Everyone laughed at this and Spencer just rolled her eyes at her dad.  He could be so embarrassing sometimes.  Spencer opened a gift from her dad while Clay and Glen opened one from their mom.  Arthur opened the gift from Ashley and Ashley opened the one from Arthur who signed the card, ‘to my other beautiful daughter.’  She got a little choked up when she read that and she gave him a big hug thanking him for the collection of poetry he had gotten her.  Aiden and Jamie opened their gifts from Spencer and soon everyone was laughing and admiring what each person got.  Among the madness Spencer grabbed Ashley’s hand and pulled her into the kitchen.

“You okay?”

“Here Ash…this is part of your gift…I want you to open it now…”

Spencer was practically bouncing around probably due to the amount of sugar she had consumed by eating so many cookies.  Ashley just shook her head.  She walked over to her bag and grabbed an envelope for Spencer.

“Okay but you have to open this then…”

The two girls looked down at the gifts in their hands.  Ashley was holding a large manila envelope while Spencer’s was long and thin.  Ashley wanted Spencer to go first so she waited while Spencer ripped the envelope open.

“You got me plane tickets?”

“Not just any plane tickets.  Look at the cities…”

“Spokane and New York…I don’t get it…”

Ashley rolled her eyes.  Sometimes Spencer was a little slow on things. 

“I know you have your heart set on going to these schools.  So if I can’t be there with you for the next four years the least I can do is go with you to check them out.  You know…so at least I know how you’ll be living for the next few years…”

Spencer had tears in her eyes as she hugged Ashley.  She couldn’t believe that Ashley was really letting her go and actually being understanding about it.  She shook her head.

“Wait open my gift…”

Ashley sighed a little as she pulled out a single piece of paper.  Spencer smiled and shook her head.

“It’s the only application I sent out…”

Ashley grinned and pulled Spencer in for a big hug and a long passionate kiss.  The paper and envelope in her hands dropped to the floor and she couldn’t believe Spencer had done this.  She only read the first few lines but it didn’t matter. 

What was on the paper you ask? Well it was a copy of the application Spencer had sent out the previous day.  And it was addressed to the Admissions Office at the University of Southern California.