lucky, lucky me! last month, jillyne (mugleston) and i flew to calilfornia, to see ladawn and craig, (after planning this trip since they left on their mission, last july... o.k. actually don told me i had to at least wait until they got there, before we could start planning, so get the picture? we've been planning a long time!). we flew down on a friday ~ worst flight i've ever been on. because of the high winds, we had to circle around for over an hour before we could land in long beach. the turbulence was horrendous! (for a minute or two, i thought jillyne was going to hurl all over me). luckily, we were in the very front seats of the plane, so we had a quick get-a-way as soon as the plane doors opened. but to our surprise, when the doors were opened, we were out in the open and had to walk (actually i ran, trying to keep up with jillyne) across the tarmac in the wind and rain, to the terminal. neither on of us had ever been to this airport before and had no idea how small it was. several flights had been postponed because of the winds, so there were a million people crowded into this little flight terminal. then on to the baggage pick-up. that was another joke! but we finally were there, and ladawn was there waiting for us, while craig drove around until we got our bags. it was so good to see them!
saturday morning, we got up, had breakfast, and then got ready for a day of shopping. for some reason, craig (president godwin) didn't have any desire to spend the day with us. ladawn doesn't get to go to many stores (except sam's club and costco), so we thought we would explore some of the stores she wanted to go to, and... ontario hills outlet mall - warning... never, never go there on a saturday, especially on a holiday weekend. there were tons of 'presidents day' sales going on, and it was seriously 'wall to wall' bodies! but we still had fun, talking and laughing until we hurt. we also went to a few other little stores, but mostly we just browsed.
this is a picture of the 'eatery at the mall'
(doesn't show it justice, at all!)
we went home and picked up the president, then off to the 'cheese cake factory' for dinner.
sister and president godwin
sunday, we went to the home ward sacrament meeting and then home to relax and enjoy a quiet day for ladawn's birthday. jillyne and i fixed dinner - ladawn does not know how to just set. she is always waiting on everyone, so it was hard for her to let us do 'anything'. they didn't have any firesides or any other meetings, that day, other than the a.p. s came by to meet with president for a few minutes. then they sang "happy birthday" to ladawn. they were awesome ~ wish i could sing like they did!
ladawn, probably said at least one hundred times, in the first 2 days, "this is so fun, i can hardly believe you are really here!" it was soo fun to be able to spend her birthday with her!
monday, once again, president had NO desire what so ever to go with us. but we went over to the redlands california temple and walked around the grounds. it was their "p" day, so we just enjoyed being together.
jacki and ladawn
jillyne and ladawn
redlands california temple
we stopped by "trader joe's" on the way home and we got a real kick out of this w.t. truck.
tuesday and wednesday mornings, president and ladawn had zone conferences. jillyne and i went over to the church at noon and had lunch with them and their missionaries. then we stole ladawn and just went shopping and browsing all over the place.
our attempts to use the timer on the camera
jill and i going out on the tarmac to board the plane
and this... was the plane we flew home on.
the tarmac
note to self: next time ~ fly in to ontario airport!
AND... there for sure WILL be a "next time"!
