Abe's Family Comes to Town -- And Thanks to Sarah, It was a Successful Visit

Abe, Klarissa, Newland and Wynne arrived at our front porch begging for a refreshing drink as they were parched in their travels. I offered them water. That's what I like when I am thirsty.

Abe was outraged (maybe that is a little too strong of a word...) when he later learned we had limeade (his favorite drink that Glen insists we buy every time he comes to town) out in the refrigerator in the garage.

Abe couldn't, for the life of him, figure out why I didn't offer it to him upon his first arrival. As I am looking at this photo and reliving the moment, I now tend to agree with him. The limeade would have been so refreshing to them.

My mistake! I'll try to do better in the future!

Newland is so loving with his little sister. He is also a very active little boy who could hardly wait to show us his nerf rocket which he promptly launched up into a tree.

He called for his grandpa to come help get it down from the tree. Glen used the water hose to accomplish that feat.

A little while later, Newland was requesting more assistance from his grandpa. This time to get the florescent green projectile off the roof. Glen used a ladder and an extension cord to whack at the thing to get it down.

The third time it went up, we left it there until shortly before they left to go back home.

The little ones made a bed for themselves on the kitchen floor and invited me to sleep in it with them.

Newland enjoyed using Dominoes as building blocks.

He loved spending time with his grandpa.

Especially when his grandpa was making French toast for breakfast.

Abe and Klarissa went to the San Diego Temple and we were on grandparent duty. We took the grandchildren with us to a baptism. Wynne and Newland both loved the refreshments served after the baptismal service had ended.

Wynne played with the light switches in one of the classrooms.

They loved running around the gym while we waited for Glen to finish talking to people. They were playing a game where the stage was a ship and they would throw the ball far out to sea and then run to get it.

I am so glad Sarah brought us some of our toys from home when she last came to visit (see Dominoes above and cars in this photo). They have come in handy for subsequent grandchildren visits.

Grandma snuggle time before Wynne's nap.

All the grandchildren love popcorn time with their grandpa. These two are looking on with rapt attention as he sings the obligatory "Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree" Primary song during the preparation process of the popcorn making.

Which was ALMOST as intriguing as watching the popcorn popping.

Abe was using every free moment to do some piano practicing while he was here. He was one of the children who decided to quit taking piano after a year or so. I warned him (as I did the other ones who quit shortly after beginning) he would one day regret it.

I told him to look at me and admit his mother had been right and he is now sorry he quit piano lessons!!

Once again a thank you shout-out to Sarah for bringing the Legos to us for grandchildren enjoyment.

We were verbally thanking Sarah for this delicious meal as we were eating it. Even though her visit was several months ago, there are still remnants of her remaining.

She made a pulled pork salad for us and there was an abundance of meat and salad dressing leftovers. I told her I was going to put them in the freezer and pull them out for Abe and Klarissa's visit as they are Cafe Rio lovers and this is similar to what Cafe Rio offers.

Double thumbs up when paired with the Limeade I finally decided to offer them.

Abe inevitably has to work every time he's on vacation. This was no exception. As he was busily trying to get his work done as quickly as possible, Newland wanted his dad's attention.

Another box of grandchildren delight from home--puzzles--that Sarah had brought to us was just what was needed to keep Newland happy while his dad worked nearby.

The Thomas family loves making chocolate chip cookies. They were cooking while three of the five missionaries we had invited to dinner were doing the dishes.

The kitchen activities were going on while Elder Hadfield, Elder Eddins, Glen and I were having a planning meeting in the office. Elder Eddins is our new assistant and Glen had switched around which day we were next having Mission Leadership Council to the upcoming Friday.

We were planning how that would go so the assistants could get their training planned and the assignments called out.

We emerged to a clean kitchen and these five missionaries, plus a little future missionary, looking forward to eating the freshly-baked cookies.

Our MLC was going to be based on training for the upcoming Christmas initiative #LIGHTtheWORLD. Newland is watching the beautiful new video that will be coming soon to mormon.org. 
Abe invited us to have Family Home Evening with his family. These two little ones just loved participating in the lesson which was all about service.

Newland was eager to show his grandpa how he is learning the piano.

Once the pajama-clad youngsters were tucked into bed, we brought out Qwirkle. 

We had a wonderful Sabbath Day.