Life's a beach

Dear family and friends,

Aloha! It’s spring!!! Happy spring!
March was a great month for us. The first half I was really able to relax after all the hard work during the first part of the year. I relished in the moments where I didn’t have any pressing obligations.

In the middle of March Nate and I left for the mainland for a conference. We left the girls behind to stay with friends and Grandma and Grandpa. Nate and I stayed with my sister Tauna and her husband Chris while we attended a real estate conference. It was excellent, like all the ones we have attended. We learned so much and got pumped to start integrating our new knowledge into our business. It was a lot of fun to be with Tauna and Chris, too. Nate went back after the conference and I stayed for a sister’s reunion in Arizona.

All my sisters, sister-in-laws and my mom were there. We all stayed in my aunt’s cabin in the beautiful mountains in Arizona. It was great to be with everyone, chat and play games. I loved going running in the mornings with my sister in law amidst the pine trees and mist. And playing pool and air hockey and ping pong. And making smoothies in the morning. It was so cool to see my sister Cheri’s ice cream shop! There was a line of people ready to order ice cream, and the people who already received their frozen indulgences were whispering comments like, “This is the best ice cream I’ve ever had!” Go Cheri and Braden!

By the end, I really missed Nate and our two girls. It was too long without them. My plane was to take off at 9:00am Monday morning. When I arrived at the airport, they were looking for volunteers for a flight that would arrive at 9:00pm that night with a $400 voucher. I thought about it for half a heartbeat and said no. At the gate they were still requesting volunteers, but I wanted to spend the day with my family, not in the airport. Finally they were looking for one more. So after I checked in vain to see if they could get me on an earlier flight, I said I could go, if they increased the benefits to me. In the end, I ended up getting a round-trip ticket, a $200 voucher, a food voucher, and a flight on a much better airline that got me in just 4 hours later. Then I got a $25 voucher for picking up my luggage at the airport instead of them delivering it to me. The things you get from just asking….Not bad, not bad…

Our ward has split, which means we are now in a ward the size of a branch. I am back in the Primary as the first counselor, which will be a lot of fun. Nate is the Young Men’s president.