Paradise

I have always known that I had an amazing Mother and Father in-law. They never cease to amaze me with their work ethic, patience, righteousness, and love. Russ and I were looking forward to having them come spend a week or two with us to help with the baby. As requested, we made a to-do list of items that would be helpful for them to do for us. We basically took the to-do list that had been hanging on our cupboard for a year and passed it over. We had hoped to at least whittle away a few things on the never ending list. Then they went into turbo mode and not only finished everything on our list, (it was a long one) but then they made their own additional list and finished it too. All the while singing and playing with the kids, and letting me rest while I mourned the fact that I was 41 weeks pregnant and not sure our baby would ever come.

Grandpa exercised with Lauren and took the girls on numerous walks and bike rides,
Grandma decorated the entire house for Christmas, her masterpiece was the garland on the stairs that Russ had especially requested. She also decorated every room in the house, without spending a cent, just rearranging decorations from one room to another, and having a vision of how things could come together in a better way.
They spent time visiting in the hospital and snuggling Matthew, not to mention watching the children while I was in the hospital, which allowed Russ to spend some wonderful time with me and Matthew. After Matthew was born we ordered our cafeteria food, watched BYU play basketball in Jimmer's hometown and had a great "date night" together in the hospital. It was so nice not to be shuffling children from various houses and sending Russ right home to take care of them.
They had lunch with Lauren, Emma and McKay at school and were able to see McKay perform in his school choir.
Grandpa even went to McKay's Lego Robotics competition in Houston and stayed all day as they advanced through different rounds. While they had some down time, Russ and Dad discussed every aspect of financial planning possible.
I think they woke up at before 5:00 am everyday and worked solid until 10:00. Some things they accomplished for us were:

Change all lightbulbs

clean, rearrange and decorate every room in entire house

repair dresser drawers

paint mural on Savannah's wall

organize holiday closet, every tub redone, hooks hung for wreaths etc.

remove broken glass from hall tree

organize all clothes into different size tubs

prepare for baby - sterilize bottles, wash clothes etc.

watch kids so I could take a nap ( on multiple occasions)

babysit so Russ and I could go on dates

help register new car and get EZ tag

teach the children piano lessons

cut everyone's hair

took kids on dates with Grandma

helped bake, and deliver Christmas goodies to neighbors

helped us purchase and decorate our Christmas Tree (it took Dad's ingenuity, and some of the children's blocks, to get it to stay in the tree stand)

replace lighting fixtures

scrubbed garage floor

defrosted the freezers

rearranged kitchen drawers

froze dinners for after they left

give us lots of good counsel and love

I'm sure I left out a lot. But after a long pregnancy of being sick, and exhausted it was so refreshing to feel caught up and have a fresh new lease on life.

Thanks Mom and Dad, that is the best gift I could have received.