Mima's Visit

Luke and Mima

We had a great visit with Mom!  She flew in on the 7th of Feb., the same day that Dad headed back to Utah.  She arrived late, so the boys didn't see her until the next morning.  We kept her pretty busy although we didn't do many of the things we had originally planned to do.  The weather was pretty cold and rainy most of the time she was here, so outside plans were a no go.  We ate lunch at a delicious mexican restaurant her first Sat. here.  Later that evening I went with Mom to a wedding reception for the daughter of a family in my old ward.  It was fun for Mom to see many of her friends.  I knew a few people there too, but I mostly talked to Debbi and Terry Herrera.  

On Monday, while Micah and Luke were in school, Mom and I started some projects I wanted her to help me with.  She was a trooper and complied.  Monday was the shopping and prep day.  We went to Walmart to get fabric.  Mom Wilkerson and I found burgandy fabric at walmart to make the drapes for the living room.  My mom and I went back to Walmart and found the same color of fabric with a slightly different design, but it matched the other fabric very well.  Then we went to Lowe's to buy wood and JoAnn's to get batting, pillow forms, and cording.  It took us a few nights throughout the week and help from Emily's husband Jeff (Thanks for cutting the wood, Jeff!), borrowed tools (Thanks, Michael!) but we completed 2 beautiful padded valences for the kitchen windows (one of them over 10 ft. long!) and another padded valence for Micah's room.  And then my mom sewed me 4 pillows for my couches.  I am thankful for the crafty women in my life who have helped me make decorating affordable.  The valences turned out just as I envisioned, and I love having the bright color and finished look in the kitchen dining area.

Other than crafting we did some shopping.  We took a trip to a great thrift store down by my parent's old house.  I found some really cute things and left with 2 sweaters, 6 shirts, 1 skirt, and 1 pair of jeans for $47!  That is going to be my new favorite store, I think.

The boys each got to show off for Mima at tumbling class.

Micah's eye started gooping on Thursday.  By the evening it was pretty clear that he had pink eye.  I took him to the doctor to get medicine on Friday morning.  When Mima said something to him about his pink eye, Micah got all excited and yelled, "Pink Eye!  That's my favorite color!"  He was very disappointed to miss his Valentine's party, and even more disappointed that he couldn't go to Chuck E Cheese for Valentine's Day.  He had been talking about Chuck E Cheese for at least 2 months.  We went on Saturday instead.  Micah was so, soooooo excited!!!   He was smiling so big his mouth covered the entire width of his face and his cheeks were squished up to his eyes.  I love to see my boys that excited!

On Saturday morning, before Chuck E Cheese, the boys went to the cul-de-sac with Mima to show off their bike riding skills.  Jared ran around with Luke a few times but within 10 minutes Luke was starting and stopping by himself and riding around without any help at all.  After Jared went back to the house to do some work, Mom and I took the boys to the neighborhood community center and Luke and Micah rode their bikes along the walking trails.  Luke is officially training wheel free!  And so very proud of himself!  After they rode for awhile I took the bikes back to the car and the boys played at the playground.  Luke made friends with 2 brothers who came to the play ground with their dad.  They had a big chocolate lab with them named Casey.  Luke played with the boys throwing the ball to the dog and bringing the dog drinks.  They played chase games and then all went exploring.  While watching him play, I started to cry.  I couldn't believe how well he made a friend and played!  When I see how much our boys have blossomed in this community among family and this good environment I know we made the right choice in coming here.  It has been hard on Jared in many ways, but there is no doubt that this was the best choice for the boys.  I feel very proud that Mom and Dad both got to see so much progress in our boys!

On Mom's last night, which was a Sunday, we had a big dinner with Michael's family and the Herreras.  As an added bonus, Jennifer's husband was in town!  He is working in Brazil right now, but he flew in to surprise her for Valentine's day.  So he finally got to see our home, and it was great that Jenn and Victor could come.  Mom and Dad used to be in an empty nesters group with the Herreras and a few other couples from Bear Creek ward so it was good to all get together.  I had forgotten that I signed up to feed the missionaries that night, so they came too.  And Michael's family was here also.  It was a full house!  I wish I could have had Emily's family too, but there was already a severe lack of seating.  We will have to get a buffet table and a big stack of folding chairs so we can have bigger groups more easily.

Mom left the next morning.  We sure are going to miss her, but we are so glad she could come to visit.  My one regret is that ONCE AGAIN I forgot to take pictures!!!