Grandma's Visit...

My mom came into town on February 22nd and stayed until March 7th.  We absolutely love when she comes to visit, the kids especially.  She jumps right in and helps and the kids love having someone else to play with and pay attention to them.  Unfortunately our weather was just cold and yucky while she was here but we hadn't planned on doing anything outside anyways, so we were fine!  We didn't do much but we still had fun with her.

Abby's absolute favorite thing to do with Grandma is projects!!  She is a good sport to come up with new ideas for her and help her out.

 Our big (little) trip!  Steve had talked to my mom on his own to make sure she was ok with watching all 5 kids for us in order for us to go away for the night.  She was very brave to do it!  I was especially worried because Riley developed stranger danger just a couple of weeks before she got here and would cry if anyone other than Steve or I would hold her, including my mom!  Not good timing!  It actually worked out better for us to go on a Monday night so Steve left work early and took Tuesday off.  I had arranged for Preston to get a ride to school so my mom didn't have to leave the house or load up the kids.  

We were on our way by 3pm on Feb. 27th and drove the hour and a half to Lava Hot Springs, and thankfully the weather held out for our drive.  We stayed at the cute, historic hotel and since this is the off season it was super quiet and practically empty.  Steve had gotten a package deal because of Valentine's Day so we got a couples massage (Steve's first massage! He loves me!) and got to eat at their fancy restaurant, although because it was so slow they only had sitting in the bar area, haha! The massage was great, the food was amazing, the quiet was refreshing but one of the best parts was that the hotel had their own private hot springs pools/hot tubs.  We soaked in the hot water 3 times and it was so relaxing! We enjoyed sleeping in and then drove the 30 minutes to Pocatello where we had Chipotle (we don't have one here and it is Steve's favorite) for lunch then we walked the tiny mall for a bit before going to the movies.  It felt so nice to really enjoy out time away and not rush back home immediately.  Seriously it was the best getaway with my love.  

We got home about 5pm on Tuesday.  The kids were so happy to see us and we got a good report from my mom.  She said that the babies had a hard time at first but once they realized that Grandma was it, they did much better.  So grateful to her for that!   

 The real reason for my mom's visit was so that we could go to Time Out for Women here in Idaho Falls.  I think we figured out that this was my 8th or 9th time going to an event.  We really enjoy the event here because it is a lot smaller than the one in Phoenix and feels more intimate.  It was wonderful with many awesome speakers including John Bytheway and Elaine S. Dalton.  This was the exact spiritual pick me up that I had been needing.