A Nice Time with Grandpa & Grandma

We had the pleasure of having my parents come and visit us this past week.  It's always fun when the grandparents come.  The kids are better behaved, and the grandparents help us out a lot too.  My parents arrived last Monday afternoon.  I picked them up from the airport, and they got to our house just before the kids got home from school.  After homework craziness and a quick dinner, we headed off to Jesikah's Junior Beta Club Induction.  It was a great honor for her to be invited to be into Beta Club. They have to have high grades and good behavior to get an invitation.  It was neat that grandpa and grandma got to be here for that.  Because of the distance, they don't get to come to things like this often.

Jesikah getting her certificate from the principal, Mrs. Ford

Jesikah with Mrs. Ford after the induction

When we got back home, Alex gave us a family home evening lesson.  This is where Jarem sat during family home evening:

The blanket covering them is the quilt my mom made Jarem for Christmas, and he offered to share it with them.

The next day, my parents watched Jarem while I went to my tennis class.  It was neat for Jarem to have some one-on-one time with them, since they've been gone on a mission 2 of his 4 years of life.  He enjoyed reading stories with grandma and helping her with things around the house. 

When Eric got home around 2, we headed to the Amish Country Pantry.  It was exciting for us since we hadn't been there before and they have all different grains and flours for making breads and things.  My dad has recently gotten excited about buying wheat and making bread and my mom has always been a breadmaker, so they were excited to see what they had there too.  On Linda's advice, I also got the cinnamon chips and lucky charm marshmellows. 

When we got back, we all got to work baking and cooking.  My parents used my new KitchenAid I got for Christmas and baked some delicious wheat bread, while I cooked fish tacos for dinner and Eric put some Bohemian rye bread in the breadmaker.  We hardly had time to eat before piano, voice, and basketball practice.  It was a busy night.  It was a nice surprise when I finished piano lessons and the kitchen had been cleaned by my mom.  It was a good surprise for Alex too since it was his dish week.

Jesikah is wearing the apron my mom made her for Christmas while forming bread loaves with Grandma

Grandma showing her how to form a loaf

The finished product: beautiful, soft, and delicious wheat bread

Eric's Bohemian rye bread which also turned out great (it was darker than it appears)

The next day, we dropped Jarem off at preschool, and Eric and I enjoyed a nice little 2-mile hike with my parents at Dunbar Cave State Park.  It was a crisp, but beautiful sunny day and we saw all kind of wildlife and birds.  My dad is interested in birds, like me, and he was interested to find many different types of birds that they don't have in Idaho.  We saw a lot of bluebirds, some cardinals, even a couple great blue herons along with lots of ducks and geese and other varieties of birds.  We saw some beautiful white-tailed deer running through the woods, and we even saw a big turtle...lots of gray squirrels too.  It was a very enjoyable walk.  After our walk, Eric had to go to work, so Jarem and the grandparents and I went to Chick Fil A for lunch and enjoyed a little rest before Grandma and I went to running club with Tessa. 

Jarem stayed home with grandpa and watched movies while grandma and I went to running club.  That evening, we had dinner and grandma once again cleaned up dishes while I took Alex to his youth activity.  Bless her!  Then, we watched the movie, "Up".

The next two days, they had to go to Nashville for some business, but we still saw them in the mornings and the evenings.  Eric dropped them off at the airport on Saturday morning.  All in all, it was a wonderful time for us.  Thanks for coming to visit!