Friday evening my sister Nikki got here from Buffalo, NY. It's hard for her with four kids to get away by herself. But her great husband said that she needed to do just that and have a vacation. She decided to come visit me for her solo vacation. The first order of business was knocking a place off her restaurant tour of Utah.
Of course In and Out doesn't do chicken nuggets so we had to stop at McDonalds on the way for Hyrum be cause he doesn't do burgers.
It's the first time we'd been to In and Out in Utah. I went in California once but Derek had never gone. It was better than I remember it being, we'll probably be braving the lines to go back again sometime...and stopping at McDonalds on the way. Nikki felt like she was eating like a college student...I thought she looked like one too. :)
She hadn't slept in 24 hours plus before she came so we tried to get her in bed by midnight ( which was 2 in the morning where she came from) and we tried to let her sleep in good and long on Saturday. It was my birthday so Derek and Hyrum brought out my gift, a composting bin, and started setting it up for me. I've decided that April is the PERFECT time for my birthday. I end up getting so many gardening things which is what I always want.
As I began transfering the contents of my delinquent compost pile into my composting bin my sister was busy in my kitchen working her magic!!
When we moved into the house the kitchen in particular was put away pretty willy nilly. We just wanted to get things into the cupboards and didn't give it thought. Part of the disarray was my dismay at only having four drawers instead of seven and fewer cupboards as well. My sister went through and put things away on purpose. It's so logical and I have so much more SPACE too now. She spent the rest of her time here when I wasn't looking organizing and cleaning things for me. You'd swear that I insisted on people working while they're here. All I want anyone to do here is relax and enjoy their time. Maybe this is a commentary on my hostessing skills. She even had the sheets and towels in the wash when she left.
It has become somewhat of a tradition the last three years to plant something on my birthday and this birthday was no different. My parents sent me a plantable birthday card so I planted some wild flowers in card form this year.
I know it's not the most exciting thing to do on your birthday but it was the perfect way to spend mine. The weather was BEAUTIFUL (pretty much the entire time Nikki was here) and we just soaked up the sun. We did go to dinner that night to make it feel like a birthday.
I was certainly not the only one receiving gifts this weekend. Nikki came bearing gifts for Hyrum too.
In addition to other toys she brought all kinds of Blues Clues toys which are near impossible to come by these days and it's only fitting that Nikki pass along the Blues Clues toys when she was the one that gave Hyrum his passion for all things Blues Clues. Did you see what else she brought? That's right...a potty chair! I am way more excited about that gift than Hyrum is. Regardless it's time to get my act together. I know Hyrum's body is ready, we just have to work on getting him more excited about the idea.
Nikki certainly endeared herself to Hyrum with the toys. They became good friends.
He was also enamored with the Ford Explorer that my brother in law rented for her. He was all about riding in the "big car". Thanks Greg!
She and Noah also bonded. She was able to get him smile so much.
He was not happy to see her leave.
Our last full day together we headed out early to meet her roommate from college that she hadn't seen for 13 years. I told her that the boys and I could find somewhere else to be while so they could talk. Nikki said that there was no reason for that but after Hyrum sent his car flying at Nikki's ex-roommate 20 times or more I decided that we needed to play elsewhere. So we went outside to play with his car on the tables and chairs outside.
I started taking pictures of my fast growing little man and just couldn't stop.
He's been doing all of these new expressions lately. I tried really hard to capture it but he was just moving too fast. This was the best I could do.
After breakfast we headed off to BYU to the bookstore. Hyrum is a shopper and he was looking for things that he wanted for his birthday. He kept asking for some sparkly barrettes but then he found the hats.
In the bookstore and Hyrum had a strange tantrum because Nikki bought him a BYU flashing "lightsaber". He kept saying that he didn't want to pay for the lightsaber and that he wanted to ruin it. Seriously the biggest fit. So strange. Needless to say it went home with Nikki.
We hit Jamba juice on the way out then headed to Training table for lunch and FRY SAUCE. I'm not the biggest fan of fry sauce but my sisters both long for it outside of Utah so it was a must.
After a fruitless trip to the mall in order to make use of a gift certificate that my sister sent me for my last birthday we headed home with a quick stop on the blog tour of Utah. Nikki reads a blog that frequently mentions a bake shop so we stopped in for a few cupcakes to sample.
They were really good. Thanks again Nik. For lunch too. :)
All too soon it was over and Nikki was headed home. We were sad to see her leave but I know that her family missed her a lot and I'm sure she was missing them too. We did manage to get a sisters picture. It was a self portrait and missing a sister but documentation that we were together.
(Is it just me or do I look really weird in this picture?)
Thanks for coming to visit Nik!! We can't wait to see you again!!
1 comments:
Nikki said...
I had a GREAT time- wish it could've been longer. You are a wonderful hostess- I was just trying to be a good sister.
(my pics are on that smugmug site- search nikbok)