This weekend my parents came to visit! That alone would have made it fantastic, but in addition to them visiting we did a bunch of fun stuff, ate a lot of fantastic food, and they watched the kids so Ian and I could sneak away for a night to celebrate our 8 year anniversary (which isn't actually until next week). It all added up to the best weekend ever.
Mom and Dad's flight got in late on Thursday night. I had just pulled into the park and wait area at the airport when I got Mom's text that said, (and I quote) "We're here! We'll get our bags and our car and come as quick as we can!" Wait, you're renting a car? (I texted back) Mom had forgotten that they were renting a car and therefore forgot to tell me. Whoops! It was pretty funny. So I headed home and put on the kettle for some hot cocoa for when they pulled in. We stayed up way too late talking and finally crashed for the night well after midnight.
Friday morning the kids were so excited to see Grandma and Grandpa! We had a nice, slow morning. When we finally got moving we headed to Chuck E. Cheese to win some tickets to buy some new silly straws. I may have melted the old silly straws when I poured boiling water on them by accident the day before. Oops. It actually worked out really well because we got there right when it opened so we had the place pretty much to ourselves and we all just played and had fun. And got some silly straws in the end. Success!
Ian came home early and we headed out after lunch for our anniversary getaway. We make a point to go away for at least one night every year for our anniversary, but last year it just didn't happen, so I was determined that we would have some time away together this year. I so appreciate my parents volunteering to stay with the kids! It was just perfect.
We decided to check out a new museum downtown call the Leonardo. It was really cool. Lots of fun exhibits. We especially loved the hilarious genealogy chair video, the infrared motion sensor area, the stop motion exhibit, and the green screen. I think Ian will have to take Weston on a special outing to explore this museum again sometime, but it sure was nice to be able to stop and look at everything at our own pace, rather than the pace of a 3 year old.
After we finished making our way through the museum we went and checked into our hotel. We stayed at the Little America hotel downtown. It was beautiful! Our room was huge, with a king bed, separate sitting area and little dining table with a cool chandelier above it. There was also a nice, big tub and a separate vanity room. We booked the bed and breakfast package and it was wonderful. I highly recommend it.
After dropping off our luggage we went to an early dinner at Faustina, our favorite "nice" restaurant in SLC. We were pretty early and so we were the only ones in the restaurant for awhile. The kitchen wasn't quite ready for us either, so it was a nice, long, drawn out meal. I actually thought it was just right. The food was amazing too. Wow. We had roasted red pepper and goat cheese soup, the Smoked Sonoma Chicken Salad, a chicken puff pastry with polenta appetizer (yum!), then Ian ordered stuffed beef tenderloin medallions, and I had the braided salmon with mashed potatoes and shredded vegetables on top in this delicious lemony sauce. Seriously, if you live in Utah you should try out this restaurant sometime. Dessert was chocolate lava cake with ice cream and creme brulee. We were kind of stuffed, but it was worth it.
We ended our date night with a couples massage at Heavenly Hands. We could have done with a little more time between eating and getting the massages, but it worked out. It was very relaxing. By the time we were done we were ready for some rest. It was kind of funny/sad, but Ian and I both ended up taking meds to help us sleep so we could enjoy our uninterrupted night.
Saturday morning we slept in. Of course! A beautiful breakfast was delivered to our room when we got up and we just took a slow, relaxing morning until it was time to pack up and head back to reality. :) Not that our reality is too shabby, but it does require more responsibility of us. We were happy to get home to the kids and to spend some more time visiting with my parents.
When we got back we went to lunch at Kneader's with everyone. It was a little chaotic and ended with us bundling a naked Talia into the car wrapped up in my coat. I won't go into the details. That afternoon we all rested. Mom and Dad checked into their hotel and took naps while we came home and unpacked and caught up with the kids. They had a blast with Grandma and Grandpa. They built stuff. It's a surprise for Christmas, so that's about all I know and I have no pictures. They also got to have dinner at McDonald's, so they were happy campers.
Saturday night we left the kids home with a sitter (again. I know, I felt horrible) so that us adults could go to the BYU football game. It was cold, but so much fun. It had snowed that afternoon, but the sky was clear and our seats were dry down in Provo. We stopped for some cheesesteaks near the stadium before the game, then walked over to our seats. We were right in front of the speakers, so my vision of us sitting up high so we could sit and talk wasn't exactly the way it went, but we stayed warm all bundled up with our hot chocolate and the Cougars played awesome! It was a super fun game. We were all glad we braved the weather and went. Thanks Mom and Dad!
Sunday morning came way too early, but it was a nice day. After church we just relaxed and watched a bunch of videos. I made chicken pot pie (recipe to come in a future post) for dinner. And Christmas came a little early. Mom and I sang all of our Christmas songs. It was so fun. I love singing with my mom. After dinner Grandma made Christmas sugar cookies with the boys. They loved it and the cookies are so delicious!
We also celebrated Talia's birthday early! She actually turned 11 months on Saturday. And check out what she started doing this weekend! That's right, our little bum scootcher is now capable of army crawling too. I'm so proud. :)
We watched Talia's newborn video, then let her open her presents from Grandma and Grandpa. She loved that she was allowed to touch that crinkly paper! She didn't so much care what was inside. She got a new Christmas dress and a Christmas Duck & Goose book. She loves Duck & Goose and was excited to read her new book with Grandma. We also sang to her and let her eat a sugar cookie. She loved it and most of it actually ended up in her mouth. She wasn't super smiley at this point in the night because she was very tired and we just kept making her do more stuff, but she's cute even when she glares at the camera.
Once we got all the kids cleaned up and the kitchen cleaned up we were all ready to put our feet up. We played some Bananagrams and ate cookies until it was time for Mom and Dad to head back to the hotel and get some sleep before their early morning flight home. It was such a wonderful weekend. I just wish it could have been longer! Thanks for everything Mom and Dad!
We had planned to decorated the Christmas tree on Saturday evening, but ended up having friends over instead. Weston was pretty good about waiting even though he was SO excited to put the ornaments on the tree. Sunday night after dinner we got out all the tree decor, but when we went to plug the lights in when they were already on the tree the second strand wasn't lighting up. This time Weston couldn't contain his disappointment and there were some tears. I felt horrible that I had to put him off again. 
