Last week we had SO much fun, we had a week long visit from...GRANDMA AND GRANDPA COOKIE (FRIEL)!! We had a such a blast all week with them, and they spoiled us rotten! They got here on October 18th around 9pm, they had a slight delay because they got stuck in Laramie, WY because a bad snow storm shut down the freeway, but luckily they were able to continue. We were a little worried they might have to stay the night there, and Little Miss Haybug would NOT have been happy about that-okay I wouldn't have either.
Friday October 18th we also celebrated Wes's birthday! We didn't do anything too exciting (sorry honey!) but we did have a few friends over for Wes's favorite-German Chocolate Cheesecake. After they left my parents FINALLY arrived. Hailey was impatiently waiting at the screen door for them, I had to let her run out and check every 10 seconds to see if she saw them yet, and when she did she booked it down the sidewalk! We had fun visiting with them for awhile and they got some snuggles in from Austin and Hailey before they went to bed. Wes opened up his birthday presents from them, he got some really nice brown church shoes and some golfing shoes, he has been drooling over them ever since! We didn't stay up too late since they were pretty pooped from the drive, but man it was good to see them again!
We didn't waste any time going out and having fun, Saturday we went to Ditmar's Apple Orchard in Council Bluffs, IA (we are about a two minute drive from the IA border). We hadn't been there before, but heard it was pretty fun. It didn't disappoint. Hailey played on the playground for a bit, and then we took a tractor ride up to the apple orchard part. We had a great time
On Sunday we went to church. Our church house is in Council Bluffs about 15 minutes away. We went on a walk around the Villagegreen townhouses so they could see the community we live in. Villagegreen consists of about townhomes, and about 80% of the tenants are students and/or LDS. We are located about 5 minutes from downtown Omaha, though it is not necessarily considered the greatest part of town, Villagegreen is its own little haven in the midst of it all :) After the kids were in bed, we stayed up and played some games...of course.
Monday Wes had to get back to the grind of school and studying. The rest of us drove over to the Winter Quarters Temple in North Omaha. The temple is only about 15 minutes away from where we live. It's kind of funny that when we lived in Utah we were about an hour away from the nearest temple, and now that we're out of state we are only 15. We went to the Mormon Trail Center there as well. Wes and I had been there once before and thought it was really neat. We then walked around the temple and Winter Quarters Pioneer Cemetery (which is on the same grounds as the temple).
Tuesday and Wednesday we kind of had to stay indoors because the weather was cold, rainy, and windy. But we did walk down to the Lauritzen Gardens which is just down the street from us. Our place actually overlooks the gardens which is pretty neat. They have some big model trains that you can go walk around us well. We went out to eat at Crackerbarrel one of the nights. I had never been there before and it was pretty yummy. Hailey, grandma, and I had a fun time decorating a Halloween Gingerbread House. Of course, after the kids were in bed we would play games and eat yummy sweets!
After Wes got home from school Thursday afternoon we went to the Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium...which not going to lie...is a pretty sweet zoo...ranked #1 Zoo in the world-just saying :) And the cool thing about it, is it is only five minutes away from our place! My parents thought it was really fun and they enjoyed it! It was about the fifth time we have been there, but there is always so much to see, and Hailey absolutely LOVES it! After the zoo we went out to Famous Dave's for dinner, again neither me nor Wes had eaten there before, and it was really yummy!!
After Wes came home from school on Friday we drove to Bellevue(about 20 minutes away) and went to Bellevue Berry and Pumpkin Farm....it was huge and really fun! There was a lot to do there, and Hailey loved it, and Austin enjoyed snoozing as we packed him around in his pack :) We played on a playground, climbed on rope courses, went through a corn maze, walked through a couple spook houses and caves, jumped on bounce houses, went carnival style fishing, took a hayride through a haunted forest (no live scares during the day) to a pumpkin patch and each picked out a pumpkin, and ate some caramel apples and kettle corn!! Definitely making this a family tradition for us these next two years while we're here! Later that night we decorated our pumpkins and Grandpa made his famous ribs! Like I already said....we were spoiled!
Saturday morning they took us out to Ihop for breakfast, came home and they packed up to leave (not before wes and grandpa squeezed in a game of Wii golf).
We had sooooo much fun playing with my parents this past week. I can't say it enough how much Hailey enjoyed her grandma and grandpa staying with us. Every morning the first thing she'd do is run to find Grandma and Grandpa, needless to say the next few mornings were a little rough for her. And oh boy, Austin, that kid just loved all the cuddles he was getting. This kid was definitely a little Grandpa's boy!!! Everytime he would be fussing, me and Grandma couldn't calm him, but the second he was in Grandpa's arms he was just fine....even smiling! Trust me this was tested many times, and never failed. Of course Grandpa was quite proud of this :) As much fun as we had with them here, it was sad, because then we had to say goodbye again :( and this time I know it will be much longer until we get to see them again. Although they said they were already planning a trip around April sometime, and I'm holding them to it and already counting down!
