There's No Place Like Home!

It's true--there's no place like home! It is so fun to be back here in Utah with the family. Yesterday was kind of a long day of travel, but it started out and ended well. Yesterday morning Greg drove all the way from Athens to have breakfast with me and take me to the train station, which was very nice of him. We had a nice morning together, but it was sad to say goodbye. Luckily he'll be coming out to Utah in a couple of weeks for a visit! I fell asleep on the train almost immediately and slept pretty much all the way to Chicago. I got out at Union Station and then walked a few blocks to catch the train out to the Midway airport. I walked right past the Sears Tower, and it was so cool because you couldn't even see the top of it--the clouds were covering it! That's when you know you have a tall building. It was super duper cold in Chicago, and the wind was blowing like crazy. I was wearing a pink snow hat, but the wind was blowing so hard that it blew it off. I think it got run over by a car, but I was able to chase it down. It's a little dirty, but it's nothing that a little run through the washing machine can't fix.

I rode the train out to Midway, which is a really cool airport. It's a lot smaller than O'Hare, but it has a lot of cool shops and restaurants. I had quite a bit of time so I ate some spinach ravioli at Harry Caray's Italian Steakhouse and then looked around in the shops for a while. Then I went and got on the airplane and flew home! It was kind of a long flight, and there were lots of unhappy kids on it, but I was just glad to be home. We had to circle around Salt Lake for a while because of the snowstorm, and it was still pretty snowy when we were landing, but everything was okay. It was kind of weird because I'm used to seeing all of the lights from Salt Lake Valley, but because of the clouds, we couldn't see any lights until right before we landed. Mom and Dad were there to pick me up, and it was so fun to see them! Thankfully they braved the snowstorm to come and get me. We swung by to pick Rich up from work, and then we headed home. I've never been quite so excited to sleep in my own bed, and it was wonderful. I think I slept for about 10 or 11 hours!

Today was a fun day too. I slept in for a long time, then I went up to BYU with Mom while she went to Dad's office Christmas party. I hung out at the bookstore and visited with Sister Romney for a while. It was really fun to see her! The funnest part of the day was this evening when Mom, Dad, and I went over to the Barrett's to tend Camden, Riley, and Sidney while Nate and Lindy went to the big Barrett family dinner. The girls were SOOOOOO cute! Camden and Riley were really happy to see me, but Sidney didn't know quite what to think of it all. She was just a little baby when I left for Mississippi last April, and unfortunately I haven't been able to see her since, so she wasn't too sure about this strange person who just showed up out of the blue. We had a lot of fun tonight though--we all played Barbies, watched "Princess Diaries," and ate pizza. It's so fun to be here with the family! Well, I'm off to bed. I love being able to sleep in and not having to go to school!