Jess and Brian in Europe: March 2009

On Thursday we got out of our class early so I headed to corporate to meet some of my co-workers. Long story short, they wanted me to stay until Tuesday. So I changed my reservations. I headed back home for one more weekend planning to fly out Tuesday evening. Only to my suprise was I to fly back home on Thursday evening. That week I worked many long hours. Not fun, but got the work done!

Jessica, Elijah & Mom

Eli riding in the car for another shopping trip :) He is such a trooper. Didn't cry or get upset once!

Jessica, Elijah & Heather

Jessica & Elijah

Eli enjoying the snow with Dustin

Eli with Jessica's sun glasses on

I visited with my Pop-Pop. He is 81 and looks great!

Murphy and I at the beach

I had a great trip home! It was great to see everyone!

2 weeks ago I made a surprise trip back home. Yes, I was traveling for work, but I took an extra couple of days to spend with the family. I kept it a surprise..shocking my parents and whole family! Oh how hard it was for me to keep the secret. My mom, aka Janie..."so what are you doing this weekend, have anything fun planned?" My response...trying not to sound so enthusiastic knowing what I had planned....."nothing". When I asked her " well your aunt is having a birthday party for your uncle on Saturday" my thoughts...perfect way to complete my surprise! So off I went...leaving here at 7:30 in the morning and arriving home at 2:30 in the afternoon.

After picking up the car, I drove to my parents house. The drive seemed to last FOREVER. As most of you have experienced time goes VERY slow when you are trying to get somewhere fast. Why can't people just disappear and move out of my way???....or even better..drive like the Germans...getting out of the left hand lane or you will get run over! Traffic was horrible!!

Arriving at the home was awesome! When I got there, my dad was home. Surprising him first...he was speechless. Janie went shopping after work so her arrival was a couple of hours later. She was speechless as well. "How did you get here?" Well a plane, I was in town so figured I would stop by! That evening we went out to dinner. Brian's parents and my sister and her family joined us as well. I got to see baby Eli for the first time since September. He is growing so fast! Besides me having been awake for 24 hours the evening was great!

My luggage didn't make it on my flight from London, but I had great help tracking it down!

So the rest of the weekend went well. I went shopping on Saturday with Janie, Heather and Eli. We had a blast! It was Eli's first shopping trip with the ladies to a mall. When we walked into Nordstrom....he went "wheeeeeeeee". Man he loves the store just like his Mimi, aunt and Mommy!

On Saturday I went to see our dog Murphy! Oh how we miss her! She was so excited to see me...her tail kept wagging and didn't stop. I honestly don't know if she knew what to think. It was a chilly overcast day, but we headed to the park for a little fun!

Murphy and Jessica

Murphy

Bonnie & Jessica

Sunday was oh so eventful. I spent the afternoon with my friend Jessica. The weatherman was calling for 12" of snow. Yeah right! It never snows in Maryland, well at least not a lot. Much to my surprise sleet started around 4PM just like they forecast ed. Let me tell you this was no ordinary sleet. I would say that it came down 2" in the hour. When I got on the road, conditions were HORRIBLE! I decided to turn around and stay at my parents. Then snow really started to come down! I woke up the next morning to this.....

13" of snow! My dad had a snow blower and he was oh so thrilled to use it! We dug out the cars and cleared the driveway...Janie and I even went sleigh riding.