Sisters Weekend

For our birthdays last year (in June and September), Melissa gave Jenna and I a "Spa Day" at the Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake. It's basically the most generous ever and we've been so excited to go together. We decided to wait until Jenna wasn't pregnant anymore and Molly was old enough for Kevin to take care of her while Jenna went inside. For Melissa's birthday in December, Jenna and I gifted her an Airbnb stay to turn her Spa Day into a whole "Sister's Weekend." We planned for an incredible amount of food, lots of games, and a cute movie. We called it a sisters weekend, but David, Kevin, and Adam were invited, too. 

We ate and talked and laughed and played until far too late, then woke up and made more delicious food and hung out some more. After checkout, we went back to Melissa's new house to get the grand tour and to spend a couple of hours planning our Sister's trip for later this year to celebrate Melissa's 30th birthday. Right now, we think we are going to Italy! However, we could end up somewhere tropical instead. Wherever we go, I'm so grateful to be able to travel with my sisters and celebrate Melissa. 

In the evening we headed to the Grand America to utilize their pool and spa features and to get massages. It was heavenly and such a fun getaway with my sisters. Melissa invited my mom down to join us and it's hard to describe the words I have for how happy, content, and loved I felt surrounded by these people that I love so much in such a pampered environment. Many people would go their whole lives without an experience like this, and without going to deeply into that, I want to acknowledge the beautiful gift the experience was. I love these girls and had a great time. 

(I'm also so grateful to my parents for watching my kids AND the Haderlie kids to make it so we could stay the night, and for David who went back to pick up and watch the kids so my mom could come down with us. I'm blessed with so much love and support and I'm grateful.) 

Jenna's 30th Birthday and a trip to Iowa

My little sister Jenna has always loved her birth-year,  1990. I think it's because it's easy for her to remember how old she was at different times through her life. How old was she in 2001? 11. Easy peasy. The year 2020 means that Jenna was celebrating her 30th birthday!

I've been planning for YEARS to surprise her with a girls trip for her 30th birthday. When she moved to Iowa it turned to surprising her by flying out to her. Truly, I've been saving for and planning this trip for a long time. About a year ago I got Melissa in on it (that was always the plan, but a year seemed like enough advance notice), and then six months ago, Kevin and I started making plans. We decided that Melissa and I would fly to Chicago and Kevin would fly Jenna to Chicago and we would surprise her there. It was going to be amazing! 

And then Covid-19 happened. Whomp, whomp. 

In March, I stubbornly insisted that I was still going to go in June. Surely things would be settled by then. In May, I realized that Chicago wasn't going to work because it was still on complete lockdown. I still stubbornly insisted that I wanted to come. It wasn't until right before the trip actually happened that I started feeling like maybe I was being irresponsible - but I felt like it was okay to go and so we did! 

We couldn't switch our flight, so Melissa and I flew into Chicago then drove to Iowa. I had all of these elaborate plans for how to surprise her, but Kevin kept insisting that if we gave her even the tiniest clue she would figure it out.  So we hid in a corner of Kevin's shop and he asked her to come over and help him with something. When she came around the corner we jumped out and surprised her. Her scream is the most hilarious thing: It starts out absolutely terrified, then moves to surprised, then transitions to excited. I loved it so much.


And after that, we were off. We had hoped to have more time on Friday - but by the time we flew there, got our rental car, drove to Hills, surprised Jenna, and let her pack, we were pretty late getting to our AirBnB that we rented in Rock Island, IL. There was a curfew because of the Black Lives Matter protests that have been happening nationwide and the highway was closed because of a specific set of protesters so it ended up taking us a LONG time to get to our house.



We pulled a mattress from the bedroom on the main level to the bedroom in the little attic/loft and we all slept in the same room together. Then the next day we enjoyed ice cream and a walk along the Mississippi River, hammocking and reading books OVER the Mississippi River...



Mexican Food at a local park (due to no restaurants being open for dine-in-eating), and some watercolor painting...


painting nails, watching a movie and just being together at the house. We celebrated Jenna's Birthday with a little party complete with candle and gift. Sunday morning we just relaxed and hung out at the house until we had to drive back to the airport.




I wish that we had been able to plan a longer trip. Without the half-days on Friday and Sunday that ended up being taken by driving, it felt a little short. I'll have to say Covid does not make for the best travel plans (no shopping, restaurants, museums, or.. anything). But I said over and over and over, the only important thing was to be there with Jenna on her birthday and THAT was perfect. 

Sisters are just the best. Look at how cute the three of us were when we were little. We love you Jenna!



Also, I was reading through my journal in May and found this entry from 6-12-08. It made me cry and I took a picture and sent it to Jenna. (When I sent the picture I knew that I was coming to celebrate her birthday with her, but she did not.) When I wrote this entry, twelve years ago (!) I was working in Virginia and was missing my sister a lot. I think it sums up a lot of my feelings about my Jenna-Sister. 

"Today is my sweet little sister's birthday. Jenna Anne is really special to me. I look up to her so much. She has so many of the qualities that I feel I am lacking and that I need to develop. She is kind to everyone and I don't know that I have ever heard her talk bad about anyone. She just sees the good in everyone. She really just reminds me of Jane Bennett from Pride & Prejudice. In fact, I think I want to name my oldest daughter Jenna Jane. I don't know that I actually will. But I think that it is an adorable name and would be named for two great people. Haha. I just love Jenna A LOT. I didn't mean to write so much about her... but I am really missing her a lot right now."