LAUREL AND PAISLEY'S OCTOBER VISIT!

Laurel and Paisley arrived on a Friday afternoon, October 8th. We drove straight to Ogden visited grandpa at Ogden Clinic and then met Grandma, Mindy, and Kenzie at LaFerovia. Laurel requested eating at 4 places while she visited and we checked off one of them before we even got home. I was so happy that Paisley didn't seem to need any time to adjust to grandma this trip. I think it helped that I had been to Pittsburgh the end of August.

Saturday morning we got up and ready to head to Provo for the BYU football game. Leslie was so sweet to take Paisley for the entire day and it sounded like Paisley had a blast with grandma and grandpa Mock. Grandma Char went with us to the game and we enjoyed visiting and stopping for lunch at In and Out on the way to the game.

As we got to the stadium, we were so happy to see the Schroeders. How we love that family. Braden has always had a special love for Laurel since she was his Primary teacher and also in the Primary presidency in our ward when they lived here. I wish I had gotten a picture of Braden and Laurel together.

Braden with his mom, Cindie

I had to include this picture of our cute little Sunbeam class. On Sunday, Sister Montgomery used these hats for part of our lesson and I thought they looked so cute.

We had to go to Newgate Mall for a few things and discovered a train that was running through the mall. We knew that Paisley would love the train. The entire train ride, about 15 minutes, found adorable Paisley leaning out of the train window waving to everyone we passed. It seemed she was a ray of sunshine and the mall visitors waved in return and smiled like they had been given a gift by this beautiful little girl.

All aboard!

Grandma enjoyed the ride as much as Paisley

So did mommy and Paisley

The little Princess waved without any suggestion from us

She seems to have the queen wave down already

We drove to Rexburg on Tuesday morning to visit Jocelyn. Emily's family had been struggling with the vomits for almost a week, and so we stayed at the Marriott in Rexburg so that we wouldn't get the bug and have poor Laurel throwing up as she flew home on Saturday. Emily drove to Rexburg and met us for lunch at Wingers so that we had a little visit with her. Eating at Wingers was also on Laurel's list of must eateries. We went back to Jocelyn's apartment and Laurel and Jocelyn made Creamy Cajun Chicken Pasta for a dinner later. Paul came to eat with us and after dinner, he studied while I did the dishes and Jocelyn, Paisley and Laurel took a long walk around the Rexburg Temple. Jocelyn lives across the street from the temple and loves being able to do baptisms for the dead weekly or taking her homework with her to the temple grounds and studying in that beautiful place. Paisley kept saying, "Jocey's temple" and singing Primary songs as they walked. It was sweet and they didn't even take a camera to get pictures, unfortunately.

Laurel, Paisley, and I drove to Idaho Falls and sat outside in the 47 degree weather to watch Cannon play a flag football game. He is a speedster and I have to blame myself for not having a charged camera battery so I didn't even get a picture there either. After the game we drove to Em's house and stayed in the car fearing the dreaded bug. Colton and Crew came outside to see us for a minute, but we were so disappointed that they were sick so that we weren't able to even go in Em's home to have a fun visit. When we got back to Rexburg, we went to a place called Sammie's Shakes that Jocelyn was raving about. This place makes shakes with ice cream and a full slice of pie. I can't adequately put into words how delicious this shake was. If you are ever in Rexburg, don't miss the chance to taste a little bit of heaven.

Wednesday morning we were awake early and decided to eat breakfast at the hotel and let Paisley swim. Jocelyn had classes at 10:00 am so we didn't have much time with her. We were so glad she spent the night with us at the hotel.

The two bathing beauties---we didn't have a swimsuit for Paisley,

so we had to do with a swim diaper and letting her go topless---

Jocelyn and Paisley have a very special heart connection

Paisley was so excited everyday when grandpa came home. She knew she would get to feed the cows, Midnight and Horny. Paisley didn't seem to be afraid of these huge cattle. She liked the walk to the barn and throwing hay through the fence.

This is the sweetest picture of grandpa and Paisley holding hands while walking to the barn

Paisley was helping grandpa throw hay to the cows

Paisley fed the cows apples too

We were able to hit Texas Road House the night before Laurel and Paisley were flying home. We had such a great visit and hated to see the girls leave. Now we are looking forward to Christmas and another wonderful visit!