left on Christmas morning at 4am to drive down to Soldotna to pick up Shayne after he had worked the night before. He picked him up and drove him back to Anchorage so Shayne would have some "family" to spend Christmas with, and so Shayne would be in Anchorage when I flew in.

So, while it was a crazy Christmas for Shayne and I, and we didn't get to spend our first Christmas with Lachlan together, we were very blessed. We had plenty of Christmas Angels making sure we were taken care of.

We both have the best families anyone could ask for. My mom and dad drove me to Idaho Falls/Ririe twice. They also bought me a some small Christmas gifts so I had something to open on Christmas day. Shayne's mom got up at 3:30am to fix me some food for my flights and make sure that everything was taken care of, and his dad and brother drove me 5 hours to catch my flight on terrible roads. How incredible are our families?! I love them all so much!!

We also have some pretty incredible friends here in Alaska. The Hanson's and Swanson's made sure Shayne was taken care of while I was gone, and then the Tuia's made sure he wasn't alone on Christmas.

I am so grateful for all of our friends and family this past Christmas season. I'm especially grateful to be home with Shayne. It so nice to be together as a family again. There's nothing better.