Surprise Trip to Cali!

Last thursday my cousin Brett Johnson returned home from his mission in Chicago, Illinois.

While on his mission his parents moved from California to Dallas. For his homecoming my Aunt & Uncle flew back to Cali to spend the week before going back to Texas. On a whim, my mom and I decided to drive over and surprise them and spend the weekend in Cali too! We loaded up my car and headed out for a LONG drive to surprise them.

On the way we HAD to stop at the Palm Springs outlets for JUST A MINUTE. We went to one store where I got some SUPER cute Big Stars Jeans for more than half the regular price... SCORE! After that, we were back on the road. Since we were hitting LA around 6pm we got on our phones and rerouted to bipass LA. In the process we ended up on a two lane highway in the middle of nowhere. But we did eventually make it back to a freeway and rolled into Bakersfield about 9:30pm on Friday night.

My cousin Carlee was in on the surprise so when we got there, we had her come out to meet us so we could surprise the rest of the group. I tried video taping it, but it is really dark. Listen for my Aunt when we go walking into the room. Her reaction is HILARIOUS!!!

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A HUGE THANK YOU to Carlee for letting us stay with you and for keeping the surprise a SURPRISE. We had sooo much fun!

Carlee, Mom, Me

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On Saturday we had a few hours for us girls to go shopping and just hang out. I hate that we live in 3 different states, its so fun when we are all together. We need to plan a girls trip together.

Aunt Linda, Carlee, Mom cruising around shopping.

SHOPPING..... SHOPPING...... SHOPPING

Showing off their new SKINNY jeans. You guys look GRRRRREAT!
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Saturday night we had an open house for Bert (Brett) so Carlee and I made a few posters with some of his mission pictures! We had good food, good people and a GOOD TIME!

Christie & Linda = BFF's
(Thank you so much to the Starkey family for letting us crash at your house for most of the weekend)

Me, Bert & Mom (Brett still in his missionary pose)

SISTERS......................................................COUSINS

One goofy pic and one serious pic.... gotta say I love the goofy one!

Brett, Carlee, and Linda (sorry Karl, we didn't get you in the photo)

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It was so sad to leave on Sunday not knowing when we will ALL be together again. Thanks again for a FANTASTIC WEEKEND. We had soooo much fun even if it was just for a few hours. And a GIGANTIC THANK YOU to my cousin Brett for serving an honorable mission. We are SO PROUD of you and that you took two years out of your life to serve the Lord. I think you said it best in your talk on sunday when you said... "I have seen how the gospel has changed lives and I have seen how the gospel has changed MY life". I'm so proud of the man that you have become and for your testimony. We LOVE you!

I miss these girls already.... Til we meet again!