It all started...

....when the snow came and it came with a vengeance. It snowed continuously for 24 hours and trapped us and everyone else in their homes. We were devastated when our flight was cancelled and Southwest told us the earliest we would be able to fly to Utah would be the following Wednesday which was another 4 days away. We decided to try and fly stand by anyway. We should have read all the warning signs around us that this was a BAD idea.

So Sunday morning we raced out of the house and onto the unplowed roads on our way to BWI airport. On our way we found even the 495 beltway hadn't been plowed in some of the middle lanes. As one plow truck was going over an overpass we were going under which dumped huge slates of ice on our car nearly shattering our windshield and breaking our wipers. This should have been the last indication for us that we were fighting with mother nature to get to Utah.

Once we arrived at the airport the line just to check in was going to take 3 hours (we were told) and after trying to use skycap outside (the line was around the entire airport outside) I had the brilliant idea to go inside and say my flight had been cancelled (which it had). They put us in a brand new line which looked very short but ended up taking the three people in front of us nearly an hour to reschedule their flights. The lady at the desk venomously told us we would very unlikely get on a flight today but I told her we had been waiting all morning to fly and she was going to give us a pass through security NO MATTER WHAT!!

We decided to try anyway and get on any flight that would take a family of four. We realized that if we could just get out of Baltimore, we could make it to Utah. One of the highlights of the trip was while going through security a man pointed to me and said "Sir, you can't go through with a baby strapped to you like that." Definitely the first time I've been called "Sir" before. Once inside, with the chaos behind us, I found a quiet place to nurse Jack while Chase finagled his way onto a flight going to Louisville, Kentucky. There were empty seats so we jumped on. We thought we were home free because this plane went to Chicago, which eventually went to Utah.

Then, as we were being taxied out to the runway, our plane got stuck in the snow!!! We ended up sitting on the ground for another hour while the pilot and everyone below us tried to figure out how to get us out of this drain surrounded by ice. Finally we emerged after the pilot got enough guts to nearly run the plane into the airport. Once in the air, we felt pretty good, but worried that we would miss our connecting flight in Chicago due to our little rendezvous with the ice in Baltimore.

By the time we got to Louisville, we were starving after devouring our "big" bags of peanuts and pretzels. They wouldn't let us off the plane because we were due to take off any minute once we loaded the last passengers. They announced that there were a few people who were trying to make this flight but still hadn't arrived, we would have to wait for them. This reassured me that Southwest would wait for us in Chicago if they were going to wait for these people in Louisville. An hour passed and I couldn't believe we were still waiting. When the passenger finally arrived I wasn't perturbed anymore after seeing a man in uniform enter the plane. He was heading home for Christmas from Afghanistan and definitely deserved an hour of our time.

Once in Chicago, we found our flight had been delayed...HOORAY!! We had time to get some dinner and chow down before we headed out again. The kids were champs the whole time. Jack just ate, and slept while Sadie watched CARS on her DVD player. The last leg, they both slept in our arms. I was so jealous of Sadie all sprawled out with her head in my lap. It was 3 a.m. eastern time once we landed in SLC. We were exhausted and upon hearing that they had lost our luggage I didn't even care. I just wanted to get everyone in bed!! So without pajamas, toothbrushes, and my chapstick we went to the Cannon's house for what we thought would be a great sleep. Jack decided to party for another hour once we got home.

That night set us back for a few days. I don't do very well with out sleep so after losing my voice and more nights of interrupted sleep from Chase's younger brothers who came home at 2 a.m. every night, I completely snapped. Chase and I didn't get to sleep until 3 a.m. Christmas eve due to the "elves" walking around the house above us. I ended up sleeping in a chair Christmas morning while everyone opened presents. I was so riled up and sleep deprived that I couldn't sleep, even if I had the "quiet" opportunity. I was supposed to come home the 6th of January but decided to come home with Chase the 27th. In my nearly mental state of hysterics the thought of taking care of two kids without Chase was unbearable. I needed to go home. We got to Virginia at 3 a.m. again!! Another late night but totally worth it because I knew my bed was waiting for me and I knew no one would be waking me up!!

The funny thing is, we planned the trip going to and from Utah with direct flights. That snow storm really changed everything!! We should have read the signs and stayed put. Now I know why some of our friends don't travel home for the holidays. It took this experience to knock some sense into my nostalgic, homesick brain. NEVER AGAIN!!! If anyone wants to see us next Christmas, you can come to Virginia!! Merry Christmas!!