BTR to ONT

Back some time in December, without my knowledge, Marc asked President Hansen's permission for me to attend the temple when young Marc was endowed. Then, for Christmas, I opened a letter stating that I could go to California and Elder L would stay in Baton Rouge to "hold down the fort." That was such a bitter-sweet gift. I've been excited to go, but as time passed, learned that he'd be the only member of the family who wouldn't be there. But he never complained.

So I planned my trip, trying to make it easy on everyone--Baton Rouge to Ontario, the two closest airports to us and Danielle. With all she had to do, she didn't need a trip to LAX! Thursday morning, Feb. 19, I checked flightstats.com and everything was on schedule. We'd leave the office at 9--plenty of time to check in. But at 8:25 I decided we needed to go since I'd finished the office tasks. On the way to the airport I checked flightstats again and the incoming flight that I was to leave on was delayed by 3+ hours. To make a very long story short, Marc dropped me at the airline counter. There was a flight leaving in 15 minutes for Dallas, but then I'd have to go to LAX. I just took the boarding pass and dashed to the plane with 2 minutes to spare. As we flew west I started wondering why the agent had rerouted me to LAX when the flight I was on was arriving earlier than the original one. As soon as I exited the jetway I found the closest counter and asked to be put back on the flight to Ontario. Whew! Crisis averted. There was still space and I even got an aisle seat. Hallelujah!

Before and between flights I was calling Elder L and Danielle, updating them on the status. Fortunately Danielle didn't have to go to LAX and I was able to surprise the Blocker grandchildren big time! That was so much fun, since none of them knew I was coming. We had a fun afternoon just visiting and waiting for the Jordan Family to arrive. I'm nor sure where Marc's old Muay Thai shorts came from, but, when he wore them somewhere around the age of 9, they were far too big. Seems they fit just fine now. He's all muscle and not an ounce of fat.

Tia, Jaie and Calli later in the evening and the party went from great to even better.