A Macbeth Visit

Ben's parents left their lovely St. George and drove across the country to visit our lovely Raleigh. For a couple of months Ben and I were brainstorming ideas of things to do with them.  We thought about the beach, the zoo, restaurants, and other things but ended up mostly staying home and relaxing (well if you call all of the Macbeths' work "relaxation").  You see, the reason why our possible plans were immediately cancelled was because shortly after Ben's parents arrived, he came down with the most severe case of strep ever and it lasted almost the entire duration of their trip.  Boo.  But no time is more precious than time spent at home, right?

 Lily and Grandmum looked for animals in the clouds.  And major kudos to Grandmum for lying down in that rough bermuda grass.

 "Smile Cookies" were made and eaten. 

 One of my more flattering pictures, no?  (See Mom and Dad!  Your multi-thousand dollar investment in braces paid off!!!)  At least the cookie was delicious.

 Lily and Grandmum invented the game of "Princess Superhero," in which they wore capes and saved whatever Lily said needed saving (cats, pigs, etc).

 One of the highlights of the trip was how much Pop Pop spoiled Lily and Skyler.  He not only made HUGE progress on the castle, helped us with some of our plant problems, and did tons of crucial work on the motorcycle, but he even made this horse swing by hand for the kiddos that we set up on the front porch.  Talk about love.  I think my kids have probably got to be some of the most spoiled kids in the world.

It was a hit.  Lily is always asking to go higher and faster.

3 generations of handsome guys.

These two spent a lot of time together.  As I always say to people who think my children look like me, "Lily is her grandmother's twin and Skyler is his grandfather's."  It's actually kind of funny.

By the way, Skyler's cute.  Just thought I'd point that out.  There's a reason why he's got me so well wrapped around his finger.  It's probably unhealthy.

For FHE (which had to wait until Thursday night because Ben was so desperately sick) we took Mum and Dad to the Raleigh temple.  They had only been to one of the little temples before.  Here we are standing in the steeple's shadow, blowing our horns like Moroni.... except facing the wrong direction....

Too cute.  I hope Ben and I are this happy when we're their age.

Aren't we so glad that families can be eternal?

It was a fabulous visit.  The only thing that was tough was Ben's extreme sickness.  But that in itself was a blessing.  It reminded us to slow down and to remember the important things in life and we were able to have a real vacation (even if that meant me sleeping on Lily's trundle bed for a few nights... ugh). 

Perhaps my own favorite part of the trip was the bond I saw between Lily and Mum.  Mum has these different songs that she would sing to Lily: A Bushel and A Peck, "The Indian Princess Song," and my personal favorite, "The Fish Song."  Except it has absolutely NOTHING to do with fish.  It's actually a Ukrainian song about wooing the wrong man but since it's in Ukrainian and there were a lot of "ish" noises in it, Lily named it "The Fish Song" and asked for it to be sung to her all day long.  Oh how lucky we are to be able to preserve these memories with modern technology.  If my internet wasn't so horrible I would upload the movie.  Maybe another day....

Thanks for coming Mum and Dad!