Grandpa Thomas Visited

We were so excited to have Grandpa Thomas come visit us for Matthew's baptism.

We actually didn't think that anybody would come so to have only Grandpa Thomas come, that was EXTREMELY special.

There are so many things to see in Richmond, but you can't do them all. We were excited to find out that Grandpa was flying in on Thursday night and then flying out Monday.

Since we moved from AZ in 2004, this was Grandpa Thomas' second time to come visit us. The other time was when Allison got blessed. I keep saying, too bad we can't have any more kids so Grandpa would come out and visit us more, but that is not up to us. 

We get such few visitors so that they few that we DO get are SO special.

Thursday night Chris picked Harvey up from the airport and then brought him to soccer practice. 

The kids loved having Grandpa there to watch them.

Friday morning I cooked breakfast but Grandpa didn't wake up until 8 or 9am which is five or six in the morning his time. It is hard to travel clear across the US and have the 3 hour time change. 

It worked out because by the time Grandpa got up and we ate breakfast, Chris was done with his class and we were able to start playing. 

We drove the hour to Charlottsville and went to Monticello which is Thomas Jefferson's house.

We did the tour, which was fine but the it started to rain. It kind of irritated Grandpa after awhile because he was ready to go home and get out of the rain.

We then took Grandpa to Chris and I's favorite restaurant in the city of Richmond, at Strawberry Street Cafe. They serve their salad out of an old style bathtub. (weird I know)

That night grandpa suggested that he watch the kids and Chris and I go to a movie together. It was super awesome and fun. We saw Captain America 2 and I actually really liked it. It was SOOOO awesome to go to a movie together and not worry about how long it would take and how much money we were paying a babysitter.

When we got home, kids were in bed and grandpa was just sitting watching a movie as if we did this all the time. It was AMAZING!!!

 Saturday morning, we got up, made a yummy breakfast then headed to the kids soccer games.

Allison's is a little harder to watch because she is pretty timid but man Matthew COMPLETELY surprised me. It was actually the first time I had watched a game because I usually took the kids to their games and they played at the same time. I was mostly at Allison because Matthew was old enough to come find us when he was done but I didn't think it would be that case if I left Allison.

Matthew was super aggressive (for him) and he went after the ball and even scored two goals!!!!!! I WAS SOOOOO SURPRISED!!!! He really did a great job. I think he was just playing extra well because Grandpa was there.

After that we grabbed some lunch and Frozen Yogurt at our favorite spot, Sweet Frog, then headed to an area of Richmond called Carytown. It was really fun to walk up and down and go into a bunch of different shops. It was sidewalk chalk-day there so there were sidewalk chalk drawings all up and down the sidewalk on both sides. The kids got to draw whatever they wanted, got got chalk, and also got to play some games like Hop-scotch on the drawings. Some of the drawings were really good. We had to even step over some people because they were drawing. It was really interesting and hippie-ish. That is the main area in Richmond for Hippies.

We enjoyed some chocolates from a Chocolate Factory and donuts from a local bakery. 

That night, after dinner, Grandpa again let us go out and we went to a favorite Cake Cafe. Yep, it only does a few pies, but CAKE. I am not a huge cake fan, but these are good!!! It was super fun to go out again just the two of us, without worrying about the time and the amount it would cost.

Sunday was the baptism day and I think I took care of that day already.

Monday, we let the kids stay home from school for a bit while we made and ate breakfast and then we dropped the kids off at school on our way to the airport to drop off Grandpa.

WE LOVED HAVING GRANDPA HERE!!!!!

PLEASE COME AGAIN!!!!

Look he is actually almost smiling, that is HUGE!!!

 Needless to say, the kids did not like that Grandpa had to leave. 

As soon as Grandpa left, it started raining, a lot for a few days. I told Grandpa that even VA was crying that he was gone:)

Matthew's New Scriptures

Since Matthew had already finished reading the Book of Mormon it seems very appropriate to get him scriptures for his baptism. 8 seems like a good age that they are more likely to take care of them and appreciate and use them more.

We got him a little hymn book too. All with is name engraved on them.

Honestly, I thought he would open it up and not be excited.

To our surprise he actually was VERY excited to have his own scriptures, that even had HIS name on them AND a Hymn book.

It definitely made us feel good that he was excited for them.

 

He was excited to start looking through them right away.

The next morning we found Matthew sitting on Allison's bed, he was looking through his scriptures and she was looking through his hymn book.

Success:)

He is really starting to get in the habit of taking his scriptures to church and he enjoys using his own hymn book.

Matthew's 8!!!

I always like to take pictures on their birthday or very close to their birthday.

Matthew got a new suit for his birthday so I made him wear it so I could get pictures for having another birthday but also for his little Baptism Announcement.

Her are the pictures I took of my little 8 year old boy.

Matthew's Birth Day

Monday, April 21st was Matthew's 8th birthday. He was a little sad that it wasn't on Saturday this year like it was when he turned six because he had a pretty awesome day for sure. Last year he sort of liked it being on a Sunday, and this year he sort of liked it being on a Monday because he was mentioned on morning announcements.

I also wanted to make it a little more special so I picked up lunch and cupcakes for him and came to school during lunch time. 

He liked being the cool/popular one handing out cupcakes.

This is when I called him over when he came in the lunchroom.

My very smart and sweet 8 year old.

I knew that I was going to be doing a more elaborate cake for Matthew's baptism so I didn't put much effort into making a birthday cake for him, but this is what he got.

We kept telling him that Legoland was his birthday present and that was it.

HOWEVER, while we were at Legoland, he kept eyeing these swords, shields and helmets SO much. 

He asked a few times if we could get them.

I kept telling him no. He finally realized that he wouldn't get them but he continued to say how cool they were and just in awe of them.

I asked him what is favorite kind was and then his second favorite kind.

I secretly bought them the second day, stuffed them in my backpack, right before Legoland closed and kept them hidden from him until his birthday.

He was SOOO excited and happy to get them.

I got his favorite and second favorite so that he and Allison could play together and either one that he was he would like.

It worked really well.

Allison kind of really lucked out on this birthday of Matthew's :)

Seeing Friends

After we saw my childhood friend, we went to see the kids childhood friends, Elaina, Erin, and Isaac Trousdale. The unfortunate thing about this visit is that we knew that this would be the last time we get to see them for awhile.

Here are the pictures I took of the kids.

This is a cute one

Elaina, Matthew, Allison, Erin and Isaac.

This is a wonderful picture of all three of these kids.

Of course we got to see their friends but that also meant that I got to see my amazing friend as well.

Allison Trousdale and I

I don't want to think about her not being close to me, it makes me too sad. I am so glad that we were able to have friends on the East coast to help us adjust living here.

I will miss this friend so much:(

Jumpology

This is way out of order but it was on my tablet and so I finally got it off. Since Matthew finished the Book of Mormon, I decided that the first day that we were by ourselves (Chris was on his way to Korea) I would take the kids to Jumpology. They have always wanted to go there and we pass it so many times and they always ask. As a big reward to Matthew, I took them to Jumpology. I wasn't going to jump at first but then they started asking me to. I figured why not so I jumped with them for the hour that we were there.

We had a lot of fun and played a lot of games. I was very glad that I didn't pay for two hours because one was enough for me.

It was a Chamberlayne Elementary Fundraiser night at a pizza buffet place so we went there afters also as a reward. I think he and I both sort of milked this whole reward for finishing a little much. I milked it because I would take them to all of these things, and it was easier for me to be by myself so it worked out really well that he finished the day before Chris left.

Childhood Friend

We go home from FL on Thursday night around 11:45pm or midnight.

Then we got up around 7, ate a quick breakfast and headed north to DC.

I had a wonderful friend growing up who was in DC for a couple days. Friday happened to be a good day for us to meet up.

I told the kids that our house was like our hotel. It is about a mile or two off of I-95 which we drove all the way from FL and then we got up in the morning and got back on I-95 and took it North to DC.

I am so glad that I got to see her though. She is the one friend that I have always kept in contact with, even before facebook. She is such a great friend that understands me and respects my religion and I know how she is and we just accept each other for being them. We were always at the same school from Kindergarten and up, possibly even same classes but it wasn't until 6th grade that we really became friends and we haven't stopped since. We were always hanging out together no matter what grade we were in. We were also in band (playing clarinets) and choir together. We did many clarinet duets together and endured all of Mr. Davidson and his stories together.

So thankful that I have a friend like this that I can truly say in my friend, even though it has been 13 years since we have graduated High School.

Every time I go to MT I make sure I see her and usually I have my kids with me.

We met at a restaurant and had brunch and talked for awhile before she had to go meet another person that she came to DC with. Allison really liked her and they found out they had so many things in common....like they both like food..haha:)

I had Matthew take pictures of us.

Sam and I

Orlando Temple

I'm glad I had a picture to remind me. We took a little detour as we were headed out of Orlando. Since I had never seen the Orland Temple before, we stopped took some pictures and then we were on our way.

Here is the front of the Orlando Temple

The back of the Temple

It was SUPER sunny if you can't tell.

A few clouds came in front of the sun so I was able to take a better picture.