A Visit from Grandpa and Grandma

On April 22, 2008, my mom and dad got on a plane in Las Vegas, Nevada, and flew to Columbus, Ohio, to visit us! We were so excited to have them here and loved every minute of their visit. Unfortunately, my mom was sick for part of her stay, but fortunately, she was able to recover while she was here, and I'm pretty sure she enjoyed her stay. My dad, on the other hand, stayed very busy with various projects around the house. He was so sweet and nice to install our not- so- pretty- stiff- plastic- shield on our banister (we made a horrifying discovery a few months ago--Hyrum can fit through the rails on our banister. One Step Ahead sells a plastic banister shield that, although not pretty, protects little Hyrum's body from squeezing through the banister and plummeting to his death on our hard wood floor below). Thanks to my dad, I sleep a lot better at night with that shield up. He also hung a very beautiful and heavy mirror in our bedroom. This might not seem like a big deal, but the mirror had no hanging hardware on the back of it. My dad, the amazing fix-it man that he is, not only came up with a way to hang the mirror, but also creatively devised and attached hardware to the mirror to hang that beastly thing to our wall. I wish that I had some of his smarts. He also did 100 other odds and ends around the house that I really appreciate.


Even though I greatly appreciated all the hard work that they did, my favorite part of having them here, besides being able to talk to them all day and hang out with them, was having them play with the kids. Alden, Thobe, and Hyrum thought having their grandparents here was the greatest. Alden was very excited when we came to his school to eat lunch with him and loved doing his homework every day with Grandma. Thobe loved to play baseball with Grandpa. When my dad wasn't working on all the projects, he was playing baseball with Thobe. Thobe brought my dad the bat and would pitch the ball, and Grandpa would hit it. They played like that for hours in various locations. Whether they were watching Gun Smoke (Thobe remembered Gun Smoke from my parents' visit in November and kept reminding my dad that he did like Gun Smoke), running around outside, or just sitting around the living room, Thobe and Grandpa played a lot of baseball. I guess Thobe was just getting my dad ready for his first baseball game. Michael's parents came and visited us in Lima and took us all out to the Packard Grille (my parents really enjoyed this), and then we went up to Toledo where we went to a Mudhen's game. Hyrum also loved having Grandpa and Grandma here. His favorite word now is Grandpa. He followed my dad everywhere and loved jabbering to my mom in the car. It makes me so happy to see how much my kids love their Grandpa and Grandma, and that although the distance is great, their love for them is also strong and secure.

We love you, Grandpa and Grandma!!! Thanks so much for coming!!!! We miss you!