A couple months ago my dad called me and we had the following conversation:
Dad: Do you know who your mom's best friend is?
Me: I hope it's me!
Dad: Well, I want to fly her best friend out to Texas for her 60th birthday. Can we make this happen?
I'm so thankful that my parents flew me out--it was such a wonderful trip for me and I loved making memories with family and especially being there for my mom on her birthday!!!!
On Friday I drove down to Brant and Chris's home and left the van there. I got to go with Chris to take Greyson to preschool, we had a yummy breakfast at Panera Bread, and then she took me to the Ontario airport (THANK YOU!!!)
From the DFW airport, Dad picked me up and we had a nice, long rush-hour drive home to visit and catch up. That night we went to Dickey's Barbecue Pit for some tasty food, gabbed, and relaxed.
On Saturday my mom turned 60!!!!!!!! I got up early and joined Mom and Dad for a 3-mile walk. Mom made me smile when she'd said earlier that all she really wanted for her birthday was to not have to decide anything, haha! We tried to make that happen for her that day. We got ready for the "Donna's Birthday Tour!" First we drove up to Plano to see where Dad works, then we went to Savannah to spend the afternoon with Tom, Lydia, Beck, and Hardy. Their new home is beautiful and the lunch and pretty birthday cake was FANTASTIC! Next stop on the tour was Fort Worth, where we spent time with Derrick Traci, Max, Maggie, and Moses and had dinner with them at Central Market. (We had dessert first--an ice cream cake at the Fort Worth Sheens' home--fun!) It was so great to see everyone!
Sunday we recuperated from the all-day party and enjoyed going to church together. My parents live in a fantastic, loving, and spiritually uplifting ward!!! I appreciated them letting me watch a little NBA Finals game with them, too.
Monday morning was another long walk and then Mom and I cleaned a LOT of window blinds. It wasn't hard, just time-consuming. That was fun to do and spend that time talking and sweating together. :) Grandma Sue treated us to Chick Fil-A for lunch (yum!!!) and we watched the BBC Jane Eyre a bit, too (SO good!). Then that night I joined Mom, Dad, and Grandma at their Empty Nesters' group's BBQ. I was the youngin' there, but everyone was very nice. We ended the evening with Bahama Buck's snow cones and sitting out on the back porch.
Every night we read scriptures together. I loved that and also enjoyed peeking in on daily life at the Rich, Donna, and Grandma Sue home. Grandma needs a lot of care and she is a lot slower than she used to be, but Mom and Dad do a great job with her. Grandma's sense of humor is wonderful, too. Those three make it work, and it did my heart good to see that!
I think the only reason I didn't bawl like a baby when I left on Tuesday was the fact that I'll see them again in just a few weeks at our Rich and Donna Sheen reunion up in Wisconsin/Chicago!!! It was such an amazing visit, and I will be forever grateful to Mom and Dad for getting me out there!!!!!! I'm also thankful to Jason, Rhiannon, and Wade who managed the house and the dogs just fine without me!!!!! :)
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| Dad, Tom, Beck, and Grandma, out on the porch swing |
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| Love this hard-working nurse and brother of mine! |
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| I love this picture of Hardy with Grandma Sue and Dad |
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| Opening up her book of "love letters" from family and friends. I think Mom liked it! |
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| Sunday Selfie before church! |
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| Derrick, Traci, Maggie, and Max--these guys rock!!! |
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| Mom, Grandma Sue, and Moses |
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| Lydia, Tom, Hardy, and Beck--love these guys! They are doing great! |
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| My lovely taxi driver in California! Love you, Chris--thank you!!! |
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| My Texan taxi driver! It was good to catch up and ride out the rush-hour traffic! |
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| Getting ready to watch Castle |
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| A picture after our walk on my mom's 60th birthday! Love this lady so much!!!! |
I did learn a big lesson on the way home to Ridgecrest after Chris picked me up. Originally I'd planned to take Chris, Brant, and Greyson to lunch, but I was in such a rush to get back home that I took off early. Well, 20 minutes up the road, I realized I'd left my suitcase behind in their van, hahaha! I "paid the price" by having to drive up and down Cajon Pass (which I h-a-t-e) not once but 3 times. Lesson learned--next time take advantage of opportunities to be with extended family and say thank you! ;)
