Fun with Claire and R

Claire and R came to town for the 4th of July holiday. We had a great time enjoying their company and participating in some fun activities. They arrived Tuesday night and we got underway on Wednesday. Claire and I went to IKEA to do a "little" baby shopping and then we headed to the Park City outlets to check out Gap, Baby Gap, Banana and Old Navy. R gave me instructions to keep her spending to $50. I failed miserably. Oops.
They also enjoyed the pool, playing tennis and visiting with R's family and just enjoying some down time. Wimbledon was on and they enjoyed watching many hours of the competition. Thursday I did a lot of grocery shopping and food prep with Claire's assistance. Mary Ann and Stacey stopped by for a visit and we put them to work helping us make the baby shower favors. It was so nice of them to come and see Claire and chat for a spell. We then headed up the canyon to the property of R's family and enjoyed gourmet pasta prepared by R's dad. Pat and Vern went with us and we had a great evening.
Friday we got going early (thanks to Claire's advanced planning in getting us some tickets) and headed to the new Oquirrah (pronounced Oak-er) temple open house along with R's brother and father. It was so beautiful and different in lay out from any other temple I've attended. We coincidentally ran into Rick's cousin Bob who also happens to be the stake president of C&R. We talk to them and Rick's aunt Beverly for awhile and snapped some pictures. After that we headed downtown SLC to attend the SLC temple. Claire has never had the opportunity to attend an endowment session in the Salt Lake temple, so we enjoyed that experience together. The flowers were beautiful around the temple grounds and it was just such a sweet experience. Afterwards we were treated to lunch at the Lion House by R senior. The prime rib was excellent and the rolls and pie can't be beat! We headed home and arrived just an hour before the bridal shower was to start. Who should be sitting in our drive way with his HUGE horse trailer/camper but the Cam Smith family. They were just returning from rodeo activities in Gallup, NM of all places. It was fun to see Cam and his family and we appreciated him stopping by. They headed to Cafe Rio for dinner and we pulled the food out of the fridge/freezer for the shower and we were underway on time. Mom and David arrived along with Dave and Courtney, Madi and Taylor. After the shower, Madi and Taylor got busy playing the Farming Game and the rest of the crew settled in to watch the two Andy's duke it out at Wimbledon. Mom was totally into it as was everyone else.
The next day was the 4th (already highlighted) and the final activity was a trip to the MTC on Sunday morning to attend fast and testimony meeting with the missionaries. It is always a wonderful meeting full of the spirit. Claire and R packed their lunch and headed for home after that. It was wonderful to have them with us and we look forward to our next encounter. BTW - I'm STILL washing sheets and towels.