When I was at BYU, we (my siblings and I) didn't come home over the short Thanksgiving break. Odessa and Provo aren't close, so it made no sense to drive. Flying was pricey. The semester ended three weeks after the Thanksgiving break, and my parents flew us home then. Brian, however, went home over Thanksgiving because they could make the trip in a day.
So fast forward thirty years, and we didn't make plans for Brinley to fly home. We had discussed our family heading up to Utah for the break but decided against it. She was heading to Southern Utah with her Freshman Bell (twin) roommates.
However, the Sunday night before Thanksgiving, Brian started quizzing me about why Brinley wasn't coming home. I thought to myself, "I don't know?" and "Why is this my fault?" I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't go back to sleep. I started checking out Southwest flight prices, and they seemed pretty reasonable!
I texted Brinley at 4:00 am to see 1. if she was interested in changing plans and coming home and 2. if it was even possible. She saw the text at 7:10 as she was getting ready to walk to campus to be at work by 8:00. But by 9:30 am, she had things re-lined out! She had a busy couple of hours making arrangements with her boss, changing plans with her freshman roommates, snagging a ride to the airport and packing. She was at home by 9:00 that night!!!!!
The best part was we had decided to keep it a surprise. Here is how we surprised each family member.
Aubrey and I were at the Birds visiting with Becky and the Merkley cousins who had just gotten into town. I made up a lame excuse about needing to pick up a friend's brother from the airport and gave Aub the option to go with me or hang with cousins. She chose the cousins, so I picked up Bryn by myself and then we made plans!
First we headed home to get Bri in on the surprise. I came in the garage door and Brian was on the couch watching tv. Then Brinley came in the front door. He just assumed it was Tanner. He couldn't believe his eyes when Brinley walked in. He got a HUGE smile, a little teary and hugged her forever. Pretty sweet.
Next, we actually did hear Tanner at the front door so Bryn hid behind the couch. When he walked into the den, she popped up. At first he just stared at her for a couple of seconds and thought, "why is Aubrey staring at me from behind the couch?" Then his brain processed that it was in fact Brinley and they both started laughing and hugging. It was really cute.
You can watch it here.
Then Tanner hopped in the front seat of the van, and we headed to the Birds to pick up Aubrey. Brinley hid in the trunk. Brit and Adam walked Aubrey out because they wanted to see the surprise in action. I asked her if she could get me a water bottle out of the trunk and her reaction was hilarious. She kept screaming, "WHAT?! WHAT?!! WHAT?!!!!" She was so thrilled to see Brinley and so happy she was home for the break.
You can watch Aubrey's reaction (which was the awesome!) here.
We gave the kids the credit card and they headed to HEB to pick up icecream. They were so cute all together that first night. (It was weird not having Erin here with them, but she and Kaide were asleep at her house, and Tanner had just come in after helping get him to bed.)
Tanner had to flex under the sign. He is a loyal HEB fan since he worked there for several months this year. (I think the girls were kind of shocked that he did pose under the sign. He is like his father in not wanting to draw attention to himself.)
Aub and Tanner have been into chess the past couple of weeks, so they had to pull out the chess board and try to show dominance by beating Bryn. I don't think they did, but it was really fun watching them that night just enjoy being back together.
Having Brinley home over Thanksgiving really made it go from drab to fab. I know that sounds cheesy but having her home really mixed things up and made them more exciting. We love our Brinley Kate.
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