AN ODE TO PARENTS

You know you have fantastic parents when they’re willing to take a three day weekend and use it to drive 8 hours across a barren wasteland to trade their roomy, comfortable, powerful Honda Pilot for their children’s 11 year-old Ford Focus hatchback so that said children can use the high capacity vehicle to move all their stuff in two weeks while said parents are saddled with a much less snazzy car.

I have beyond fantastic parents.  Not only did they bring their car and drive our car back, but they let Zach and me play tour guide and haul them around Boulder like kindergarteners at Show-and-Tell for a whole weekend while they secretly bought us things like pastry cutters, delicious dinners, and ice cream.  Lots of ice cream.  (Zach really isn’t that big on ice cream.  Greatest disappointment of my marriage to date.)

Zach had to work Saturday so I got them ALLLL to myself when they arrived.  We immediately went to my favorite Saturday hangout- the Farmers Market.  My parents have traveled the world, but they managed to be mildly impressed with the delicious gyros and falafel and massive bags of lettuce.  The real “wowza” came from Dad when we hit the all-natural ice cream.  Thank you Boulder.

We took a trip up and down Pearl Street where I discovered the painting that I will someday base my entire house décor off and then afterwards went to check out their completely Boulder hotel:

Yes, you do see multiple colors on every wall.  Classic hippie style.

Due to a lucky coincidence Mom and Dad happened to be there the same Sunday that Zach and I gave talks in Sacrament Meeting.  A word on talks: I write good talks, I really do.  My problem is the delivery.  I get up on that stand and my adrenaline takes over, leaving me in a Matrix-like state where everything around me slows down and my brain kicks it into high gear.  Hence I can give a 15 minute talk in five minutes.  Luckily I’ve been practicing so this time I took eight. 

Zach: This is true.  I like to say she has "more spiritual insights per minute" than I do.  When I try to go that fast, all I get is an error signal from my brain...

After church we tried to wear my parents out by taking them on a hike in the Flatirons but were pretty unsuccessful because they’re in crazy good shape from biking.  My dad tells me he wants to be the “Active Grandparents”.  I tell him good luck competing with the Judkins for THAT title.

I’m beginning to realize (especially after living here this summer) how blessed Zach and I are to have such a supportive family.  Everyone is involved, everyone cares, and we all have a blast together.  Thanks for the visit Mom and Dad!