Many Pleasant Surprises

Ethan was baptized on Saturday, December 6. Here he is with his dad, (Jon's brother, Kelby)

The older Thwaits cousins

The whole Hunt/Thwaits gang (those attending)

We were really having a rough time deciding whether we should make the trip to L.A. to see Ethan get baptized or not. We'd known about it and had been discussing it for months, and a few days before it we still weren't sure. Of course, we wanted to go to be a support to Ethan and his family and we wanted to share his special day with him, but we also wanted to teach our kids by example how important it is to be there for each other, especially during special times like this and also to emphasize what an important ordinance baptism is. The main problems facing us were: the timing, Jon is in his last week of classes for the semester and has many assignments and two tests this week and then he starts finals next week and his homework and studying take up an enormous amount of time; our littlest ones, Sophie is only two and a half months old and still nurses every two to three hours, and Sally (2 yrs) isn't especially fond of long car rides either; and finally finances, the beginning of the month is when most of our bills are due which doesn't make a trip to L.A. very do-able. Fortunately, the cost of gas is awesome right now, so we were able to make the entire trip spending less than $70 on gas, and we were able to spend the night at my brothers, Jimmy and Jonny's, place in Santa Monica- so no need for hotels, and we brown bagged it the whole way with pb&js, and other travel friendly snacks. Because of the school issue we couldn't stay long- we'd have to leave early Friday evening from Tempe and head back home in 24 hours. So, at the last minute, after Jon had already told Kelby that we wouldn't be able to come, we decided to chance it with the girls and risk a miserable car ride. We were very pleasantly surprised that the girls did much better than we could have hoped. We only needed to make 2 rest stops on the way, to use bathrooms, gas up, and feed and change the baby. The rest of the time Sophie slept, and Sally was very content to watch movies on the portable DVD player. There was minimal arguing amongst the boys. Shule had a problem with leg cramps near the end of the trip, but overall things went very smoothly on the road. I had started as the driver because I wanted to let Jon rest after a long day of school and I don't like driving at night on the freeway, so I thought we could switch off later but the moon was so nice and bright that I just drove the entire way to Santa Monica. We arrived a little after midnight (their time) and my brothers were super accommodating- letting us all crash on their beds while they took the floor and sofa. We awoke early Saturday morning and got dressed in our Sunday best. Even though the Google map said it would only take about a half an hour to get to Kelby and Daina's church building I gave us plenty of wiggle room for the notoriously bad L.A. traffic or for getting lost. We arrived at the building with more than an hour to wait so we explored the neighborhood and found a nice playground for the kids to stretch and play at. When we got back to the church everyone else had arrived. It was really fun seeing the surprise on Daina and Kelby's faces. The baptism and confirmation were very sweet. I actually didn't get to see most of it because Sally isn't so good about sitting reverently yet and the baby was a little fussy, so I took them both and we walked around outside for a while to let Jon and the boys enjoy the baptism. I was relieved that the bishop allowed Jon to stand in the circle for Ethan's confirmation, even though Jon had forgotten to bring his temple recommend. I did catch the end of his blessing and there was a very sweet spirit. Afterward, we went to Kelby and Daina's apartment and had some pizza and ice cream. The kids had a lot of fun playing with their cousins and we enjoyed visiting with Daina & Kelby, Daina's parents and Joe & Tori. We couldn't stay too long and had to leave before the kids wanted to. We went back to my brothers' place to load all our stuff up and we had to see the beach before we left (it's literally seven blocks from Jimmy and Jonny's front door).


The beach was amazing-it's been two years since we've been to the ocean. The air and breeze were invigorating and a little chilly, but we were blessed with the most amazing sunset I've ever seen. The pictures don't do it any kind of justice. Even Jimmy and Jonny admitted that such an amazing sunset wasn't typical. It was overcast but as the sun went down over the ocean the light peaked through the clouds and reflected an amazing display of colors both above on the clouds and below on the waves. it was completely breathtaking! Sally loved playing in the sand but Shazer was the only one crazy enough to actually swim in the water. He was pretty cold by the time we left the beach but he and Shule got a nice warm shower before we packed up and left for home. It was Jon's turn to drive and he got us safely home without any problems. It took a little bit longer because it took a very long time to drive out of L.A. with what seemed like almost the entire city driving on the freeway. Everything went surprisingly well for such a rushed trip. It was definitely memorable and we were very glad to have made the effort!