Kory's Parents and Grandparents Visit Oregon!

I love it that I can have two consecutive blog posts about family visiting! :)

A few weeks ago, Kory's parents, Ben and Jackie, and his grandparents, John Dale and Clara Jayne, came to see us and spend 6 days in our home. It was WONDERFUL!!

Their trip started off a little scary for all of us as they were at the Clackamas Town Center within about 30 minutes of the shooting that took place there on that Tuesday afternoon. They left shortly before it all happened, so we were very grateful they decided to quit shopping and drive to Roseburg instead. Thank you, God, for your protection!

Kory and I had to work the first full day they were here, so they were able to wrap some presents and relax while we worked and led our final high school small groups for the semester. It's SO hard to be motivated at work when you have visitors at your home, especially when you get to see them so infrequently, so we were really thankful to have that Thursday and Friday off work.

Thursday, Kory's grandpa decided to take us all to Bandon for a couple days.  We've been to Bandon several times, but we always make it a day trip since it's only a couple hours away. This time, we got to spend the night and it was so nice! We hung out at the beach, played cards in our hotel room, and enjoyed some really yummy seafood right on the coast.

 We came back from the coast on Friday, and saw some amazing scenery on our trip back. I LOVE that this is what you see beside the road as you're driving in Oregon, especially in December!

 The evening, we went to a drive through light display here in Roseburg called the Festival of Lights. We followed that up by driving around town looking at Christmas light, which made me really nostalgic thinking of my memories doing that each year with my family when I was growing up. 

Saturday, we went out to one of our new favorite places to eat, The Lighthouse Bakery. We knew going into it this time that it was all vegetarian, and we were all prepared for it, unlike when we went with my family. I think all of us really enjoyed it, except Grandpa, but he's so sweet that he would never complain. He just kept saying things like, "I've never had anything like that before" and "Well, that was different." He treated us all to an afternoon showing of The Hobbit and then took us out for a steak dinner to compensate for all those vegetables we had for lunch :)

We did our Christmas exchange that night with Kory's family and it was amazing, as always. I really like the way they open presents. It's not anything revolutionary, but it's a great idea that I hope to continue. Instead of everyone ripping into their presents at once, they go around one person at a time opening one gift at a time. It's fun to be able to really see what other people get and it makes the gift-opening more of an occasion than a 10 minute mad rush. Plus, after you spend so much time and money picking out a present for someone, it's really fun to watch them open and enjoy it. 

Sunday was a pretty typical laid-back day for us with church that morning, lunch and a Cowboys game that afternoon and youth group that evening. One of the very best parts of this week was that we had a LOT of time together, doing some of the "normal" things we do each week. Having them at church with us and getting to eat and relax with them in our home was so nice! When you live far away and only visit a time or two a year, you really miss having that time together doing "the small things".

Despite what they kept insisting, I truly never felt like it was time for them to go or wanted them to leave. It was SUCH a wonderful week with them and we were sad to see them go, as always. However, I was excited about getting some rest...we were on the go so much while they were here that we were all ready for some sleep and down time. 

They left Monday morning and we went back to work while they spent the day flying back to Texas. I am SO thankful they came to spend time with us and that we got to have Christmas with them. It was also really nice telling them bye and knowing we'll see them again in just a couple months. The hardest times to leave are when you don't know how long it will be until you see each other again. This trip made me very grateful to marry into a family I love so much!