Mother-in-Law Visit, Part II (August 6th-9th)

So Brandon's mom actually came back into town after a short visit to California where she visited her other son, Cameron, and his three kids. I wanted to make up for her previous stay by being normal this time and not such a basketcase. So I found the motivation beforehand to plan out a ton of stuff for us to do so we could spend time together but also get things done. It was a whirlwind but it was surprisingly energizing and I was able to get so much accomplished which otherwise would have been much more difficult to do alone or may not have been done at all.

We started off going here:
so we could purchase some wedding gifts for one of Brandon's cousins who was getting married the next week. I love buying my wedding gifts from Bed, Bath, & Beyond because I always get those 20% off coupons in the mail and I am addicted to using coupons. And I also love that they have free gift wrapping there which makes them so much better than Target (as well as a much better return policy). I wish that I had registered here for my wedding, but oh, well.

After the first shopping excursion, Lucy was getting hungry so we figured that it would be perfect time to get pedicures since I would be able to nurse her while we sat. Susan had a high school reunion to go to the next night and Lake Powell had done a number on her nails so it worked out perfectly. Right across from BB&B, we found a new salon called Groovy Nails and got some great pedicures (Susan also got a manicure but I figured that holding a baby would just mess one up for me). I was a little bit worried about the strong, chemical smells in the salon for Lucy but hopefully, she had some brain cells to spare. I figure its okay if it is only once or twice a year...

Straight from pedicures, we had perfect timing to make it to lunch with a family friend, Jenny West here:at Cafe Trio in Cottonwood. I don't even remember what I ordered but it was delicious. Cafe Trio is one of my favorite restaurants in Utah.

From there, we headed here:
for some additional shopping. We picked up some baby gifts for a family friend who just had twins and who we were bringing dinner to that night. But before we could do that, Susan had to go to a WOW meeting. She is the president of this NGO, the Worldwide Organization for Women which has UN status (she gets to go to the United Nations in New York - exciting, huh!). While she was there, I headed here for some grocery shopping:

Then we headed to Adam and Lindsey's house (the ones with new twins) and brought a dinner of sweet sausage and pepper sandwiches, corn on the cob, green salad, cut watermelon, and caprese salad. We got to meet 3-month old Summer and Zoe who were born 10 weeks premature. So even though they are only a month younger than Lucy, they were so much smaller. I think their adjusted age only put them at 4 weeks. I was just amazed at the poise and stamina of Lindsey - I don't think I could have gone through the challenges that she has with as much grace and strength. We made it an early night so the family could get some rest but the next day was just as busy as the first.

We were going to try to get pictures of Lucy at JC Penny originally on this day, but the appointments were filled up so we started the day off with a family lunch at Thai Spice in Fort Union which was so good! We took some time to digest and visit at Damian's house before splitting up for errands. Brandon and I headed off to the Asian store, then Craft Lake City (for which a separate entry devoted entirely to that will be posted later). While Brandon's mom went to her 40th(?) high school reunion, we were supposed to host Brandon's brother, Adrian and his wife, Natalie and son Taylor, for dinner but thankfully (for our sakes since we were so tired) they requested we push it back a day to Sunday because Taylor wasn't feeling well that night. So we had a quiet Saturday evening in and then brought Brandon's mom to the airport on Sunday morning. It doesn't seem like a ton of stuff now that I look back on it, but getting anything done in between naps and feedings with a baby is an accomplishment in and of itself. It's just hard being social when you have a child so it takes that much more effort to try to plan things out. Family visiting helps to give you a little bit more motivation, so thanks family!