The week after Jack's birthday was a flurry of activity in this household, cleaning up the house really nice, in preparation for mom and dad coming for a visit. They arrived in the afternoon of Thursday, the 30th of April, and dad was waiting on the porch when we drove up after running some errands. (I got some gardening things to do with the preschool kids this week - little clay pots, dirt and flowers. Also the kids each picked out seeds to plant in our garden.) But most of the first part of that week was our regular stuff (school, preschool, gymnastics, etc) and getting the house all cleaned up. 

They came to visit us as part of a larger trip which started in Idaho, visiting the Fernandez side aunts. We spent Friday just hanging out at home, mainly. Brian and Sammy brought Cap over in the late afternoon for us to watch him while they went to an event for Brian's work. We took all the kids to the park for a picnic dinner and playtime, and we had a great time! My thought was that the kids just needed to get out of the house. And it was a beautiful day for a picnic at the park. 

Saturday was a special day: Brian and Sammy were blessing their cute little baby, Summer. The event was held at a double baptism for the nieces on Sammy's side of the family. It felt a little weird, going to their family's baptism. But it was nice to be there for the blessing. Afterwards, there was a luncheon for everyone at Denise's house.

That night, Brian, Scott and Melanie came for pizza and movie night (after the kids were abed). Scott has been wanting to watch "Junior" for over a year -- since I was pregnant with Sawyer -- so we all watched it together. It was a fun night! 

We went on a family walk and to the park to play on Sunday after church. We had watched stake conference from home, streamed live. And then Brian and Sammy's family came for dinner and games. 

I had preschool this week. Our topic was gardening, and my plan was for them to plant seeds in cups, to watch them grow, and to paint little terracotta pots to plant a flower in. Mom and dad planned to be out for Monday morning, which worked out perfectly. My little kids LOVED painting their little pots. They all worked so hard on them, and I love how earnest they were in their creativity. They also loved learning how to plant seeds in soil. Overall, I'd say it was a very successful preschool day (those don't always happen).

Dad came home partway through our preschool time, and immediately started doing work around my house, which was so sweet of him. Over the next few hours, he mowed front and back lawns, tidied up the backyard, and cleaned all the main floor windows and screens, inside and out! And the house is so much happier and bright and shiny and pleasant with the windows clean. 

That evening, we went to Thanksgiving Point gardens for the tulip festival, which was delightful. Daniel couldn't get away from work to join us, which was a bummer.  But the kids and mom and dad and I had a lot of fun. The gardens were beautiful.

Mom and dad took Brian out to lunch Tuesday, and then Brian dropped Sammy and the kids off at my house to hang out while he went back to work. Mom and dad did a little grocery shopping for me, and then we all sat around together, talking about trips to Hawaii and road trips around the country. 

Brian came back to our house, and Sammy and I picked up burgers for everyone for dinner. We ate together, Brian and Sammy went home, and, after putting the kids to bed, the parents and I watched a cute movie together -- This Beautiful Fantastic. 

Yesterday was crazy: we had a painter come in the morning to start work in our upstairs, I had preschool kids again (they were super restless that day... we planted flowers in our pots, but mainly they just played), and mom and dad were getting ready to leave. All at the same time. Mom and dad left about halfway through preschool, and I paused to say goodbye. 

After kids were all home from school, we had gymnastics, and the boys and I ran a couple of errands. We had leftovers for dinner, I bathed kids and put them to bed, and the house was an absolute disaster!! After nearly a week of having people staying with us, it was cluttered and floors were sticky and dirty, things were put away wrong and I was in the middle of laundry. I needed to workout still, and I needed to get at least some cleaning done. So I focused all my efforts into the basement, getting all things put away, game closet put back together, and vacuumed before I did a 30 minute workout. The rest of the house? Still a disaster. But I felt better after getting at least one area totally cleaned up and getting in a workout. 

And today has been nothing but cleaning up the main floor to near perfection -- sweep and mop floors; dust and vacuum; tidy up toys and throw away trash; do dishes and wipe down table and counters; put all laundry away and sort into baskets; clean the bathroom; water the plants. It took hours. But the house feels so good now. And I had a chance to spend a little time with my little boys when it was all done. 

Tomorrow is office day -- I take care of bills and budgets, read emails, make appointments... that kind of thing. Then Saturday, when the painter is done, I'll tackle the upstairs and the yard. After that, I'll feel well put back together after a week of mostly fun and not much work. 😂😬