okay, so some of you, okay maybe all of you ARE going to think that we are absolutely insane for doing this, but we did it...
that is that we drove from New Orleans straight to Utah. no, we did not stop to sleep, we only stopped for gas or bathroom breaks. so yes, we drove a full 28 hours on little to no sleep and we DID IT!
we stirred up this little plan of ours last week, when we discussed coming home. we had already booked a flight to come home this thursday, and already had our families fooled that they'd be there to pick us up. little did they know that we had already cancelled our flights, and were already on the road. we could have easily stopped and slept somewhere, or even stopped and visited the dallas cowboys stadium (which is my DREEEEAM) but it was 3am when we drove through dallas, so that wasn't about to happen.
we started our drive at 8pm on Saturday, the reason we left so late was because it was almost spur of the moment, and somehow someway we had talked a few of our friends out there (Adriana & Colten Lamb) to do this with us, and they were just as motivated to finish this task as we were! not to mention, that we learned that to drive through the night makes time FLY and is much easier than to drive through the day, and stare at the exact same scenery for 12 hours!
we had planned pit stops every few hours. we stopped in Dallas, Albequerque, and a few small towns to get gas, and to get out of the car for a minute to walk around and stretch. it couldn't have been planned better. we hit Albequerque around 2:00 on Sunday, and realized we still had about 10 hours left. But if you know any of us, you know that we thought for sure we could have that beat. so before we knew it, we hit Moab, and realized we were really in UTAH! just a few more stops! we based the time off of how many stops we had left, that kind of kept us motivated because our next stop wasn't until PRICE! which means, you hit that canyon and your home! we were SO excited, we turned up the music in the car and were dancing, until we realized that, that canyon was THE LONGEST DRIVE of the whole trip. it could have just been our anticipation that was killing us, but either way it was ROUGH! but once we got out of that canyon, i literally almost cried of excitement! we drove down the street in my small little neighborhood and parked a few houses down from my house, and knowing my family they were still awake and hanging out at 12:30am not to mention that i HAD to tell someone that we were coming home, that being my sister-in-law Erica, so she had kept us updated on the current status of the family and what they were doing. she was the best partner in this crime!
so we snuck into the house at about 12:30 and slowly started walking up the stairs until i heard THE BIGGEST SQUEEL OF MY LIFE!! and down to the ground i went, my sister had tackled me to the ground, than my little brother jumped on top of her, we had done good! no one knew, we had kept this little secret for so long, and had done so well! it was such a relief to know that we were home and with our loved ones! i didn't realize how much i had missed them until i had given each one a hug. the biggest excitement of the night was when i saw my little niece and nephew, who i haven't seen in 6 months! i ran downstairs and they both started screaming and i started to cry. i had missed these little kids SO much!
than we have continued to make the rounds, we snuck in on Mitch's family last night, we knocked on the door, and the second his mom answered the door she had the look of shock on her face! than she started to scream of excitement! and out everyone came from their rooms and joined us with hugs and love! it was so good to reunite with them! we spent the night talking, and reminiscing on all things Lousisana. it was so fun! his siblings started school today, so it was great to be here for them when they headed off!
it's been such an adventure. we are still making the rounds, in fact i'm on my way now to go see the newest member of our family and that's my little nephew kru! than we'll be off to catch up with the rest of our families and friends!
we were sad to leave Louisiana, but it was our time to come home and this is going to be one of THE MOST memorable experiences of my life! i'm so thankful for all of the support and love that we got out there, and have received since being home!
its true what they say:
"there's no place like home"
& we are so happy to be back!
