Mikael's Visit

My BFF & college roommate Mikael booked herself a flight to California for her birthday.  I was so excited to have her come!  It has been 9 years since we lived together back in Provo, but we have kept in touch almost daily through phone calls, e-mails, text messages, and the occasional visit.  Spending time in person is definitely the best, and most fun way to catch up.  Charlie just happened to be out of town on the dates that Mikael was here so we had plenty of girl time (plus kids).

She arrived on Friday afternoon and I felt bad because after picking her up from the airport I drug her and cute baby Drew directly to Isaac's karate class.  They were good sports to go along and watch with us.  Then that night we decided to hit up Cafe Rio for dinner.  Only problem was that Cafe Rio is not super close and we got stuck in some Friday night traffic which resulted in a whole lot of screaming from the back seat.

We were juggling two different nap schedules (Luke & Drew) so we spent a lot of time at home just sitting around talking.  Mikael had her nice camera and took a few snapshots of Luke.  And Cracker.

On Saturday we went to the gym and later on went to Target and walked around the Spectrum.  We couldn't do any real shopping with the little ones, but it was nice to get out.

My boys are always trying to run into these fountains in their clothes, so this time I decided to bring their swim shorts and let them go crazy.  And of course then they wanted nothing to do with the fountains because they said it was too cold.  Isaac did eventually splash around a bit and had some fun.

Sunday was church and then later that afternoon we drove down to Newport Beach for a little photo shoot.  Luke ended up being in the worst mood ever and suddenly decided to hate the beach.  He was freaking out about the sand and who knows what else.  We did not get a single smile from him the entire time we were there.  Isaac was also in a strange mood and said he was scared of the crabs.  Um, there were no crabs in site.  And he loves crabs.  Whatever.  I have said it before, but I will say it again - my children are impossible at photo sessions.  But thank you anyway Mikael for working your magic and capturing these fun shots for us.

My cousin was supposed to meet us there to snap a few photos of Mikael & I, but she cancelled last minute so we had to rely on a random stranger who thought it was cool to turn the camera at weird angles.

Mikael and baby Drew were really cute together.  Drew's first time at the beach!

Mikael assured me that she was just glad to be out of the tiny town where she is currently living and it didn't matter what we were doing.  I hope she was telling the truth because we really didn't do anything that exciting.  Monday after Isaac was home from school we went for a walk/bike ride around the lake. It was a gorgeous day and we all enjoyed just being outside.

I suppose since it was Mikael's birthday I should have let her pick the restaurant for her birthday dinner, but I didn't.  Instead I picked my favorite birthday spot which is the Nordstrom Cafe.  I am in love with their cake.  Dinner was a little chaotic with the three boys.  Luckily the cafe was pretty empty that night.  Or maybe it was just that no one wanted to sit near us...  Anyway, at least the food was good.  

And that night we of course had to watch The Bachelor together.  We watched countless episodes together back in Provo and have continued to text our commentary back and forth to each other during more recent seasons.  But just like the good old Provo days, I fell asleep halfway through!  What can I say, we'd been staying up late talking every night and Sean was just booooring.  

Mikael and Drew had to fly home the next day and I was so sad to see them go.  The trip may have been Mikael's birthday gift, but it really was a gift for me too.  I loved every minute of it and can't wait until we can get together again.