At the end of May, Brad graduated from Dental School at Midwestern and so the family that was able to all came to town. My parents got a couple units at the Worldmark spot in Phoenix and we had a whole week to party together. They arrived on a Sunday, so I scrambled around to find something adequate to feed everybody. Luckily I had just hosted book group so I had some yummy leftovers. The chocolate hummus was a big hit, especially with Rory who kept sneaking into the kitchen to help herself to more. We introduced them to the movie Coco and had a nice time all catching up.
The next day, Kristy, my mom, and I headed to Arizona Mills Mall to do a little shopping. Kristy rented a race car stroller to contain Declan, which Rory found much more interesting than her own stroller. We spent most of the time trying to keep the kids in said strollers and happy. I always come prepared with bribery candy, and so at one point I told Declan I would give him a piece of candy if he stayed in his seat, but he had to keep it a secret. He asked me for "secret candy" the rest of the day and kept trying to check my pockets and bag for any treats I might be holding back. They did a pretty good job and Declan even helped push Rory around in the stroller a little bit.
While we shopped, the boys golfed (of course) and afterwards we all met up at Cafe Rio for lunch. Rory loves Grandpa and she especially loves him best when he has food, so she was a pretty happy girl. After lunch we headed over to my parents place to swim in their pool. Since it was memorial day, Stephen actually had the day off so he was able to join in on our festivities, which is a rare treat. Rory LOVED the pools of course, and it was fun showing off her skills to my family. The hotel actually has three or four different little pools all right next to each other so Rory would hop in one, swim to the edge, climb out, and hop right into to the other- ALL. DAY. LONG. This girl just cracks me up.
The next couple days were spent over at Brad and Jules place because very pregnant Jules is supposed to be on a bit of a bed rest, not that that is actually feasible with two kids under three years old. We weren't able to make it out to Glendale every day because of other things I had going on, like mutual, but when we did Rory loved playing with the cousins and trying to copy everything the little boys did.
I've buried the lede a little bit here because I failed to mention the biggest monster of this week together. A few weeks before everyone got together, I mentioned to Kacey and Jon Wayne that Stephen and I had some projects around the house we were wanting to do and if they were interested in trading baby sitting for help again, we would be too. Fast forward to a few days before everyone was set to arrive and Kacey calls me to confirm that Jon is coming with them to Phoenix this weekend specifically to start on these home projects, so get ready for him. The Nielsens rolled in late Thursday night, crashed at our house, and then Jon literally worked the rest of the time he was there. Stephen went to work on Friday, but came home as quickly as he could to work with him. And my dad, superhero that he is, sacrificed his entire weekend as well. While these guys tore up carpet, leveled floors, made countless home depot trips, mixed mortar, cut tile, etc... Kacey and I took off with the kids, met up with everyone else, and played and swam and ate to our heart's content.
Jon didn't even make it back to the hotel to crash on Friday night, he just slept at my house so they could work late and start early. While they worked we also completed several more escape rooms, because Earls have priorities. One of them we did was a room where you are separated into two teams and you are each put in the exact same room at the exact same time so that you can see who makes it out first. Brad, Jules, and I beat mom, Kacey and Courtney but it sounds like it was maybe due to a technical difficulty in their room so the world may never know who is, in fact, smarter.
The men really did work around the clock, only taking breaks to eat. I was especially touched by my dad's hand in it. He is not the "handiest" 'of men and I've rarely seen him take on projects or work like this, but he was so into it and Stephen and Jon Wayne said his help was invaluable. His one condition for working was that, in spite of the summer Arizona heat, the house was to stay a cool 65 degrees, any less and he was walking. When I came home Friday night (and let myself into my bedroom through my window since I couldn't actually walk anywhere in my home) it literally felt like I'd walked into the refrigerated room at Costco. I could not believe my house could even get that cold!
By the end of the weekend, they were not able to finish the floors or start on some of the other projects we had in mind for the house, but the work they did do was incredible and saved us so much money that I believe our next child will need to be named Jon Wayne David Stephen Marsh.
No comments:
Post a Comment