I Always Thought A Week Was Long Enough, But It's Not

Did you ever read this book as a kid? I did. And, as a child, I had absolutely no idea just how much I would come to appreciate the times when it was just me and her.

My mom came for a week long visit for my birthday (which is actually this weekend.... the timing just worked out that she came a couple weeks early) and I cannot even begin to say just how much I enjoyed having her here. I adore my mom. She is the most wonderful, selfless, giving, helpful, amazing person I know. I am still going through withdrawals.

Anyway, I just wanted to document her fun trip. Well, fun for me. I'm not sure if it was anything but exhausting for her. I kept her up until midnight or later nearly every night just because I wanted to spend every second possible with her. I wanted to have every possible conversation, tell her about every possible thing and ask her every possible question I could.

Okay, I'm really going to get to the point now, I promise.

She got her on a Wednesday evening and I had dinner ready for us to all eat together. The kids were absolutely giddy and all of them were vying for her attention. After we got them off to bed, we chatted and talked and caught up until I couldn't even keep my eyes open anymore.

The next day, after getting the kids off to school, we headed up to the Potomac Mills Outlet Mall with the 2 little boys. We spent most of the morning and part of the afternoon at Ikea, shopping for my birthday present! I needed something for my front room because we had gotten rid of our old, ugly slipcovered couch that was way too big for the room. I needed some chairs or a little loveseat, and as fate would have it, I found just what I wanted. It was perfect for my tiny front room, and I love it! We had lunch, shopped for a bit at some other stores, and got home just in time for the kids to get home from school. Andy put my loveseat together that evening. I was a happy lady.

Don't make fun of my cheap, ghetto blinds. If you have kids, you know why they look like this.
I love this room now. It just needs a few final touches and then it will be perfect. The kids aren't allowed in here, except Laylah when she practices piano. I just go in there and sit sometimes, and tease them that they can't come in (that's a joke, by the way...)

The next morning, the boys had a perfect hideout. The box from my loveseat. Funny stuff. On Friday, we shopped a little more, and ran some errands together. Andy was working from home that day, so we got to go all alone. I cherish the times I have alone with my mom. I sound a little loony, but I seriously think she's the bomb.That evening, Andy had a campout to go to for Young Men's. We had a movie night with treats. it was relaxing and fun.

I can't get over how cute my baby is. He was stuffing his face full of the good stuff. He's knows what's up.

No, I did not adopt another child. That is Laylah's BFF Alex.

The next morning was fun because my mom was able to be here for one of Jonah's basketball games. We watched him play and then we (my mom and I and the girls) headed up near DC to a place called Tyson's Corner where they have a ginormous mall that houses the American Girl store. We thought it would be fun to have a girl's day there and let Daphne pick out her birthday gift from my mom. We spent hours in that store and the girls hemmed and hawed over what they wanted to spend their money on. We took a break to go eat at California Pizza Kitchen. (California Club pizza? Heaven on your plate) We did a little shopping after dinner and then headed back to the American Girl store to make our final selections. The girls found some really cute things (all the while spending a small fortune) and were thrilled with their purchases. We headed up to the bistro for a treat after that. Those cupcakes were simply divine.

We had a low-key day on Sunday, going to church, taking long naps, and making dinner together. We also watched a movie that evening because the kids didn't have school the next day.

The next day was Grandma Day. We went to a place called Kids N Motion. The had tons of huge bouncehouses, and the kids had a blast, running from one thing to the next. My mom and I sat and talked and tried not to fall asleep. We were tiiiiiired from all of our late nights. Can you guess who's missing? I know, there are so many that it's hard to remember ;) Magnus stayed home and napped with Andy (who was sick... luckily, no one else caught it!)

After our fun day of excercising, we had to go get donuts and eat back all of those calories we just burned. You can see who the chocolate lovers of the family are...
What a fun day. Thanks grandma.

On Tuesday, we didn't do much. I did my mom's hair, we lounged around, and my mom kept trying to help me deep clean my kitchen. Normally, I would have loved her help, but I just wanted to sit around that day. So we did. That evening, we took the kids to get some new pictures at a local studio here. The only studio I could find here in the 'Burg (that's what all of the cool kids call Fredericksburg. See, I'm cool.) I'm not going to post those pictures on this post, but you can look to the left on my sidebar, or see a few more HERE.

Wednesday was a bittersweet day. It was my mom's last day here, but I had some friends lined up to watch my children, so we had the day all to ourselves. After a (little bit teary) goodbye to the kids as they left for school, and goodbye to the younger boys that we dropped off to be tended, we headed up toward DC.

We started out the day at the beautiful Washington DC temple. We did initiatories, and I can't think of a better way to start the day. It was fun to show my mom around the temple, because she had never been inside this one. After that, we headed over to Good Stuff Eatery. I've posted about this restaurant's fabulousness many-a-times. We got burgers, fries, and of course, their signature shakes (toasted marshmallow for me, milky way for mom)
After we had finished stuffing ourselves, we were full and happy, and ready to go for a walk. We only had a couple of hours left, so we stayed close to the car. We walked over to the Library of Congress, which was quite boring, but we managed to snag a picture with James Madison.

We decided to head over to the Botanical Gardens after our boring investigation of the Library of Congress. I have always wanted to see them, but whenever we've been in DC, we've always run out of time. I'm so glad we did it. It was so beautiful and it smelled marvelous. They had all different rooms and themes like the Jungle Room, Desert Room, Medicinal Plants Room, Hawaiin Room, etc.
My favorite was the Orchid Room. They were in full bloom, and it was incredibly beautiful.
See for yourself...
I could have stayed and lived there.

Ouch, watch out mom. That looks sharp :)

And this one just looks yucky.

I could have stayed much longer, but we had to leave and unfortunately, I had to take my mom to the airport. We made it there right when she needed to be there, and we said goodbye, until next time. I can't wait to go visit my family this summer.

It's a funny thing, living away from home. I always think I'm doing okay and not feeling homesick, until someone comes to visit me. After they leave to go home, I feel like I'm back to where I was when we first moved here and I miss Utah and my family a lot. We love it here, and if given the choice, I'm not sure if we would choose to go back or stay. I know that I love my family so much, and I love when they come and visit me. We had a fabulous time. Thanks mommy.