Mi Familia

My mom and dad came to visit us last week and we had a great time!! We didn't take a ton of pics, but we got some really good ones. They were only here from Tues evening through Saturday afternoon, and it felt like the time flew by! It felt like they were missing when we got home on Sat from dropping them off, cause it was just so great having them here. They'll be back next year, and we might see them at Thanksgiving, but it just will seem so long now.

They came in on Tues afternoon and we drove a little through St. Paul to show them the downtown area and the capitol and various places that we like. Then we met up with Dave and cooked burgers for dinner and had a nice visit. We played Boggle for a little while and that was fun. Mom is a very timid Boggle player, so it was good for her to play against some avid players. Wed I had to work for half a day, which ended up being 2/3 of the day, and then I helped her make her famous steak and potato dinner, which was super tasty. Then we really just hung out Wed evening, got a chance to talk and really catch up about everything from family to wedding plans to food options to books we're reading, etc.

Then Thurs I ended up working again for half a day while we did a few other things. Dad helped us with a vent cover that needed some tweaking and we replaced a thermostat to a programmable one, which is nice. Mom and I also spent a couple hours on Thurs afternoon at Davids Bridal wedding dress shopping. It was nice to have her there this time, because the first time I did it alone, and I wanted to have my mommy there with me. I was glad we got to have that experience together, because with me having picked up and moved so far away, there is a lot of wedding planning that would be nice to do with my mom and my sister, but I picked up and left. So I do it on my own and then give them updates over the phone. So it was just really special to me to have here there.

Thurs night we took mom and dad to Rudolphs, which is this great ribs and BBQ spot in downtown Minnepolis that is so good! We've taken all our visitors there and the ribs are awesome! The food there is just good but the ribs are outstanding. And we got a great group picture, including all the food from Rudolphs. It was really good. We were so stuffed from the ribs, briskett and corn bread. And we had told the waitress how my parents had come from Idaho and they had heard for a year how great this place was and so the waitress surprised them with a free piece of cheesecake. And it was HUGE! That was really a great treat for them.

Friday I finally had the whole day off, so after breakfast and hanging out for a little while mom, dad and me drove through parts of Wisconsin, into Stillwater, and did a couple errands. We stopped at the LDS temple that isn't too far from our house and took pictures there.

And mom and me are silly.
It had been a really humid and muggy day, but we had a few more errands to run before we could come home. But even just running around town was good because having the chance to show them various parts of our neighborhood and general areas. Dad is such a mapper, so he was already a little familiar with the area. And the fact that in the past I would call him when we'd be out driving somewhere and have him mapquest something if we were a little lost. So it was fun to show him the areas.


Then we got home and hung out a bit more. Dave got to come home early and he and Dad played the Wii a little bit. I was excited for Dad to try it, because he had had a chance to see it for the first time over the 4th of July.


My cousin had brought it up to our grandma's and the family all got to play the Wii, so dad got to see it for the first time. But I think he had a good time playing it. We made him a Mii that was really cute and named it Grandpa.

They both really loved Camille. She's such a good dog and by the end of the trip she was really attached to both of them. Dave calls her my little lamb cause she follows me everywhere, but she was doing good sitting and playing with dad. Mom knitted us 3 new dish rags, which is nice to have, cause I use them! And we had a lot of time to talk, catch up, sit and chat, we talked a lot about wedding options, plans and thoughts, and they really liked our house. We told them pretty much about every nook and cranny and what we had done, what we were going to do, showed them all the flowers we planted, what we want to do landscaping wise and all our ideas and wants regarding the house. We spent some time outside and had lunch on our screened in porch on Fri, which was nice. And we ate really well!! We did a lot of sugar free options, or lower sugar options, since my dad has recently been diagnosed with diabetes in the last year and Dave has had it for a few years. So we talked a lot about food options, lower sugar substitutions, and we baked cookies that have 1/4 the sugar you'd normally have, substituted with 1/4 splenda as well. Those went over really well!


It was just a great visit overall. It was too short, of course. I'm really looking foward to when I can see them again and when they come visit here next spring for our wedding. We had a lot of fun together and with catching up. I sure do miss them and cried just a bit when they left. But hopefully we'll see them again at Thanksgiving and if not, definitely at the wedding.