Starting Monday, we were checking flights, things looked good. Everything appeared to be promising that we would make it to SLC (to drive 4 hours north to Idaho Falls). Tuesday, pickings were a little slimmer, but we had our fingers crossed! Wednesday...it wasn't looking good. Thursday...it was done, flights were oversold, 20+ standbys and we were not on the top of that list. We called Mom & Dad H. to tell them the bad news...we were so bummed. We had no back up plan for this weekend (shame on us). We started checking other locations and narrowing down a selection of flights of places we could go instead. There was a 7pm flight to Frankfurt, Germany (Thursday night) - we were weighing should we, shouldn't we. At this point, we were both willing to give up Frankfurt to make it to SLC. (That's how badly we wanted to go home for the weekend.)
After much debate, we decided to wait until Friday morning. At this point the only destination left was San Francisco, which we could still have a good time, but it still didn't compare to SLC or Idaho Falls.
Friday morning came and I was checking flights for San Fran, but just on a whim, I thought why not check the flights for SLC - knowing it was probably a lost cause. I scrolled down and there were three flights leaving Houston and the second one had 40 seats OPEN and only 24 standbys!! Mat was soundly sleeping right next to me as I proceeded to give him a heck of a wake up call, mainly yelling (in excitement) - "There's a flight! We gotta go! We gotta go! We're going to SLC!! GET UP!!! We gotta go NOW!" In his dazed and confused fuzzy mind, he didn't understand a word I said. He looked at the screen and simply said, "We gotta go".
It was a little after 8am, the flight was leaving at 9:45am. I threw everything in our suitcase while Mat printed the boarding passes. We parked the car, got the shuttle and made it to the gate by 9am. We were still playing it cautious since from the time we printed our boarding passes and got to the airport the standby list had grown to 33 standbys. We also decided we wouldn't tell Mom H. and just surprise her instead.
We landed in SLC around noon, grabbed a rental car (which we got a killer deal on!! An SUV for $12 a day! Who can beat that!?) and started driving toward Idaho Falls. On the way, we made a small detour through Pocatello.
We stopped by to see my best friend, Bethany's. We got to see her little boy, Isaiah - who is just the cutest! We caught up on some much needed chatting even if it was a quick visit. Her husband works in Utah, so she is planning a visit to come down and see us once we return at the end of the summer.
We also caught up with our friends the Calls! We have missed them like crazy! They used to be our neighbors in Provo, but moved right after we left for the Summer and are bound for Florida (which we're hoping to see them again this summer, but with a sandy beach and ocean waves involved). We went out for ice cream and were able to visit a bit. Anson served a mission in Germany, so I was curious for a few traveling tips. Their little boy, Shaefer was loving Mat's aviator sunglasses and I must say, they fit him quite well!
...maybe aviation is in his future...:)
After our sugar rush and "see you laters" (I hate good byes, so "see you later" is better), we were bound for Idaho Falls. Now, before I get to the surprise factor. Mat thought we should call his mom on our way up to see if everyone was still planning on coming into town, etc. We did not disclose any information about our location or our plan, however, Mom being Mom, she figured it out before we got there.
After we drove as quickly as we could into the driveway, hopped out of the car and ran as fast as we could into the house, Mom gave us "the look" and the "I knew it!" She was still thrilled to see us, especially since we told her 24 hours before we weren't coming. Once again, the flying standby thing is a complete gamble and luck of the draw...which in this case, we got very lucky!The rest of Friday was pretty low key. We had a chance to visit - Grandma & Grandpa Haderlie came in for the weekend and we were excited to chat with them! We were just missing Grandma & Grandpa Park.
Saturday was still the BIG day! The BLUE ANGELS were in town!! There was an airshow going on July 24 & 25 at the Idaho Falls airport. Mat had never seen the Blue Angels perform and neither had most of this family, so what better way to spend the weekend, then all go to the show! We were going to buy tickets, but as time grew closer, Mat & I decided it wouldn't be the best idea to buy them if we wouldn't be able to get there, so we held off. We ended up parking on the side of the road with a ton of other spectators and had a great view! We all agreed it was a much better view than sitting on the inside of the show. Now for a few pictures...
Us with Mat's brother, Tucker & his wife, Mary.
They just had their 2 year wedding anniversary July 25th!
Grandpa Haderlie, Dad H. (in the bright green shirt) & Mat.
This is "Fat Albert", he is the Blue Angels C-130.
He does a little fly over performance before the Angels.
You'd think there would be something wrong by seeing this much smoke.
It's actually just the 4 of the Blue Angels (who fly F-18s) starting their engines and after burners.
What an amazing show!
Aren't the Blue Angels AMAZING?!?!
Did you know there were 2 females on the squadron too?
One of which is a pilot!
We did get quite a few pictures, but they are hard to load since they are so large. And right after these pictures were taken, our camera battery died. In our rush of packing, the charger was left at home. Mom H. got some AMAZING pictures though - so stay tuned!
After the show, we had a BBQ filled with burgers, dutch oven potatoes, Mary's raspberry jello salad (soooooo yummy!!) and tasty watermelon! We also were able to take some family pictures and boy, did we have a good time! There were definately some good shots, but a lot of comical ones! (Mom H. has them on her camera...so again stay tuned!)
The fun doesn't stop there though! We headed back toward SLC on Sunday hoping there might be a flight for Mat to hop on, but they were oversold and again overbooked. He called his boss to let him know, which his boss being in the industry and a fellow pilot, was understanding about the situation.
Since we didn't make it on a flight Sunday, we thought we'd go pop in (more of a surprise pop in since we didn't tell anyone we were coming) and see a few of our friends in Provo. It was so much fun! We have missed our friends this summer! We can't wait to get back! Our friends, the Greenways, even fed us a delicious dinner and even had our friends the Colemans and Swapps join us! It was so great to see you all!!!
For the final leg of the trip, it came to be the challenge of getting home! We booked ourselves on the first flight of the day Monday morning. We were determined to get Mat home, so we were thinking of Plans B, C, D AND E - just in case he couldn't get on this flight. We checked the flight numerous times Sunday night, but it had stayed the same. Monday morning, we were praying that we'd be able to get on (or at least get Mat on - I could play a few more days in Provo and wouldn't mind one bit :) ). The status was 8 seats open and 33 standbys...we weren't at the bottom of the list, but we also weren't at the top. So again, praying. While waiting for our flight, Captain Green, one of Mat's instructors from school came over to us at the gate and said hello! He was also trying to get on the flight - he actually was a captain for Continental and set up the internship with them and UVU. I've heard so much about him and it was such a treat to finally meet him!
The flight had called the last section to board and we were still crossing our fingers. When we just about lost hope, the gate attendant walked over and handed us two tickets!! We got a seat on the flight! It took us a minute to really sink in though, since we had been going through Plans B, C, D and E in our minds of which would be the easiest and fastest. We quickly said our good-byes (or my "see you soon" - since I invited him over for dinner once we return) to Captain Green and started down the jet way.
What a wild ride of a weekend!
It was so much fun! And just what we needed!
We are refreshed and pumped for the next trip!
