My Trip Home! :) :(

As you can see by the title of my blogg it was a fun trip home but also a sad one. My reason for going home was to see my "Little" brother Aaron off on his mission. Although I am filled with joy over his decision to go, I can't help but feel sad about not seeing him for two whole years! It was a fun FILLED trip, starting when I arrived around Midnight on Saturday all the way to when I left Wednesday morning. Sunday we had a family dinner, (as you can see Miss Abigail definitely enjoyed her meal.) and it was great to have Grammie Benner there, I hadn't seen her for a while so I loved having some time to spend with her. Of course I was thrilled to have my niece Abby, and my nephew Cameron there as well, they are so cute! I already can't wait to see them again!! I gave Cameron this big red flashy remote control car for his birthday, and he seemed to love it. ( So didn't his Daddy) We had so much fun just spending time together as a family, it was great. We wished Josh, Shelby, and Ada could have been there, that's the only thing that could have made it better! After our dinner we all spent some time outside, and it seems that both Cameron and Abigail love to be on your shoulders and run up and down the drive way. (See the pics with Uncle Aaron) I also have a great video of Mom running Abby up and down the driveway, but again you must ask her FIRST then I'll send it to you. :) (Just trying to stay alive.... ;)

I also put up a pic of "Grampa" with Abby, there were TONS of pictures taken, these are just some of the ones I have on my cell phone.

Monday we just spent some time shopping, and spending some quality time with Sarah, Mom, Dad, and Abby. Dad however, did start to notice a trend, whenever we would go out to eat, we put Abby's highchair next to his seat...was it intentional? Not sure.... :) Monday night I was able to meet up with an old friend and a bunch of us met up and went to the movies together. It was fun to be able to hang out and relax. Unfortunately, we stayed out too late, and Tuesday morning came before any of us were ready. Tuesday, we took a long trek up and down the eastern seaboard.... We were on the road at 7 am...stopped in Waterville to drop off Abby with the Stinsons, and were headed to Boston. I road shotgun, as it was the only place in the car where I don't get extremely sick, so Sarah and I jammed out to some good primary tunes, and then the young women CD which we listened too AT LEAST 7 times. (Since it kept playing over and over, and we were in the car until 10:30 that night.) We had such a great day at the Temple, we took some pictures outside, the ones I have of Aaron and I didn't come out so hot, so I only put a couple on here that I took myself.

Once we were done in Boston, we headed up to pick up Abigail in Waterville, and were on our way to Bangor for Aaron to get set apart as a missionary. (Like I said alllll along the seaboard)

It was such a special experience, and I was sooo glad to be able to be part of it. So many people were shocked that I "Came all the way from Philly" (It's really not that far) to see Aaron off, and my response time and time again was 'I wouldn't miss this for the world' So true, however I'm sure those were not my thoughts when I had to wake up at 3Am to head back to Bangor on Wednesday to see Aaron off. It was really tough to say goodbye, however, it was totally worth it. He was so ready to go, and even though it was hard, we were ready too. So, after some tears, and lots of hugs, he was off to security. By the time we looked back over at him, he was already chatting it up with someone in line! Yes, he will do fine, not scared to talk to anyone! Once we saw him board the plane, of course Mum and I were a crying mess at that point we headed home. He is in the Lord's hands now, and I know that he will do a great job! We LOVE YOU Aaron! Once back at my parents I took a brief cat nap and started the ride back home...and boy was it long....