A few precious days with Nana

Since John and Maren decided to stay in Utah, John and Linda (aka Nana...Hyrum's mom) came back to our place the week before Easter to return our van and trailer. They arrived Monday afternoon (4/13) and stayed just until Wednesday evening (4/15).

My kids rarely get to see their Nana. Usually only once, maybe twice, a year. Every time she comes is such a special treat for our family. Any gifts are loved and treasured, and (dare I say) viciously guarded, even by the parents. Can you blame us? We don't get regular Nana spoiling, so we cling to every last bit of attention and/or gifts we're afforded. Linda has to be the most loving, involved Grandma to her grandkids that I've ever met. She pours baby gifts onto her daughters and makes an effort to travel long distances to see the grandbabies who live far away. No one comes close to her involvement and willingness to be a part of every little moment she can in her grandkids' lives. She was there for Kiersa's birth, which is probably why Kiersa turned out to be the first red-headed child/grandchild. She must have been so excited that Nana was finally able to be a part of something so special in our family that she wanted to please her by granting her wish of having a red-headed grandchild. We always feel sad that our kids don't get the opportunity to see her weekly or more like the rest of the Johnsons out in Utah, but the good thing is that each of her visits are looked forward to with far more anticipation than if we saw her frequently.

Even though Nana had been out to visit just after Paisli's birth, the kids were bursting with excitement to see her again so quickly. I was told she'd be arriving sometime in the afternoon, so when it got to be around that time, I told the kids she'd be arriving soon. Talea and Hyatt decided they wanted to eat their lunch at the top of the stairs so they'd be sure to see Nana as soon as she pulled up. Time passed, and Nana didn't arrive. Finally, exhaustion overcame the kids and they all fell asleep. Tilly, unwilling to leave her post on the stairs for fear of missing her Nana, fell asleep on the nasty entry rug. Nana and John had to step around her in order to get in the house. Now, if falling asleep on a hard landing rather than a soft bed doesn't illustrate how much Tilly loves her Nana, I don't know what does.



When I scooped Tilly up off the stairs to take her to bed, she woke up enough to notice that her Nana was there, and she smiled an enormous smile and quickly made her way to Nana's arms. Hyrum came home shortly after that and we just hung out together again. The last time Nana was there, it was pretty crazy since there were so many people together and I was going in for surgery. This time around, it was nice and calm, and Nana was able to take our kids a few places alone and get some good quality time in with them. She took them to Bandon to see the ocean...




She watched them jump on the trampoline...



And she took Talea and Hyatt to go see a movie: Monsters vs Aliens. They LOVED it, despite the boring reviews it got. They thought it was so neat that Nana bought them candy and popcorn. I was careful to make sure the chapstick she bought Hyatt was out of his pocket before I washed his clothes, but I didn't know about the sneaky bag of chocolate rocks in his jeans pocket until I was taking the clothes out of the dryer and saw melted chocolate all over the place. Oh well. Nothing a little spray 'n wash and another cycle through the wash couldn't fix. You know how I mentioned that my kids treasure their Nana gifts? Nana bought them each their own chapstick and they wouldn't let those chapsticks out of their sight for days! They aren't quite so obsessed anymore, but they still know whose color is whose and they use them regularly.

Nana also took pictures of the kids showing off for her in the yard (we made a balance beam for the kids out of some scrap lumber).




We took the kids to an Easter primary activity on Wednesday and while we were there, we found out Nana had to unexpectedly leave. So though the visit was short, it was very sweet and much appreciated! Thanks, Nana! We love you!