Grammy & Grumple Visit

When my mom first arrived my friend Judy said "you look just like your mom!" then the next Sunday when my dad came with us Judy said "I changed my mind, you look just like your dad!  What an even mix you are between them!"  :-)

This horse only costs one penny to ride!  I only had one penny in my purse but some good Samaritan left a pile next to the machine.

A few weeks before my dad arrived we saw someone drive by in a bright orange shirt and Scarlett yelled "I just saw Grumple!"

After playing outside with the girls my dad told Scarlett "Thanks for riding bikes with me today" to which she replied "my pleasure." haha!

My mom was in the basement playing with the twirls. Siena went upstairs and so my mom told Jaide "we need to go upstairs now." Jaide said "no!" and then a string of "twirlese" that no one but Siena can understand. But my mom gathered that Jaide really didn't want to leave the trampoline. A few seconds later Siena came back down the stairs holding both of their soft puppies ie: "gagas". Apparently they had made plans in their language to jump with their puppies!!!

My parents invented this game in the basement where they called out a color and the girls jumped on the matching color square. They LOVED it! One time I called out "orange" just to see what they would do and Siena ran and jumped into to the orange sled! After that every once in awhile Siena would randomly call out "orange!"

We went to Plymouth Orchards right before they closed one night to get their famous apple cider and cinnamon sugar donuts.  The next day Grammy cut the donuts into pieces for the girls to eat after lunch (or instead of lunch, or for breakfast, she takes that whole "I can spoil them cause I'm the Grammy" thing seriously).  The twirls were not interested, so Scarlett ate them while watching Clifford.  After awhile my mom heard her say to herself, "I've got to take a break from eating donuts."  haha!  At least she's learning self control!

On Sunday....

Siena sat between my parents during the sacrament.  My mom helped her point to the words in the hymn book during the song (while my dad did the same thing with Jaide).  Anyways, later in the meeting she got down and got the hymn book, my mom heard her call it the "singing book" and she climbed back on to the pew, opened the book on her lap and proceeded to sing while she pointed to various notes and words.  At one point her singing was so vigorous that my mom had to ssshhh her!

Scarlett helped my mom pick the twirls up from the nursery.  They walked passed the drinking fountain and Siena walked up to get a drink.  My mom pressed on the handle and water came out, she stood on her toes and said, "Too high." So my mom picked her up and she got a drink.  She's really starting to use her words!!!!  YAY!!!!

The primary took the chapel during 2nd and 3rd hours to practice the primary program.  During YW they brought Scarlett to me - crying.  Because sometimes during primary you get bored so you pretend to be a puppy and you bonk your head and it hurts so you cry and need your mom.

Photo explanations (L-->R)

• The photo on the top left: Scarlett did this a bunch during sacrament meeting - she was like an astronaut lifting off.  At one point she said, "Woo, this is exhausting."
• The next photo shows the twirls watching Lady and the Tramp.  A favorite of mine at that age that Grammy brought.  All 3 girls were entranced by it!  
• Jake and I went on a date to IKEA to get some stuff - we HAD to eat their chocolate cake while we were there!
• Jake took Scarlett on a bike ride, I could hear her crying right before I got a phone call from Jake, Grammy went to rescue her - she was pretty banged up and bleeding.  There was an older kid on some cool hands-free scooter thing that Scarlett was watching as he went past her - instead of looking forward - she lost balance and crashed
• Grammy brought in the tiny table for dinner and a movie
• Snuggles
• Scarlett calls her robe a "thingamadoodle" cause she can never remember what it's called (I think now she just prefers the new name)
• Grammy feeds her puppies
• Siena listens to the baby's heart
• Puppy love
• Looking stylish in her hat

Right before my mom arrived I noticed that Rainbow Dash the fish wasn't eating.  After a few days she just stopped moving.  I could tell she was dying so we talked to Scarlett about the process and that we could get a new fish.  She seemed excited about the idea of picking out a new one - until the actual fish funeral rolled around.  She was pretty upset.  Jake asked if she wanted to say a few words and she said "goodbye Rainbow dash, thank you for being a great fish and for swimming around in your tank and giving me fish kisses." Afterward I told her she was in heaven.  She said "wow! that was fast!  How did she get from the pipes under the house to heaven so fast?  Can she fly now?"

The girls got those sticky hand things you throw against a window.  Well one evening Scarlett accidentally got hers stuck on our vaulted ceiling.  She started crying so the twirls, Grammy, and I came in to see what was wrong.  Jaide immediately started dragging a chair over to aid in her rescue mission, at the same time Siena ran to the top of the stairs and yelled "DAD!"  I love that they both saw Scarlett was in need and immediately went to action.  My dad climbed on top of our dresser and used a hairbrush to get it down - the girls were so ecstatic when he saved the day.

We were all sad when Grammy and Grumple headed back to Utah.  It was so fun to have them here - the girls just adore them!  I think the girls and I had a hard time adjusting to "normal life" there's this mini-depression that happens every time someone goes home.  I think if you live far away from family you experience it more often cause all my friends out here empathize with me.  I miss sleeping in every day and chatting with adults during episodes of Paw Patrol.  The girls miss the constant entertainment and the fun and exciting meals that Grammy made them.  Jake misses my dad taking him out on "manly" errands to Home Depot or Buffalo Wild Wings.  Please come back soon!