Mother's Day in Phoenix

 It just so happened that we were able to visit Scott's family over Mother's Day Weekend. I was pretty excited about that. I can't remember the last time I have spend Mother's Day in the company of any of our children. 

This year is my 40th year as a mother. Corinne, Shannon and Scott all went together to have flowers sent a week early so I could enjoy them before we left for Scott's. It was such a nice surprise. 

Scott sent me flowers the day after we returned from their house. That also was so thoughtful and meaningful to me. I loved the spring colors.

The flower container is quite unique. I really liked it. 

We did so many different things at Scott's. We arrived Thursday late afternoon. I brought some Toy Story Pancake shapes so Jess whipped up three different colors of batter and the boys helped. The pancake dinner was a success.

We have decided to do away with our grandchildren toy stash. Since we will be living at Shannon's, our place isn't going to be the central visiting zone. Most likely visitors will stay with Shannon. So we decided to see if the kids wanted more of their toys back. We took Scott's Tomy Trainset for his boys to play with and they were very happy to play with that.

Friday morning we drove to watch Evan play soccer. That was entertaining. Evan is much more attentive to his teammates than the ball. That's okay. He's learning new skills by being there and getting along with others and be a kind teammate. 

Scott and Jess have been changing their eating habits over the last few years. They have more foods that are clean - less processed and more natural ingredients. They shared one of their latest finds. Basically gourmet peanut butter. This is one of them. 

If Fred and I weren't trying to lose weight right now, this is a super temptation. It's a dessert for sure. 

Saturday afternoon Jess and I went to have a manicure and a pedicure. It was fun. First we went to the wrong place. It was a very nice salon. Jess was saying she had been in salons before where they play action movies blaring in the background. This place wasn't doing that. When got to the right salon, it was playing a Dwayne Johnson Action movie blaring in the background. Jess was apologetic about it, but I didn't mind at all. It will be a fun memory for us.

We met Fred and Scott at Claim Jumpers for a double date after that. That was a first for us to go out together. I'm really glad we got to do that.

Sunday we went to church. Their ward was very generous with the Mother's Day gifts. We got little succulents, a big fat chocolate chip cookie that did look homemade, but I'm not sure. They also brought in cinnamon rolls to class time and gave us a journal. 

We spent a lot of the afternoon watching the home movies we took to Scott. He wanted a copy of his musical performances. We watched a lot of those and a lot of fun movies of our family doing silly stuff. So much fun.

Jess had a puzzle set up and Fred spent a lot of time working on it. I had no idea he enjoyed working puzzles. I want us to make one of my Dad's puzzles boards so we can maybe start working puzzles in our retirement life.

Monday we dropped Evan off at preschool and then went along to Graham's swim lesson. 

I do love that the boys love to play in the water and know how to handle themselves. 

By Tuesday we had been prepped for our babysitting duties. Scott and Jess were going to Mesa to attend her uncle's funeral. With us being there they were able to attend and be present without worrying about the boys. Fred got Evan to and from preschool and I was in charge of lunch, diaper change and keeping tabs of Graham while Fred was away. Everything went smoothly. We were a little anxious before we got here wondering if the boys would not be comfortable enough with us. It was no problem.

We got in the pool a couple of times. The water always feels so cold to me in my old age. It was fun to watch the kids. They are so lucky to have that pool in their backyard. What a blessing.

Wednesday morning we packed up and headed home. Such a great visit. We're looking forward to seeing all the kids in Colorado in a couple weeks. Lots of time with our kids during the next few months before we move and live so much further away from Scott and Corinne. I see long road trips ahead or else we'll go back to flying.