Papa's Visit, part 2

Nathaniel flew home on Sunday afternoon.  It was great to have both kids home from college!  We took this picture soon after he arrived, so that is why he is the only one not wearing Sunday clothes.

On Sunday afternoon, we baked all the sugar cookies and decorated them that evening.

Here are the kids being silly

There was some crazy decorating going on this time

Don't look too closely at Daniel's creations, lol

We decorated about 70 cookies

On Monday, Dad, Emily, and I went shopping.  We got some cute clothes at Macy's.  That afternoon, we got ready to go to our fancy dinner in Scottsdale.  Dad wanted to take us as a special treat, but I didn't realize he had also planned it as our anniversary celebration.  We will actually celebrate 26 years next week, but Dad wanted an opportunity to celebrate us for our 25th anniversary since we never got a proper celebration because our trips to Hawaii and Cancun both got cancelled.  He even had Betsy take a cake to the restaurant so it would be there for our special night.  Each of the kids had prepared something to say to us and it was so sweet and special to us.  It was all a complete surprise, but it was wonderful!  And, of course, the food was amazing! 

After dinner, we went to the Salt River Fields at Talking Stick Resort for the Holiday Light Experience.  We all piled into the minivan and drove through together.  It was nice, but pretty short.  I still had quite a bit to do when we got home, so it was a long day but a wonderful one.

On Tuesday, we had the work luncheon and white elephant gift exchange.  It had been a lot of work for me, and I was glad to have Dad and the kids there to help me.  Jonathan and Daniel stayed home, but the other kids actually do work for the business so they came to the luncheon.  It was so fun!

That night, we went to one of our all-time favorite restaurants, Osaka.  We had to wait quite a while for our chef, but it was still a fun evening.

After dinner, we drove to downtown Gilbert to go to the Giving Machine.  

We bought peanut butter, a beehive, three chickens, take-home meals, immunizations for children, meals for 100 fixed-income seniors, therapy toys, clothes, and produce.

We stopped for ice cream at Cold Stone on the way home.  Papa had to leave the next morning, but we were so glad to have him for as long as we did!