Home Again, Home Again

Well as Aaron said before I am going to blog about going home. I am sorry this has taken so long and I really don’t have a good excuse except that I am the biggest procrastinator and I don’t work well/efficiently unless I have a deadline. Well my deadline is that Aaron wants to blog about Bath/Stonehenge and Barcelona so here we go.

I was lucky enough to be able to go home for about 2 weeks because my dear friend and college roommate, Kelsey was getting married on February 14 and I was in the wedding. Also my sister was pregnant and due February 21. With all of that being so close I planned a three-way trip between London, KC, and San Diego to be in the wedding and hopefully see my new nephew.

The first thing I did when I got to KC was hug my Dad and go to Mi Ranchito for dinner. You don’t get Tex-Mex like that in London!

Thursday started the wedding fun! That night we had a girls’ dinner at Buca di Beppo on the Plaza. There is nothing like girl talk and hearty Italian! Friday the bridesmaids spent the day getting our nails done, eating lunch and going to the Rehearsal dinner. There were a lot of girls in town from school so it was so nice to see everyone again and catch up!

Saturday was the wedding. Kelsey and Jeff, her groom, live in China doing mission work. The wedding was beautiful with a lot of Chinese touches. They even said their vows in Mandarin, which is incredibly impressive! It was a great wedding and Kelsey made a beautiful bride! After the wedding we had a great time at the reception, it was nice to celebrate with the happy couple. After that I got to hang out with the girls for the rest of the day. We had a great time eating and sharing stories.

Sunday I went to church and I got to see some familiar faces. Then we had a big dinner with some extended family. Sunday afternoon my Mom, Dad and Grandma and I headed up to Omaha to see my brother, Hesse, and his wife, Cobi. I got to see their huge Victorian house! It was really amazing! I also got to see where my brother works which is really nice. He works at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts. He is in charge of selecting artists for their exhibitions and deciding which pieces to put where in the exhibit. (Hesse, I am pretty sure that is what you do, if not I am sure Dad will let me know.) It was pretty cool, the building was really neat and the exhibits were really interesting. If you are in Omaha you should go check it out!

Tuesday I got to spend some time with my brother and sister in law, Jason and Laura and my two nieces, Hailey and Morgan. Hailey is getting so big, she is walking around! This was the first time I got to meet Morgan. She was about 4 months old and rolling all over the place! The girls are both so beautiful and it was a delight to be around them! I love when I get to see them, but it is never often or long enough. I am glad that the whole family was in town the same time I was and I got to spend a few hours with them!

Tuesday night, February 17th my sister gave birth to Kale Laurence Johansen! He came so fast that she even did it without any pain killers! She is amazing! He weighed 7lbs 4 oz and was 18 inches long. They were both doing well and my Mom and I were anxious to meet little Kale!

Thursday my Mom and I headed on out to California! By the time we got to the hospital it was pretty late. We did get to go congratulate the new parents and hold little Kale, who is just the most precious thing! We stayed at the hospital long enough to get all the details on how the birth was and how everyone was doing while in the hospital. J.J. was allowed 10 days off work and had been staying in the hospital with Krissa. They were going to be released the next morning.

When Krissa, J.J. and Kale came home from the hospital my Mom and I had balloons and signs and a whole baby shower waiting for them! They were surprised! It was so fun to plan and get ready for their enjoyment. We all had a great time!

The next few days were spent holding, kissing, loving on, cuddling and staring at Kale’s sweet little body and face. Kale is the most precious baby boy and we fell in love with his sweet baby face. We all took Kale on his first walk on the beach, which is J.J. and Krissa’s tradition on Sunday mornings.

I had a great time with my family, and meeting beautiful Kale and also enjoying the wonderful weather San Diegans are blessed with! I am so glad that I was able to take those two weeks to spend with family and friends!