A BIG surprise!!!

See this girl......



She is my niece, Amy. She and I have always been really close. I am only 3 years older than her, so really, she was kind of like a little sister to me when we were growing up. This last few years, I have learned to really appreciate Amy for the person she is. She has made so many good choices in her life. I look up to her so much.

In the last year or so we have been able to grow closer than ever. I guess bad times will pull the closest ones together and that's what it's done for us. She lives in Vegas and we try to see them when we go down, but her and Dan have no problem coming up if there is stuff going on. They are so supportive.

Well, today was my birthday lunch with my mom, sisters and nieces and I was really missing Amy. Sometimes it's harder than others to not have her here. There are a lot of things going on in my brain right now and Amy totally gets it. I don't have to explain the things that are troubling me to her, she just knows.

This morning, I told her on Facebook that understood WHY she couldn't be here for lunch but that I wish she could and I miss her a lot. Knowing that she has a 3 year old son and a 1 year old son at home that she's trying to keep up with, lunch was the last of her priorities.

We were at Pasta Factory. It was my mom, my sisters, Launa and Blanche, one of my besties, Gina and my niece, Brittney with their kids. When Blanche got there she mentioned that we needed more room and then made a fat joke. Didn't think anything of it. About 10 minutes later, I looked over and saw Amy's sons, Bridger and Noah walk in the restaurant!!!!! I was so happy to see Amy, I cried like a little baby!!!! She was such a beautiful surprise!!! I think I cried for about 5 minutes straight!!!!

Amy told me that after reading that comment to her this morning that she just knew she needed to come up. I was so happy. It was the best birthday lunch EVER!!!! She is one of my favorite people in the world!!!! We had fun chatting it up at lunch, we always do!!!!

After lunch, we went back to my mom and dad's house and let the kids play while we sat and enjoyed each others company!!!! I can't tell you how happy it made me that she came up. She is such a sweetheart and I feel lucky to have her in my life!!! She's always been a great supporter of my family and she just brings a breath of fresh air whenever she's around!!!!

Anyhow, it's just amazing to me that I had nieces that were in St. George that didn't come to my lunch, but Amy came from 120 miles away!!! It's obvious that our relationship is different than the others!!!! We were all so happy to have Amy here and everyone that went to lunch had a blast!!! It was a good day!!!!

Thank you, Amy. I love you to pieces!!!!