Well, as expected, I was super busy the entire time I was in Seattle and only had one day where I had a couple hours to myself with absolutely nothing planned. So, obviously, I never blogged. Which just means that now I get to 🙂
WARNING :: this is a long post with lots of words and LOTS of pictures 😛
MONDAY, my flight was at 6:30pm, so I got to the airport a couple hours early to ensure I had enough time to check my bag in, get through security, & find my gate. As always, I forget how empty the Birmingham airport is so I ended up sitting at my gate for about an hour.
Once on the plane, I watched Part 4 of Star Wars and enjoyed a little snack.
My plane landed in Seattle at 11:53 (Seattle time – which is 2 hours behind Birmingham), and a little after midnight I was reunited with my best friend, Michaela, + my parents. Michaela had made me a sign & my parents brought my flowers. It was precious and those were some great hugs 😀
I specifically didn’t plan anything the day after I flew in because I wasn’t sure if I would be jet-lagged or not. But by WEDNESDAY, I was going full force and had multiple things planned. One of which, included some mall time with Michaela!
THURSDAY one of the things I had planned was a Senior session for my friend & mini-me, Becca.
FRIDAY kicked off with a mid-morning tea party with my grandma & mom. We drove to The Secret Garden Tea House and enjoyed an exquisite couple hours of tea and goodies.
That afternoon, Michaela and I drove to her families beach cabin and stayed the night at her grandparent’s house. They made us an appetizer which was A.M.A.Z.I.N.G! and dinner was phenomenal as well!
I had my couple “touristy” moments and took pictures with the view
“this is your ‘Pacific Northwest’ picture!” -Michaela
SUNDAY I went to Christian Faith Center to see “the interns.”
They were so excited to see me, which was good because I was super excited to see them 😀 We sat next to each other during service, & I captured this gem of Britt taking pictures haha
After service was over, I took pictures with “my kids” (when Aaron & I served in NGY, we created somewhat of a family-tree and these 3 kiddos ended up adopting us as parents.)
After church, it was time to see the extended family. 1st was my mom’s side, 2nd was my dad’s.
in Birmingham, we don’t always get to watch Seahawk’s games, so I was really excited to be able to see one!
I was so excited to see my cousin’s baby (11month old Zoey). She’s walking & saying some words now which is crazy!
MONDAY, Michaela and I took a drive to Crystal Mt. so that I could enjoy the snow. And it was amazing, beautiful, & a gorgeous drive!
That night, I had dinner with Tyler + Daniella and I got to meet their 2month old baby girl, Elizabeth. We Skyped Aaron in for a bit so the 4 of us could do some catching up. 🙂 I’ve missed hanging out with them!
TUESDAY, I had 1 coffee date, 1 breakfast date, another Senior session + a mid-afternoon coffee date.
At my 2nd Senior session, my client had a hat as a prop for her photos. There were a few photos I didn’t want her to wear it for, so I put it on 😛
Michaela, her boyfriend (Kevin) & I all hung out by wandering the streets of downtown Seattle. It was gorgeous how it was all lit up for Christmas time. I missed the city!
WEDNESDAY I hung out with my brother who was home visiting from college. We grabbed some Starbucks & chatted for a couple hours.
That evening, I, again, hung out with Michaela and we decided to go to Applebees so I could see my favorite waiter – Cody! When Aaron & I lived in Washington and served in NGY, every Wednesday night, us + some friends would go to Applebees and Cody was always our waiter. We grew to become friends with him and when we moved, he was really bummed so I promised we’d come visit whenever we were in town. It was great seeing him again and catching up in between him bring us our dinner + serving his other customers.
After dinner, Michaela & I went to the mall and did some “girl shopping” – because, why not!?
THURSDAY was Christmas Eve, so I spent the majority of the day with my dad, mom, brother + his girlfriend Alex.
We all went to the church we grew up in, Christ’s Church, to enjoy their Christmas service.
We also ran into our childhood friends, and we got to take a family picture with them, which was awesome!
After we got caught up and said our “Merry Christmas”s, we hurried home for dinner + gifts.
We even skyped Aaron in so he could be apart.
After gifts, it was time for my to pack…. but I was too tired, so I just laid on the floor. My brother gave me a pillow and I asked that he take a picture. It looked so funny I ended up posting it on social media and got a lot of LIKES haha.
I was up at 3am to go to the airport.
My flight from Seattle to Denver was only a littler over 2hours, which was nice because long flights are not my favorite.
My layover was only an hour or so, so I found my gate, got some Starbucks, and sat down and enjoyed my Christmas breakfast.
It came time to board the plane, and I was so excited to get on it and finally get to see my husband on the other end.
My flight from Denver to Birmingham was roughly 2 hours and 20 minutes. Yay! Another “short” flight!
FINALLY, at 1:50pm (Birmingham time), I got to be united with my husband. I was so excited to get to spend the rest of Christmas with him! <3
& of course I made a vlog of my trip – so here it is ::
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Looks like a lot happened while I was in town, huh!? Crazy enough, that wasn’t even all of it! I neglected to take photos at every “appointment” I had, but if I did, I probably would’ve had to make another post because of all the photos 😛
All in all, I had a great trip and loved spending time with friends + family. I can’t wait to visit again!