My Very Happy Birthday

The following week on December 8, my parents flew into Detroit from Utah. I can't tell you how much I loved every single minute of their visit. In October, we decided that we would spend Christmas in Ohio, so we decided to fly my parents out to Utah a few weeks before Christmas to spend my mom's and my birthday together. Despite me being pretty sick for the first days that they were here and having a mound of papers to grade, we really had a nice time. My parents did so much around the house. My dad changed light bulbs, fixed cabinets and drawers, hung our Christmas lights, drove Thobe to school, and even mopped my floor (don't tell my sisters that, they'll be jealous). My mom cooked all the meals on the days that I was sick and most of the days that I wasn't sick, went grocery shopping, did my laundry, and did homework with Alden every night, even on the days that I wasn't sick. As much as I appreciated all this, I was even more grateful for all they did with my kids. Sometimes I worry that because I live so far away, that my kids won't have the kind of relationship that my sisters and brother's kids have with them. This trip really disspelled many of those fears. Hyrum saw my parents and lit up like a light bulb. The first night that they were there, I put Hyrum to bed. Immediately, he started wailing and crying, "Oh Grandpa! Oh Grandpa!" My dad sang him to sleep that night. He was inseparable from both of my parents the entire time they were here. He loved to tease my mom. She would say, "Hyrum, say, 'I love.." and Hyrum would quickly say, "Grandpa!" Then he would laugh and laugh because she was trying to get him to say Grandma. It was so fun to see them have so much fun together. We also all went to the Old Barn Out Back and saw Santa Claus. The kids were so excited, and I think my parents enjoyed watching them with Santa. I will give them a hard time though. I had to run up to the college to mail all my papers out and left the kids with my parents. While I was gone, Hyrum and Thobe were spinning in a chair that tipped over. Hyrum rammed his eye right into a table. He got a huge black eye. My parents felt terrible! He looked pretty cute, though.

For my mom's and my birthday, we went to Cleveland and stayed in a hotel on Friday night. Michael's parents and uncle and aunt stayed at the same hotel and visited his grandparents. It was fun to spend time with them. On Saturday morning, we got up and went to Kirtland, OH. The last time I went to Kirtland was at least six or seven years ago when they were in the middle of remodeling. I would highly recommend a trip here, even if you aren't a member of the LDS faith. They have done such a nice job of preserving the history of Kirtland. There is certainly a special spirit there. I really enjoyed it. We stopped in Cleveland for dinner with Michael's parents, and then headed back to Lima. The next day was actually mine and my mom's birthday. It was so, so nice.

I love sharing a birthday with my mom, especially when we get to spend it together. She always tells me that she loves it too because it means that she will forever be 20, but I'm sure that having me on her birthday (not that she had a ton of choice in the matter) has required her to sacrifice a lot for me. Words can't express how much I love her and am grateful that she is my mom. She is such an incredible, beautiful, and giving person. Perhaps the quality I love most about her is her ability to make everyone who knows her feel like they are her favorite person. I especially admire that after having seven kids, each one of us feel like we are her favorite. I don't know how she does it, but I can say that I am thankful and love her with all my heart.

For my birthday, my parents gave me a bunch of neat scrapbooking stuff, and Michael gave me a Vitamix blender. Michelle, Michael's sister, has one and makes delicious, healthy smoothies for us. I insisted on making one for my parents. When I put an entire orange, peel and everything in, my dad was very skeptical and worried that I might do the same with a banana, which I didn't. I told him that it would be very delicious and not to worry. I was a little disheartened by all of the "zest" in our smoothie and discovered in my instructions that peeling an orange was highly recommended. My dad did think the smoothie was good, despite all the peeling.

My parents left on Tuesday night. We were all sad to see them go, but are so thankful that they came. We hope that they will come back, and I think I improved my chances when I told my dad that if he came back, I wouldn't make him drink a bunch of orange peelings. Anyway, I took them to Toledo, and Michael's dad generously offered to drive them the rest of the way to Detroit so that I could make it back for Thobe's preschool Christmas concert. The roads were really treacherous, so I feel even more grateful to Warren for doing that for us. I'm happy that my family and Michael's family get along so well.