Grammy and Grandpa Terry Visit

My parents came into town for about a week and it was great. :-) I hadn't seen them in about a year and a half, crazy I know. They tried to soak up as much of their grandkids and as much of Utah as possible. We had a fun packed week and it was great to have them here and to let the boys get to know them better.

I was nervous about how the boys would respond to them, especially coming straight off of a week up in Draper. Draper was great, but vacations are pretty overstimulating for little kids and I was nervous they'd crash when we got home and be hellions for my parents. They eased back into our routine like champions though and they weren't even stand-offish with my parents the first day. WIN. I couldn't believe how well they did, and really I'm sure I owe it to answered prayers.

When they first arrived, I met them at Aunt Bev's retirement home. Her memory might be fading, but she's still the firecracker we know and love. She. is. hilarious.

Funny moments at this visit:

• A member of the staff passed out some vanilla ice cream cups (the kind that come in styrofoam cups) to all of us, because we came towards the end of lunch. Throughout the conversation Bev would randomly refer to the ice cream and finally towards the end her comments evolved from, "Yeah, let's eat some ice cream," to "Do you like the ice cream? It's homemade!"
• Bev is a "fake it till you make it" kind of lady and this gets her pretty far in conversations right now. It's hard to maintain though. She needed to ask us repeatedly where we were from and about the 10th time it came up she leaned towards my parents and knowingly said, "And you're visiting here from California," to which my parents sweetly replied, "We are actually visiting from Virginia," and in a moment of frustration Bev bumped the tabletop with her palm and said, "Dammit!" almost to herself and then a smile came right back on that cute face and she carried on.
• There was another really sweet lady who came into the room where we were sitting with Bev several times. Her name was June. At first June handled herself so well that we thought she was one of the workers. She was sooooo sweet. She would ask us how we were enjoying our visit and how we were related to Bev (they had to remind each other of their names). She was the prefect hostess and you could tell she felt like the mother hen. She'd say things like, "I know who you guys are! You are here to take this sweet lady home, aren't you?" Going home is a sensitive subject around Beverley, so we responded as instructed by her sons if it came up with, "Oh, well that's up to Beverley's doctor. We are just here for a visit." Another minute of talking would pass and June would come back to the leaving thing and look at Beverley with a cute smile and say, "You have a ride home after you leave with these people, don't you? I don't have a car you know, so do you have a ride back?" One time after June walked out Bev looked at us with a comical face and said, "I don't even know her! Who does she think she is?!"
• When we were leaving several others started congregating by the door and then a member of the staff had to come help them away, so there was a lot going on in the entryway. Bev was giving us all hugs and ended up with her arm around another random, sweet old lady by the door. Bev looked over at her and realized she had no idea who she had her arm around and looked at me while pointing at her like, "Who the heck is this?!" I was dying! 

Oh man, I love this darling lady. Her new location makes her much more accessible for me to visit, so I look forward to trying to do that once a month or so.

 

Saturday was BYU day. We went to the Museum of Art, the bookstore, and met Jayce for lunch in the Cougareat. He was on campus studying for his second set of boards all week and we were all glad to see him for lunch.

It was fun to have my dad and Jayce for Father's Day this year. So much cuteness on one couch, I can hardly stand it.

A highlight for me was taking the boys to the Aquarium with my parents. They love it there and I love seeing them get excited about all the animals.

 And what's a trip to Utah for my dad without seeing the Schmutz twins? They are studs.

 Another highlight of my week was going to the Manti Temple for the first time. It has been on my bucket list for a long time and I couldn't have had a better way to mark it off than to be there with Jayce AND my parents who were sealed there. We got to stand in their sealing room, which is no longer used for sealings, as they told us a little about it. We also got to see one of their famous handcrafted spiral staircases. It's a beautiful temple. My neighbor said it well when she described going to the Manti Temple as, "It's like going to grandma's house."

Of course we also had to set up some visit time with Annie Clark, my dad's best friend's daughter who is now my backyard neighbor and great friend. Her husband, Lance offered to take my dad shooting, so Annie and her daughter came over for dinner and when Lance was home from work and Young Men's the guys took off into the hills.

:-)

Nobody can stay with us in Santaquin without a trip to the Red Barn. The kids are okay with this rule. I think Grandpa is too.

 We drove part of the Mt. Nebo Loop after nap time one afternoon and hiked a short way to an area called Devil's Kitchen.

It was worth it.

It was also very bright.

I really enjoyed having my parents here for a week. In fact, I enjoyed it so much that it made me homesick and I bought a plane ticket to Virginia next month. Ahhh!!! Jayce and I have been trying to figure out how to visit Virginia and finally Jayce convinced me that I should just go by myself when he has some free time in his schedule to watch the boys. Oh that man. I'm rather anxious about leaving the boys for more than 1 night for the first time IN THEIR ENTIRE LIVES, but I need to do this and I'm extremely grateful to Jayce for making it work with a smile on his face.