Christmas With Corey

Hey Internet World. I apologize for my hiatus. It's been pointed out to be by several people.

I want to give you a brief overview of my trip to Kansas, since to go into all the details would take forever. So here are the highlights.

I arrived on Christmas Day! We spent a few days in Lenexa with Corey's family before heading to Manhattan to visit some of his friends. There I got to experience the true beauty of...

A Maple-Bacon Donut. :)

Oh yes, they do exisit. And they are delicious. Note the amount of bacon on that bad boy. I do not want to think about how many calories were in those things. Man, were they good, though.

After we spent some time with Corey's friends (unfortunately we didn't take any pictures of them. We're kind of bad at that...) we went to see the Manhattan sign. It's kind of like the Hollywood sign...only Manhattan. We took some fun woodsy pictures.

I didn't want to venture down the hill in my boots. But that is the MA in Manhattan.

Corey and I. :)

On New Year's Eve, Corey and I got to have a Triple Date Game Night with some of our favorite people. :)

Left to Right: Corey Tindall, Me, Kory Myrick, Natasha Jackson, Tim Esau, and Erica Smith.

It brought so much warmth to my heart to see them. I hadn't seen Natasha and Kory in 6 months, and Tim in a year. And I had never met his girlfriend, Erica. We played Balderdash until midnight. It was such a blessing to ring in the New Year with my brothers and sisters in Christ. Just looking at this picture makes me want to cry a little bit. It was such a wonderful time. Only God knows when I'll see them again, but I trust that it will be sooner than any of us think. :)

Corey and I celebrated our 1 Year Anniversary while I was in Kansas. That man is such a blessing. He planned a super fun day for us--all of which was a surprise. First we went ice skating at this gorgeous downtown area of Kansas City.

I didn't fall a single time! Corey did...but I didn't get to witness it. ;)

Afterwards we went to the mall and walked around. We saw some huge REAL gingerbread houses and some silly Wizard of Oz toys--both of which I found picture worthy. :)

That night we got all dressed up and Corey took me to a dinner theatre!They were showing this comedy called "Game Show" which was SUPER funny and starred the lead Brittish guy from that old TV show "The Nanny". It was a little bit awesome.

When we got there this was a big card on our table from the theatre. :)

It was signed by the cast! :)

The show was fantastic. Hilarious and audience interactive. Although, I was very glad that they didn't interact with us. For all the performing I've done, I do not like to be picked on in an audience setting.

Corey and I took a two mile walk one day, because even though it was January it was a glorious 65 degrees outside. :)

It was so beautiful. :)

The Friday before I left we went back over to Natasha's apartment for dinner with her and Kory. My heart was so happy that I got to see her twice in 2 weeks. :) She made this amazing tortellini soup with spinach and meatballs. Oooh, I want to make that for dinner tonight...

Corey and I made some brownies for dessert. Natasha liked them. :)

Sooner rather than later it was time for me to go back to California. I was on the 5:40 flight from Kansas City to Houston out of Continental. Corey and I packed up the car and drove the 30 minutes out to the airport. We got there an hour early, plenty of time for my flight.

I went to check-in, but according to the machine...it was too late to check-in. What?

The rather irritated airport lady informed me that I was on the 5:10 to Denver on United Airlines. What??

Then she informed me that I needed to go to a different terminal to see if I could check in, because she couldn't help me. She figured it was a lost cause, because I was less than 30 minutes away from that flight leaving. WHAT???

Corey and I booked it to the United Terminal. I was hysterical. I was just sure that I would have to buy a completely different ticket with $800 I didn't have. Corey assured me that it was going to be OK.

We got to the United Terminal, and sure enough it was too late for me to board the plane. The told me they would have to rebook me. I was horrified, but there was nothing I could do at that point. I would have to pay.

The woman informed me that she could put me on a flight the next day at 4:17PM to San Francisco, then on the 6:22 to LA, then on the 10:45 to Bakersfield. I would be getting home until midnight. 

"That's what we can do. It'll be $75," she said.

I was stunned. "Only $75?"

"Yes."

Needless to say, I took it. I was rather traumatic. Let me tell you right now, all those songs and movies that make missing flights sound so romantic, they're lying. I was a mess. But in the end it was nice to spend one more day with Corey. I was so grateful that he was with me throughout that entire ordeal. God has really blessed me with him. :)

This is us right after all the trauma was over. Haha! :)

Ultimately, the trip was a wonderful success. I miss Corey and the rest of the Tindalls a lot. Right now, we don't know when we're going to see each other again, which is kind of scary. But we're trusting that God will provide the money and the time to make it sooner than we think. :)

Thanks for hanging in there with me, friends! Until next time.

--Hannah