Pre-Reunion Guests

 

  Last week, Paul worked on and off out in the field in Ogden and back at the office in SLC. When he works out in the field, he creates an office in the van so he can write reports!

 On Tuesday, Grace wore make-up and was pretty happy with herself.

 Alice wore some too. I took the girls on a walk, we went to the library for our 4 Barbie movies that we had on hold, and the library puppet show of The Emperor's New Clothes. It was hot and crowded. We read books at home, then in the afternoon I had a WIC class on breastfeeding. They said milk supply increases when you eat oatmeal, so I made no bakes for dessert after Paul made dinner. Paul and I did tons of reunion/guest planning in the evening.

 On Wednesday, the girls were cute hugging sisters! We had a slow morning, and did some housework. Grace finished a chapter book, and we played downstairs. We spent the evening working on getting the house ready for guests.

On Thursday, Alice couldn't believe it when she got to wear Grace's old Dora dress! She said "Doowa! Doowa!" We cleaned house in the morning.

 Then we drove to the Provo Smith's to order the Chinese food for the reunion. We brought some to Ashley for lunch, and spent some time with her and the baby Delaney. Grace LOVES that baby! Paul had his van trauma that afternoon, and had to be towed to the mechanic shop. I cut his hair that evening, and we emptied out our storage room so people can sleep in it.

On Friday, the girls woke up super early. We played downstairs, and found the Barbie stuff, but no Barbies. Alice put super hero guys in the Barbie wicker furniture.

We had tomato soup for lunch. The girls LOVE it, but Alice makes quite a mess. I spent a lot of the afternoon working on the grocery list for the reunion. It's a big job! In the evening, we made pizza and watched The Emperor's New Clothes with the girls on Netflix. After the kids were in bed, Paul mowed the lawn while I did more grocery planning, then we played games.

 On Saturday, Paul and the girls dusted and vacuumed all morning. They love playing in the window seats.

 Meanwhile, I did all the grocery shopping for our guests, put all that in the car (thanks to Paul for putting a cooler in there for me), then I went back into the store and got the reunion food (well, the freezer stuff and nonperishables, since the fridge stuff seemed like it would go bad, and I'd have nowhere to put it!). I was pretty worn out after 3 hours on my feet.

 I read to the girls, and we did tons more housework/organizing and getting stuff ready for our guests.

 Once most of the work was done, Paul and the girls made signs. Grace made a sign for every room, and Paul made a Hotel Gabe sign for the front door. We were pretty worn out by evening. I made dozens and dozens of cookies, and we played Scrabble until Heather and her 4 kids arrived at 11 pm after driving all day from Des Moines. We put her kids straight to bed, talked briefly, and crashed in our beds.

 On Sunday, Paul and I spoke in church. Grace got to have Luke/Jensen in her primary class, and Alice had Eliza in nursery. Oh, and of course I got Heather and Kate. After lunch and naps/visiting/playing, the kids made cards for Aunt Ashley.

 Eliza was still a little out of it from her nap.

 Sisters!

 Like mother like daughter. You can't tell from the picture how much Heather is suffering from her cat allergy. Cats haven't lived here in a year, but she and Ben both could tell from their allergies that cats used to live here.

The Dilsavers and Cassidy (post-EFY) came over before dinner to visit. The birthday girl gave her baby a drink.

Paul provided Italian sodas for the rest of us to drink. 

 The usual crew.

 The usual silliness ensued.

 I made a low-fat cake for Ashley's 24th birthday. We ate it after our soup and rolls.

 The kids were pretty messy afterwards, so we put them in their pajamas. Alice ended up wearing the same shirt as Uncle Ben - how embarrassing!

 Paul, Alice, and Eliza.

 Eliza was getting used to Uncle Paul, which helps since she's our girl for the next few days.

 Alice loves Cassidy! And Cassidy loves the baby Kate, just because she's so chubby.

 Candid camera.

 Ben and the triplets. 3 cousins in the their Cousin Power shirts!

We read scriptures before bed. Grace helped Luke some. They're both going to kindergarten this fall. Once the kids were in bed, we visited some more, got the house put together, and went to bed to the sound of the rain.
Heather and Kate left this morning for Pennsylvania for a few days, so we have the other 3 Kramer kids. Going good so far. Cassidy should be arriving at our house soon, and then the Malones. Gonna be a party!