Five Generations

My fabulous mother came out for another short visit this past weekend. Unfortunately for her, we were in the middle of a nasty 2 week (and counting) sickness, but Luke and I were in better shape than poor Jeff so we managed to have a little fun while she was here.

She arrived Thursday night and we spent most of Friday down in Gilbert visiting family at Aunt Linda's house. Great Mamal (my mom's mom's mom) had just moved in with her. And my mom's Uncle Richard was in town, along with Mamal and Aunt Debi, so we went down to spend the day with them.

Luke inexplicably threw up before we left that morning and he seemed a little under the weather all day.

But he never feels bad enough to ignore an opportunity to look cute for the camera.

At Aunt Linda's house, we were offered all kinds of fabulous food and goodies, as usual, and we had such a wonderful time catching up with family. I was probably 10 the last time I saw Great Mamal and I had never met Uncle Richard so it was really wonderful to spend a few hours with them. And I was so excited to take a 5 generation picture - something I wasn't sure I'd ever get the opportunity to do:

5 Generations

While we were at Aunt Linda's, Mom discovered what Luke thought was a hilarious game. She got some water in the end of a straw and released it into Luke's mouth. He was laughing so hard! He cracked up as he watched her get the water in the straw and then laughed uncontrollably as she released it into his mouth, letting it all roll out onto his shirt. His laughter was definitely contagious.

The anticipation

Trying to keep it together

And crumbling into fits of laughter

 

Uncle Richard and Aunt Debi

On Saturday morning, Mom and I drove down to Sedona and went horseback riding for an hour. It was freezing down there and like a fool, I didn't bring a jacket. Since I barely needed a jacket when Jeff and I were down there two weeks before, I assumed I would be fine wearing only a little cardigan with sleeves ending at my elbows, but boy was I wrong. The wind was gusting at incredible speeds and there was no sign of the sun behind the dark gray clouds. Lucky for me, I was saved by the kindness of a stranger. We rode with a nice middle-aged couple and as the four of us stood waiting to mount our horses, the man noticed how cold I was and gave me his jacket without hesitation (fortunately, he was wearing two). Thanks to him (and my mom, who kindly paid for the ride), I was able to enjoy getting my horsey fix on a beautiful trail ride instead of just trying not to die of hypothermia the entire time.

We arrived back at the apartment just as Jeff and Jared were carrying our new couch up the stairs. Mamal and Papal gave us a couch, which matches the chair they gave us when we got married. Mom was going to drive it up, but she didn't want to drive my dad's truck, which has a broken speedometer, for fear of getting a speeding ticket. So Jared voluntarily drove it up for us in his truck. He left at 5am that morning, arrived at our place around noon, helped move the couch in, dropped our old couch off at Goodwill, and then turned around and drove Mom back home to California! Thanks Jared (and Mom for paying for his gas)!

Our nice new couch. We love it!