27 years!

I turned 27 this year. It wasn't weird to me, I don't think it seems to old. But I was driving down the road today and a memory popped into my mind and I realized that it was 10 years ago that it had happened and yet it seemed like yesterday and that was a weird feeling. I remember so vividly being 17 and to think that was 10 years ago is crazy.

Anyways my Dad was able to come up and spend the weekend with me for my birthday and it was so much fun. David ended up having to work a 12 hour shift on my birthday and the day after my birthday so I was especially grateful that my Dad was here to hang out with me. And the kids of course LOVED having Grandpa here.

My Dad got in late Thursday night. Friday we took the kids to their art class and then headed to the pool to swim. Dutch has gotten so big and brave. He goes down the big slide over and over again and he is such a great swimmer. Maylee is doing great swimming as well. Side story, Dutch and Maylee took a two week swim lesson class this summer at the public pool. On the last day they let all the kids have a turn going down the slide. I knew it would freak Maylee out and I was interested to see what her coaches would do about it. Well her coach took her to the top and told her she could sit on her lap and then once she sat down she gave Maylee a push and had her go by herself. Normally this works great and the kids like it. Not Maylee, she screamed the entire way down and then sat on the edge of the pool crying hysterically. I must be a mean mom because I thought it was hilarious. I wanted the coaches to be able to calm her down because she loved her coaches and I didn't want her to end the class on a bad note. But after about two minutes I decided that she just needed her Mommy and held her for about 10 minutes before she calmed down. Although I did reassure her coaches that I was glad they made her try it. Who knows maybe next summer.

So anyways we went swimming with Grandpa and surprise, surprise it was super cold. It was hot outside but there was enough of a breeze that any part of your body that wasn't in the water was freezing. After swimming, the kids took naps and then Daddy came home. So we decided to find something fun to do. We heard there is a casino that you can look at big sharks at for free. Well that ended up not being the case, so instead we sat in traffic for about an hour with nothing fun to make it worth it. We all ended up starving and we're trying to decide where to eat. We all agreed that a buffet sounded good so my Dad googled one on his phone and we followed it's directions right into a gated community. Lesson learned: don't always believe the phones know everything. However we all had a really good laugh over it. We ended up eating at Sunset Station Casino's buffet and it was excellent. We ended the night watching Gnomeo & Juliet, which I think is hilarious by the way.

Saturday David left bright and early for work and Dad took me out to buy my birthday present which was a new camera. So awesome and very much needed. Now I have a new cute camera to figure out. We also ran a couple of errands, trying to find some new hands for my huge clock that hangs in my living room, which by the way is impossible to find hands as big as I need. We took the kids to lunch at McDonald's and headed home. I decided that what I really wanted was a babysitter and to go hang out with my Dad minus kids but we couldn't find one so last minute. So we just spent the rest of the evening hanging out together until David got home at 9:30 to do cake and ice cream. Which really the older you get you realize cake and ice cream is really for your kids because that tradition is so important to a 4 & 3 year old. We got red velvet cake which I never had before and I can say honestly it is my new favorite cake. While David was lighting the candles, Talli would blow them out. He'd get about ten lite and then she blow out 3 or 4. It was hilarious.

Sunday Dad got to go to church with us and for the first time in a long time sit down in the congregation with Grandkids instead of up on the stand watching us fight the grandkids to be good. He actually got a pretty good Sunday because Talli was exhausted and ended up just sleeping in his arms during sacrament meeting for 45 minutes. Which never happens. Dutch even fell asleep while I was holding him. They're not use to staying up so late to eat cake & ice cream.

After church it was time for Dad to head back home unfortunately. It's always sad to see our company leave but Dutch was especially sad this time. He really did not want Grandpa to go home. These are the moments that make me sad that we live so far from family. It was a great weekend and I'm so glad that we got to spend a few days with Grandpa all to ourselves.

Talli doesn't know that stickers are used for anything else but to put on her face (seriously). Practically impossible to get a picture of everyone looking and smiling.