My mom, Carina, Alivia, and I planned a trip to Texas to visit Jayden over her birthday. Months ago when we booked the flight, we thought her house would be close to finished. It has has been slow progress. On Wednesday Mom and I flew to Abilene in the evening. Our journey wasn't without challenges. We were a little behind during take-off and having only a 50 minute layover in Dallas was already tight. Dallas is huge and you take a tram to get between terminals. When we landed my phone said I had 30 minutes before boarding. We still had to taxi to the airport, get off the plane, and take a tram to our gate. I made mom very nervous and she got up and started making her way through the airplane long before it was our turn. We both got up and said," excuse me we have a short connection," to those around us. Some people were kind, most were annoyed. We may have saved ourselves a few minutes, but not much. In the airport, we hurried up to the tram and then walk/ran to our gate. It all gave my mom a stomach ache. Then we discovered a gate change and 10 minute delay. That gave us a chance to slow down and not panic. We got to our gate and our plane had not even arrived. The 10 minute delay turned into an hour and then another delay on the runway. We got into Abilene around 11. The best part, through my frequent travels, we got a free upgrade to first class. I have never flown first class in my life. The seats were extra wide, that was the only advantage I experienced. The flight was super short, so it wasn't a big deal. Jayden and Noah picked us up and drove us back to the lodge in a hurry. As in Noah drives crazy fast. He is pretty quiet, hardly spoke the drive back. Jayden has a nice round and cute pregnant belly. She is growing and glowing. The air was cold, they were having a few cold days and it was down to 48. The Lodge was real cold, but we felt there wasn't a need for turning on heat. It was a brisk 65 in my room. I had on extra covers and it was a bit chilly. We were grateful for a place to stay and not have those added expenses.
Thursday Jayden picked us up around 10. She has to keep track of clickers to get in and out of the gates. People are always losing theirs and she frequently has to go open gates for various people. She seems to spend a lot of time going here and there. We went into town for lunch and a little shopping. Jayden gave us a tour of their future house. It is going to be awesome. They have the framing, the doors, windows, plumbing, and electrical. They have been waiting a couple months for any further progress. Now that Ester and Bale are back in town, they are getting things rolling. We saw a whole crew working on the porch and a footing for the driveway and also a guy came with the air conditioning. I am sure it feels great to Jayden to see progress, yet it is hard not knowing when they will be able to move in. Obviously everyone is hoping before the baby comes, but it is looking unlikely. Jayden has realized that and cleared out a section in her current home for the baby bed area. As we continued our tour of the new house, we stopped to talk with Bale about the house. After about 10 minutes of talking with him, my mom asked him about Ester and Bale. She didn't realize who she was talking to Bale. It was quite embarrassing! Next we went to eat and gather a few groceries, then went on to see and feed Jayden's horses. The owner of the place has nasty mean dogs. I don't even like getting out of the car. I worry for Jayden's safety too. They seem to be getting worse. We visited with the owner too. We went back to the lodge to relax and watch a movie, 80 for Brady. We tried to have Jayden put her feet up and rest daily. After that, we went back to her house at the hog ranch where she fixed us supper. Mom was cleaning her driveway, yard, and house. Mom doesn't ever sit down at the lodge either. She did all the laundry sheets and towels from all the rooms. She cleaned countertops, swept, folded laundry, and took out trash daily. Jayden fixed us her newest favorite dish a pasta, chicken, and bacon creamy sauce dish. It was very good. Noah came and sat long enough to eat with us before going out to hunt hogs with some buddies. I got to meet Jayden's new kitten, "Chickens Nugget". She is a little grey kitten Noah brought back from his shop. He wanted Jayden to have the kitten to help keep her company. He knows she really misses her dog, Sage. Each night sleeping at the lodge got a little bit warmer and by the end, it was just right.
Friday, each day was a little warmer. We started out feeding horses, then went to visit Ester at the big house. We got lunch at a drive thru and ate at the lodge. After lunch, Carina and Alivia arrived. They drove Levi to her moms in Minnesota and flew to Dallas, rented a car, and drove to Brownwood. We went to the fancy restaurant where Cynthia works to eat. Later we went on a Ranger safari to see the animals as the sun went down and then watched a movie. Carina and Alivia had been up since 4 in the morning. They had to be soo tired!
Saturday morning we went into town for brunch with Jayden and Cynthia and then on to a vendor show. The vendor items were fun to see, overly priced, and kind of the same things over and over. It was something to do together and for a fundraising cause. We enjoyed shopping in Jayden's garage the most. Having access to all her business inventory was fun. 
In the evening, Ester hosted the baby shower. She had many friends and family that didn't speak any English. There were probably 25 to 30 guests. Ester went all out and had everything decorated so fun and cute. She is an amazing party planner! She had a forest animal theme with racoons, fox, bears and had themed food, tons of balloons, and lots to eat. There were funny games later with the men. It was a nice time and Jayden got so many great gifts, soo many!!
Sunday morning we went to Jayden’s church for the 9:45 service. The sermon was on Roman’s 3, all about recognizing yourself as a sinner, we all are and need a savior. I like Jayden’s pastor, he does such a good job and packed so much in his sermon. Next we went to the Ester's where it was time for more celebration, this time for Jayden’s birthday. Today she turned 24! A large group of friends of the M family were gathered and Ester made a couple Mexican soup dishes. Jayden opened some gifts and then we headed on to the nail salon. I asked Jayden what she would like for her birthday and she requested nails. In the afternoon, we did a whole pregnancy photo shoot with me as photographer and Alivia took some as well.
Monday we got up way to early and were to the airport way to soon. We got to the airport long before the staff arrived and security opened. Our flight was at 10:30 and we got to the airport at 8. I should have helped in that area a little more. We also realized that with our 3 hour layover in Dallas, we would have all been better off driving the rental car to Dallas. We could have slept longer, saw Jayden again, flown one less flight, and spent 5 hours less time in an airport. We thought of that after leaving the car. UGh!
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