Grandma Grandpa Came a Visitin'

A couple of weeks ago, my in-laws came out for a visit!  They live in Texas and we live in California, so we don't get to see each other nearly as often as we want to, so this was a special treat.  The kiddos went CRAZY, they were so excited!  I was pretty excited too.  I love my in-laws.  They are second parents to me.  I was surprised that when I told people my in-laws were coming, most people responded with, "Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"  I can't imagine not liking your in-laws...it would make life so stressful.  Sure, my in-laws have their flaws, but they are kind, honest people who just welcomed me into their family the first time I met them.  They made my decision to marry their son easy.

We had so much fun on their visit.  The first night they were here we hit up the local little amusement park for hot dogs and rides.

N likes to just eat the dog out of the bun

My in-laws on the huge roller coaster

My hubby and I on the roller coaster

Grandma and N on the Dragon

Daddy and N on the Carousel

Baby J on the Carousel

My sister-in-law is serving as a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for the next 18 months in the next mission over from where we live and where our temple is located!  She will be so close and yet so far, haha.  So while the in-laws were here we went up to see the mission home and the temple and left a "greenie box" for her.  I was able to get some cute pics of the kids, and Grandma and Grandpa with their first two grandkids.

 
We also went to the local aquarium and had a blast watching the kids get so excited about the "fishies."  Before that, we grabbed a bite to eat at Johnny Rockets.

N abusing a starfish

J even touched one all on his own

 We had some down time between all this fun stuff, believe it or not!

J fell asleep like this

Good lookin'

Grandpa and J cuddling

Mmm.

Attacking her corn

I have weird kids... haha!

N finally learned how to pedal her tricycle while they were here too!  It was very exciting.

 

It was so nice to see my kids bond with their Grandma and Grandpa.  I want them to have a close relationship with them and have many happy memories with them.

I have to say, though, my favorite part of this visit was bonding with my mom-in-law.  I have rarely gotten to spend time with her without any of her daughters around, and naturally, her bond with them is much stronger than with me, so I feel like they monopolize her.  But this time, I feel like we really got to bond and now I feel like our relationship is even stronger than it was.  We went out shopping for kid stuff, antique window shopping, and we went out one night to take care of a neighbor's house that I was house-sitting.  She told me a story about when she was a teenager and she and her friend went swimming at a beach on a navy base and the tide came in and swept her clothes and car keys away.  They needed the keys to get home, so she knew she needed to say a prayer and ask God to help her find the keys.  She knelt down in the water to say the prayer, dug her hands into the sand, and before she even uttered a word, she felt her keys in the sand!  What a beautiful story.  It made me so happy that she shared that with me.  I totally felt just like one of her own daughters, it was great.   I couldn't ask for a better mom-in-law!  We are very similar in a lot of ways, but just different enough to make things fun. 

I can't wait until the next time Grandma Grandpa come a visitin'!