We were so glad to have Papa back for a visit in December! We love having him here to spend time with us and have fun doing all of our regular traditions. He flew in on December 13 and was able to stay until December 23. Here are some of the fun things we did:
On Monday, we did some shopping. We had to buy wrapping paper, of course. We took Emily and Nathaniel to lunch at Costa Vida. Papa took Andrew to the computer repair shop and came home with Crumbl cookies. While the other kids studied, Jonny and Papa watched The Grinch.
On Tuesday, we spent the morning wrapping presents. I didn't have all of the gifts and I didn't want to wrap for Nathaniel and Michael while they were home, so we saved the rest for later. In the afternoon, we went to the Angel Tree and selected two boys to buy gifts for. We also did a little shopping and found a nice jacket and pair of jeans for me for Christmas. I spent the evening helping the boys study for their math finals.
On Wednesday, we finished wrapping all the presents. It felt good to get that done! I am always grateful to have Dad here to help with that! We took Nathaniel, Emily, and Andrew to lunch at Olive Garden. The kids had more finals to study for.
Dad walks Jonny to the bus and Daniel to school in the mornings.
Thank you, Dad, for doing so much wrapping for me!!!
The kids all had early release on Wednesday and Thursday, and Thursday was the last day before Christmas break. They were all relieved to be done with finals! Except Jonny, who just had parties at school. He'll have finals next year, though! On Thursday, Dad and I baked the sugar cookies so they were all ready to decorate on Saturday.
Papa was playing Spades with Andrew and Daniel. Daniel bid first and he bid 13 because he was 60 in the hole and he had no hope unless he bid that much. Then Dad bid nil because he thought he couldn't get any. Andrew thought he had a chance so he bid 10. Dad too one, Daniel got three, and Andrew took nine, so they were all set. They all had a good laugh about it, especially Papa!
On Friday morning, Emily went to go do some service for the foster home with her friends. So, Papa and I took the boys shopping for the Angel Tree gifts. We went to Kohl's and Walmart and got everything dropped off with the Salvation Army. Then we went to lunch at Culver's.
We had just enough time to get home and get ready for our packing session at Feed My Starving Children. Because of Covid, the session was very small. I'm glad we got to go, though. They even let me say a prayer over the food we packed. We were glad that Nathaniel's girlfriend, Lacey, was able to join us.
We went to dinner at Golden Corral and then went home to relax.
On Saturday, we went to the theater to see A Christmas Carol. It was wonderful!
Then we had lunch together.
On Saturday afternoon, we decorated Christmas cookies. They all look so serious! Our decorating skills are no joke!
Take a look at these masterpieces!
It was so nice to have Lacey join us for the day!
On Sunday, we went to church. Jonathan sang with the other children in his Primary class. Emily played the flute in a beautiful musical number. In the afternoon and evening, we played games and watched some Christmas movies.
On Monday, we did our regular chores and just hung out. Dad took all the kids, except for Andrew, to the shooting range.
In the afternoon, Nathaniel and Emily took the boys to do some shopping and picked up my Walmart order. That evening, we went to Schnepf Farms. They had a wonderful Christmas event/carnival. First, we went on the train ride to see the lights.
Then we walked around. They had cookie decorating. They also had a fun mini-golf course.
The boys had fun on the massive obstacle course
Emily and Papa went on a hayride and fed the reindeer
The lights were beautiful!
I don't know why this little set was there, but it was a fun photo op
It was a fun night, but by the end we were very cold and exhausted.
On Tuesday, Dad took Nathaniel to drop off his car to get a recall repair and oil change. I helped Dad set up his new phone. We had a very nice lunch at Cheesecake Factory. We ate ourselves into a food coma and then I had a couple errands at the mall.
Then we took Nathaniel to pick up his car and went home. Michael and Andrew watched the BYU bowl game against UCF. They won 49-23. After the game, we opened presents with Papa. He has never been here this close to Christmas and I've always wanted him to open presents with the kids. It's too bad that Nana couldn't be here, but we recorded it for her. Later, we played Five Second Rule. Michael won by a landslide!
It was a wonderful visit! We miss you already, Papa!
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