California Trip

So, I left for California on June 11th. My plane was supposed to leave at 4:45p.m. from the Nashville airport. My family and I had a late lunch so I wasn't really hungry till we were in the car pulling into the airport. I said my goodbyes to my Mom, Dad, and then Travis. I got past security at about 4 o' clock and I knew I would be starving by the time I landed and Dallas and my lay over was only an hour so I wouldn't have time to grab a bite there. (Who ever has been to Dallas knows that an hour is not a very long time at all.) So I stopped at Whit's Barbecue and grab a pulled pork sandwich. I sat down at my gate and scarfed it down. I hate eating things like that on a plane. Its so messy!

It was about 4:15 which is when we should have started to board the plane. Well, we didn't board, in fact, we didn't board until 5:20. Our plane got off the ground and on its way to Dallas at 5:50. I was really nervous because my connecting flight was to board at 7:20. Well, we pulled into Dallas at 7:50 which was the time my connecting flight was supposed to leave. Luckily, the guy next to me looked my flight information up on his phone and found that my my flight had been delayed until after 9.

Now, I was by myself in the Dallas airport, so i read my book. I felt like such a loner. When I was boarding the plane I ran in to a long lost friend. Which is really weird because our seats were right across from each other. I sat with Xavier Carrera. We talked for a while but then I realized I was going to be up into the wee hours of the morning so I need to take a little nap. I put on my eye mask and plugged in my ipod and put my head back. Just as I laid my head back my ipod died and the flight attendant with the big rolling cart hit me in the elbow. She must have been in a hurry because I don't even think she said sorry.

I finally arrived in California at midnight. I was supposed to be there at 9pm. Hugo picked me up from the airport and we headed to the hotel where Shine was having her birthday party.

I went up to the room and I knocked on the door and put my finger on the peep hole. I heard Ti inside telling Shine, "Open the door, its your hotel room." Then Sami said, "They are putting there finger over the peep hole." She opened the door and a look of shock and amazement came over her face. Then she smiled with excitement, and then she cried with tears of joy and then she told me she hated me.LOL!

Our night was filled with laughter and huge amount of giggles. We did have some mischevious behavior. Ti is going to have to tell you that story though. She tells it better than I do. We didn't get into bed that evening until 3:30 am which was 5:30 am my time. I was so tired that I don't even remember falling asleep.

The next morning I awoke to someone in my face saying, "I don't know who it is." I came up out of the bundled sheets and yelled, "Roooaarrr!". Little Brooklin said, "Ha its Ashley." We all went down stairs to have breakfast in our pj's with hoodies over our heads. We got dressed really fast because check out was coming soon. The back of Ti's car was extremely full from all the bags and my 50 pound suitcase.

We headed back to Ti's house where we waited for all of the parents to pick up their girls. Savannah was the last to be picked up. As Pastor Kelly came in the house, I hid in Ti's coat closet. When she was walking by, I jumped out and again said, "Roar!" Pastor Kelly was shocked and little Paige had the biggest frown and then she started crying. I felt so bad. That poor little girl did not want to come near me after that.

We had some girl talk and watched Paige do her really weird crawl and Brooklin do her froggy jump. After that we just spent the day resting from our long day and evening. I read my book and edited some photos. It was really nice.

For dinner we had Panda Express. I hadn't had Panda in a very long time or even had good Chinese food for that matter. Here in the south good Chinese food is hard to come by. After that we watch Bride Wars. That movie is so cute and is totally a chick flick. From the beginning of the movie Ti fell asleep. She hadn't watched any of it. At the end when we shut it off and we were going to go to bed I shook her and said, "Ti wake up. Its time to go to bed." She said, "Is it over." I said, "Ya. You watched the entire movie. The whole thing." Sami and I were laughing so hard because she was so groggy and sleepy.



I woke up to the smell of pancakes Saturday morning. It was so nice just having coffee and sitting and talking with all of my family. I just love to watch Brooklin put her chocolate chips in her pancakes. She puts one on a pancake and then eats one and then puts one on a pancake and then eats one. It is so adorable.
We had this huge family breakfast minus a few family members who were still in Nashville. We missed having you there for Saturday morning pancakes.

Later on that day we got dressed for church and headed to Auntie Nae's to surprise her with my wonderful self. Hehe. Auntie Nae was very happy to see me. I met her new doggy, who is very sweet and so tiny. I got to drink Auntie Nae's coffee and sit on her big red couch. There are so many memories on that couch that I just had to sit on it and get all comfy.

After that we went to church at Celebration and I saw so many people that I've missed. People had changed so much. When you leave somewhere and you come back, your mind thinks that they will look the same way. That's how I felt seeing all of these people that I haven't seen in over a year.

Talking to people made me hungry so Sami, Ti and myself went to In-N-Out. While we were in the drive thru we sat that Anthony and Tyler were there inside In-N-Out getting food. So we parked the car and ate inside with them. It was so much fun hanging with friends and just talking.

Sunday I went with Mema to her church, LifeBridge Community Church were I surprise the Ferguson's. Jared was surprised to see me there when I scared him that morning. I so enjoyed watching Jared lead worship and be in his element.

After church I had yet another restaurant to experience again, Sal's. Ti, Mema, Sami, myself, and Rich and Jan all went to have lunch together. It was yummy!!! And the conversation was wonderful. I have missed my friends so much.

Later that evening I attended Amy's graduation party at the Justice home. That party was so fun. I got to hang with one of my girls, Bethany Morton-Gannaway, and talk about her wedding and all the kind of stuff girls talk about. I had so much fun with that girl. Bethany, I wish we lived closer so we could hang out more and get Starbies all the time. I miss you all the time.

Travis flew in that night from Nashville so after the party we headed off to the airport to greet him with smiles. Travis even got an extra visitor. Jared went to surprise him. Jared actually hid in one of the Sequoia Trees in the airport to scare him but Hugo messed up the surprise. He had to steal Jared's thunder and give away the surprise. Oh well Travis was still very happy to see him.

Monday morning we had to be out of the house at 8am because Sami had cheer camp all week long from 8:30 until 12:30. After we dropped Sami off at practice Ti, Brooklin, and myself headed to Starbucks for some coffee and those great breakfast sandwhiches. (I haven't found one Starbucks that carries those in Nashville.) It wasn't even 9 in the morning and we were already at the pet store getting Brooklin some goldfish for her party that evening.



After that we headed to the party store for some decorations for the party. Well when we walked in the store Brooklin and I went wild. She found her Nemo pinata she wanted and I found the big wall decor I thought would make a huge impact on the pavilion. After that we headed to Costco to get the food for the party. I mean everybodies gotta eat, right? About the time we finished it was time for Sami to be picked up.

We headed back to Ti's house to drop off stuff and then pick up some stuff to decorate with at the park. Ti, Travis and myself went to the park at 2 o' clock to decorate for the party. We worked until 4:30 and then realized that we have to go home, get the food ready, get dressed and head back before people started to arrive for the party. I ran into the house and while Ti got dressed I cut up the hot dogs to make them look like octo-dogs. They looked like octopus'!! So we headed back to the park and Travis and Hugo had finished all of the decorations and it looked so amazing. Brooklin was in heaven with all of the fishes hanging everywhere.





Brooklin had the cutest party. It totally fit her personality.



The party ended up running late so Brooklin had to open her presents at home after her party. We were all so wiped out from the day, we ran the whole time. I am so glad that I could be there for her party as well as Sami's. My family means the would to me and I love them all very much.

Tuesday morning, Travis and I went to Hughson to visit with his family. We had planned on being there at 10 but it wasn't till like 11. Sorry guys. I know this sounds crazy but I so enjoyed the ride to his parents house. Travis and I stopped by Starbucks to get our morning coffees and then we just talked. About half-way there, I read my book while Trav listened to music. It was really nice!

We didn't even get up to the front door and it had already opened and his family was pouring out. We got to see his Mom, Dad, and two sisters at that point. We walked into the kitchen and his dad was cooking up a storm. He had made this huge breakfast for us and the family.

At that point I realized that I was missing a huge amounts of Canon moments and I went to go get my camera. I turned it on but it wouldn't power up. I looked at where the battery would be and it wasn't there. I had forgot my battery and the charger at Ti's house plug into the wall. I couldn't believe myself.

We sat and talked and had breakfast with not only his mom, dad, and sisters but his uncle and his grandparents and I didn't have my camera. Anyway we had an awesome breakfast and then afterward we went on on the deck and drank coffee and just caught up on old times. It was so nice in California, it was really cool and breezy. After sitting there till about 3 I finally talked Travis into going to a Photography Store to buy me a new battery and charger.

Travis and his dad went to go get Rons mother and to get my battery and charger. They were gone for probably about an hour and half and during that time we sat outside and watched some of the kids swim and just talked. It was such a nice afternoon. Travis parents, cooked tri-tip and got potato wedges for dinner. Now when we use to live in California Travis and I would go down to the Shell gas station to get these awesome chicken strips and potato wedges. We use to love getting them, they are so tasty.

So when Sue got back home she told me to come into the kitchen because she needed my help with the food. I came into the kitchen and she surprised me an order of the chicken strips. They were so yummy that I had to have one at that moment. She just laughed at me.

At about 6:30 guest started arriving for Travis party. We saw even more relatives and friends, all of them we missed so much. Now Travis family is known for their home made ice cream. There was banana, 50/50, and strawberry plus two red velvet cakes. One of them Travis' sister made specially for him. It was it the shape of a grand piano with a bench and the white and black keys. It was the cutest thing! Great job Emily.


Sue also brought out her popcorn machine for everyone to have their own little bag. After we hung out for a while everyone wanted to go down to the church to hear some of Travis' new songs that he had written recently. Travis' cousin even set up the drums so he could play with him. After Travis had played a few of his songs his sister Jaz and his mom got up there and sang with him while Travis played the piano. It makes his mom so happy to watch him play and sing, you can just see it in her eyes.
After all that business we went back home to watch a movie and eat some more popcorn. It was like 1 in the morning and Shane asked us if we were gonna be up before 9 so we could say goodbye to him. For those of you who don't know Shane is Travis' brother-in-law.

So we went to bed and I had set my alarm to go off at 8 in the morning so I would miss Shane. I had this is my brain until I fell asleep because I didn't want to over sleep. Now I had the windows open becuase it felt so nice outside. In the morning I woke up to a car turning over, a very loud car at that. I jumped out of bed and said, "I missed Shane." I looked at my cell phone, which was still on Tennessee time, and it read 9:17. Now with me just waking up I hadn't factored in the time change. My brain was racing with thoughts about how terrible I was. When I fianlly got myself together I realized it was 7:20 in the morning and the car that turned over was Ron's deisel Ford truck. After that I couldn't sleep, so I just got up and went downstairs to find Travis and his mom sitting there already having coffee.

We sat there till 11 o' clock just talking. I told his mom that this was the first morning we had to just sit and relax. We had been running and going since I stepped off the airplane that past Thursday. We got dressed and headed to his grandparents house to say goodbye and then to his cousins house as well.

We returned home to find that Travis' mom had made dinner for us before we had to leave. We all got in our last few minutes there before we knew we had to leave and say our goodbyes.

We got on the road at about 4 o' clock in the afternoon and I had planned on back to Ti's house at about 5. But I had to stop at a place called Apricot Lane to I could get Ti a present for her little surprise birthday party. So 45 mins later I had gotten a birthday present from Travis and myself, Sami, Mom and Dad and then I also bought a present for my dad for Fathers day and then I purchased a couple of cute items for some girls at the church who do so much for me. And then Travis and I had to get a couple things for ourselves. We had a blast in that store, we always do.

We got back at Ti's at about 5:45 and we had just enough time to go get Brooklin her birthday present from Aunt Sheri. Travis and I took all of the kids to Toys R Us to get Brooklin her sandbox and with the sand and all the toys.
She loved that crabbie sandbox with her turquoise Nemo pale. She squeezed the sand in between her toes and made little sand castles. She is the cutest thing.

That evening we had a nice dinner and then surprised Ti with a birthday cake. Mema had been hiding it in her bedroom since she got home so Ti wouldn't see it. We ate cake and had ice cream with coffee. It was such a nice evening. I love being with my family and miss being around for birthdays or special events for the kids. Its just not the same but we all put on a good face and enjoy what family we do have around.

Later on that evening Jared came over to say goodbye to us before we had to leave to go back home. We tried to sit and watch a movie but that didn't last very long because we were all falling asleep on the couch.

Jared left and then I went to repacking my suitcase becuase I knew that I would want to do it in the morning. We woke up Thursday and had some coffee and then got dressed and threw our bags in the car so head to the airport. Sami had to be picked up at 12:30 but I figured we would get hungry becuase we hadn't eaten yet. So we decided to get Chipotle really quickly but it wasn't quick becasue it was lunch time and the line was extremly long.

We got in the car and I looked at the time and it was 12:30. Not only were we late for Sami but our plane left in an hour. We raced to pick up Sami, which she was close to the Clovis church. I got out of the car and told her get in the car my plane leaves in less than an hour. Ti was trying to reasure us that we would have enough time and that she once checked in, dropped off her bags, and ran to the gate in 20 minutes. She drove up to the door and we said goodbye without any photos which is not our family at all. We went in and did the self check in at 1:12, no our plane left at 1:40. On the screen it said that we need to talk to someone at the desk. We went to the desk and told them that we were on the plane to Dallas at 1:40. She said, "You've missed your flight, you can wait in line now." We missed check-in by two minutes. I couldn't believe it.

So we talked to the lady at the counter and she gave us some flight options and we decided to take the same flight the following day. But we had to be sure that we wouldn't be late for that one.

So we went back to Ti's house and I read my book and took a little nap. That felt nice, I never do that. A little later we had some coffee with a friend that we hadn't seen or talk to since before we left for Nashville. About an hour later we met up with Jared, Justin, and Sholanda and went to see a movie at Edwards in River Park. We had such a blast hanging with our good friends.

The next morning we got up and we knew that we couldn't avoid what was going to happen that day. We again repacked our stuff that we had pulled out from the day before. We had coffee till about 11 o'clock and then I got nervous again because we weren't even dressed yet. We got dressed in a hurry and headed to the airport before Sami had to be picked up. We got to the airport at about noon and we said our goodbye to Ti, Brooklin, and Kameron. It was really hard but I knew that there may be a possibility of seeing them sometime in the summer.

We got into Dallas at about 7 which would be Tennessee time and we had a three hour layover so we took our time and ate at T.G.I.Fridays for dinner. Then we went and got Starbucks at about 9 right before they closed. Then we just waited for our plane to arrive to the gate. At first they changed our gate because we we had no flight attendants or pilots and then about 10 minutes later they changes our gate again because the plane sitting at that gate had some kind of leak. We finally left at 11 at night and didn't arrive till 1 in the morning Friday night.

All in all we had a fantastic trip in California spending time with our family and friends.