Nana & Papa Come on a Surprise Visit to see US!!!!!

We were all so excited, early yesterday morning, when we got a call from Papa saying that they were in Las Vegas and were driving down to see us!! Nana & Papa are MY mom's parents, so the kids' Great-Grand parents. They live in SC, so we don't get to see them very often, so what a wonderful surprise it was!!! Marty, Brant & Jacob had to leave for a Scout Field day so Marissa and I had so much fun having them to ourselves for a little bit!!

Marissa immediately bonded with Papa!! Before we knew it, she was dressing him up and picking flowers with him! Not to mention that she had him running laps around the place, inside and out!! I was so excited for her to spend time with them! She knows them from pictures and from our family prayers, but it's a whole new thing to BE with them, HUG them and BOND with them!!

She and Nana bonded very easily too! The first thing on Rissa's list was to show Nana her baby that sucks her bottle and cries! Her Tutu, jewelry and fairy wings (well, Rissa prefers, butterfly wings!) were all on the list of "Must show Nana" too!!

Nana is known for her hats--they come in all different shapes and sizes, but we all love her baseball caps with glitter, rhinestones and BLING!! I loved sitting and talking with her! I showed her several of my pottery pieces that I made on the Potter's Wheel and sculpted by hand. I shared some of my sewing projects and we talked a lot about artsy stuff:) Nana is one of the most amazing women I know! She is soo talented!! She is an amazing painter & artist! She's also one of the best Story tellers that I know!! I have so many wonderful memories of her stories of fairies and princesses! She used to tell us stories about the fairies who lived in the woods that were (at the time) across the street from her house. We also talked and laughed about past Halloweens! The kids and I have the house decorated for Halloween, so I was telling her that every year when I'm decorating, I always think of the different years as a child of going trick-or-treating at her house. One year, she dressed herself in a black gown and paled her face and hands. She laid down with arms across her chest, in the long flower bed that is built into their porch. I'll never forget walking up to the porch, lights dimmed and some creepy music playing softly in the background. Was that my Nana? Was she really dead or alive? Made of plastic or blood and bones? My brothers and I get closer, closer, closer...BBWWAAAHHHHHHAAAAA!!!! I think my younger brother and I cried for a day about that scare!

Then there was the man down the street who stuttered. One year she sat in a chair, in black, with pantie hose over her face. Weird...again, we couldn't quite tell who it was! Well, that year, she scared the stuttering man down the street so bad that he passed out! When he woke up, all he could say was, "Mmmmiisss Giiillllleess.....IIIiiiiss tthhhaaattt Yyyooooouuuuu?!

Three Peas in a Pod! uumm, Jacob kept insisting on doing this goofy face...still cute kid though!

We got treated out to dinner and desert! We ate at Westgate b/c we knew they'd love seeing everything there! We ate at Shane's Ribshack (yum!) and then walked around to Cold Stone for some ice cream. Westgate has shopping, movie theatre and the Hockey arena is there. Concerts, motor crossing, Big Trucks...all kinds of events are held there! There are huge fountains that shoot up water to lights and music and it's just a fun place to hang out. On the way home, we drove 'next door' to show Papa the Stadium where the 2008 Superbowl was held. You can see how big it is, from our street, so he was really excited to get close up to it. He was amazed at the grass field that sits on a plat form and can be brought into the stadium for games, and then rolled (electrically of coarse) back outside.

During dinner, Papa showed the boys his GATOR BOWL ring! He played football for USC and was in the FIRST ever, Gator bowl in 1946 and HE MADE THE FIRST TOUCHDOWN OF THE GAME!!! He was later recruited by the Green Bay Packers, but declined the offer b/c he would have to leave Nana behind for months while he trained, etc. Nana was far along into a pregnancy and he wanted to be with her. Papa coached for some 30 years. He was inducted into the SC Hall of Fame as a coach, many years ago. Just last year, he was also inducted into the SC Hall of Fame as an athlete!! We all loved hearing him tell about these awesome experiences from his life!!

Brant loved listening to Papa talk about sports!! He could have listened to him for days!!

Jacob is planning all of the neat gifts that he is going to make them out of clay! He esp wants to make some things for Nana b/c they got a chance to talk about it a lot. He can't wait to make them and then take them to her when we go home for Christmas.

We are so very thankful for this quality time that we had to spend with such amazing grand/great grandparents!!! They have no idea how much their visit meant to all of us! We can't wait to see them again in a few months!!!