A Visit from our Houston Peeps

So....  on Monday I get a text from Mom

"The Bauers are coming to St. George on Sunday.  They are passing through on their way to Lake Powell.   I'd like for you to come over for dinner...  but don't bring your kids....  there will be too many people here and there won't be enough room for them if you bring all those kids"

Mom and Dad have a great house, but the family room is tiny and the seating is limited.

And mom gets really stressed out if people have to sit on the floor.

So, no biggie,  I threw a nice little pre-made Chicken Alfredo meal that I had purchased at Costco into the oven and kissed them on their little heads and Raleigh and I went over for Sunday Dinner.

When we walked in, Gracie was sitting in the office in a chair in the corner.

I said  "uh-oh are you in trouble?"

And she said  "Nana said I couldn't sit on any of the furniture, so I am sitting in here out of the way."

Garrett and Grant were in the kitchen

I said  "what are you two clowns up to?" 

Garrett said "we can't sit on the couch, so we are in here eating all the food..."

I laughed.  This was going to be a fun day.

Kami and Brent walked in right behind us

Instantly I could tell they were in fun moods and I knew we would have a good time.

Mom had been cooking all day and had prepared a lovely feast

but there were rules for the four of us (big kids) to follow

some of them spoken, some of them unspoken...

The Bauers were arriving in two waves and Mom had prepared a round of food to be served at 4:30 and another at 6:00.  And so the food had to last through two groups and she was a wreck that the second group would arrive and there wouldn't be enough food for them.   It was our job to help ration the food.  Which was going to be very difficult...  I for one, was starving.

We tried to stay out of the way.  The four of us huddled together in the corner and waited for the 

blessing on the food.

The Bauers, bless their hearts, filled up their plates and took them outside to eat on the patio with Kori and Russ.

It was only 100 degrees in St George today...  but it's a dry heat and so it felt nice to them. 

That left the four of us big kids and Garrett inside.

We ate our food and had a nice conversation.

One of the side dishes that Mom made was her famous bow tie chicken salad...

It is my VERY FAVORITE

(like that is all I wanted for my birthday this year)

I reallyyyyyyy love it.

And I made the grave error of going back for seconds

and actually, I almost got away with it undetected, but BRENT ratted me out to her

and I got a lecture... I will not soon forget.   And I felt like I had regressed back to my childhood

"Kaci, you can have seconds of the meat and the fruit...  but the pasta salad and the beans are not for you to have second helpings of."

.............oh...........

Unspoken Rule #1: No Second Helpings of Certain Undisclosed Side Dishes

 broken by yours truly

 ooooooops....

 Shortly after my catastrophic mistake,

Russ came in with his plate and started filling it up again... 

and we started waving our arms at him and whistling at him from the family room in hushed voices

"No......  Russ......  don't get seconds.

No....  mas..... frijoles......

You're going to get in big trouble"

And he got all scared and put his beans back in the pot.

Then Dad came in from outside and put a second round of pasta on his plate.

And we quickly filled him in on Rule #1 as well

but he didn't flinch....

"I love pasta" he said

And he piled it high

Heeeee   Heeee

I love my Dad.

I am happy to report that there was plenty of delicious food for everyone.

There was so much pasta salad left over, in fact, that I am planning to go to Casa de Little for lunch tomorrow.  And I WILL have seconds (guilt free)

Although, after this post....  I probably won't be invited back....  ever.

My Mom is the best.

We love when she gets high strung.

She was an only child and so she gets kinda nervous when there are a lot of people (specifically all of our children...  most of them being mine)

in her house...  having a lot of energy and making noise and messes.

Every once in a while she'll get all worked up and truly it makes for the best stories

We had such a great visit with The Bauers.

We enjoyed getting to know all of their kids

This is Tara, their daughter who is having a baby in a couple of months

opening up a baby gift.

 Then Bishop Cash and his cute wife and his parents stopped over.

Here is a re-cap of the connection:

Bishop Cash is a brother to Tim who is married to Tiffany (who lives in Houston and is friends with Tami who is married to Scott, got it???)

Remember TNT?

The cute girls who visited Kori in the hospital every single day while she was there.

Tami (Bauer) is one of the "Ts"

Tiffany is the other. 

Bishop Cash was the bishop of Kori and Russ' ward (and Russ was his counselor in the bishopric) 

and HE is the reason we have the pleasure of knowing these wonderful people. 

 So they came over to visit with the Bauers.  Joel (Bishop Cash) and Tim's mom and dad (Brother and Sister Cash) also live in Kori and Russ' ward so they came along to visit.  What a great night!!

Mom took this picture to send to Tiffany.

Maybe some day she will come for a visit too.

 Here we are back in our corner

Such a fun day

We really hope they will come again

And/or possibly move here.

Update on Kori.....

She sang with the Relief Society in Sacrament Meeting today.  Russ wheeled her up front and then sat with her while she sang.  So sweet.
She did very well today with the BIG crowd.  Sometimes it is hard for her when there are lots of people around but she did well and visited from time to time.
This weekend she had a break from radiation, 4 days off.  She has exactly one more week of chemo and 8 more days of radiation beginning tomorrow.  Almost over, happy days.
She'll be up bright and early in the morning for rehab.  We're expecting BIG progress this week.
We hope you'll continue to remember her in your prayers.