Yesterday turned out to be a pretty good day after all. The beginning was somewhat stressful. I had about a million things on my mind...teaching the lessons for sunday school (family history and temple work) and for the beehive class (every person is divine and eternal), singing in church, visiting new beehive girls, packing for vegas, getting to the airport on time, making the flight bearable for Hyrum and/or passengers around us, etc. Aaron was a huge help all weekend basically putting everything on hold to help me. He was wonderful. I am so lucky to be married to him

The airport experience began on a tense note. We were running a tad behind...then when we got there we found that the plane had mechanical problems and was going to be delayed "at least an hour" and was "booked solid" meaning that I would have to hold Mr. Wiggles on my lap the entire time. (If I was a believer in bad omens, now was the time to panic. September 11th, flying, plane with mechanical problems...) Anyway, so Aaron said goodbye to me and a very very very "I missed my afternoon nap" tired Hyrum at about 6:20 p.m. and the security check in. Unfortunately, we didn't finally board the plane until 7:50 p.m.

But, Hyrum was an angel. He happily played with other little kids in the "play area" next to our terminal the entire waiting time. He was such a sweet little soul exploring the new toys and periodically looking up at me with happy red rimmed eyes.

Then, they let me board first and it turned out that the plane was NOT booked solid and so I took the car seat right on with me and buckled him up in his very own seat...far away from people (there was about five empty rows between us and the rest of the passengers). He seemed to enjoy the ride and it was fun to see his different reactions to the new sensations of takeoff, turbulence, and landing. The two stewardesses were quite taken and spent a lot of time showering extra attention on Hyrum. He loved it. It was so fun for me because I spent the entire flight talking to and playing with Hyrum. I go to look at him...really look at him and see how handsome and sweet he is. We laughed together and interacted and I discovered, much to my surprise, that he is no longer a little baby but a very alert and intelligent little boy. I found out that he is getting a new tooth that I can actually see. I also discovered that he waves hello and goodbye. He is also vocalizing so much. I love to hear his squeals of delight, babbling, and watching him as he picks up food and feeds himself. He is so sweet. My heart nearly burst with joy to be able to be with him and have some time just to sit there and enjoy it. It was quite an experience.

After we landed we waited until the plane was completely empty before we got off. One stewardess carried the car seat out for me (we had to use the stairs from the plane out to the runway) then another man took the seat right from her and carried it to the terminal for me. Then as I was juggling the luggage, Hy-guy, and the seat to baggage claim another man came up and took the car seat for me. Everyone was so nice and like I said...Hyrum was a perfect angel. Elizabeth and Susannah met me with a bag of candy. Life was almost perfect. Just add Aaron Richardovitch and we would have had a done deal. Heaven.