Visit from the Parents

Mom and Dad Beckstead were in town last weekend. We had so much fun and were so sad to see them leave! Here's a little summary of the trip.

Thursday: I scrambled like a mad woman to get some work done, straighten up the house (which Chad ended up doing while I scrambled), and make it to the airport on time to pick up Mom and Dad. Mom and Dad both had massive amounts of baggage (thanks, Southwest!) full of Christmas presents (some for us, some for the Nashvillians). It was awesome! We gave them a tour of our house and sat in my office for a while talking about therapy and other stuff. Then Chad gave us a driving tour of some of our favorite sights in Louisville (old houses, Cherokee Park, the waterfront, etc.) and we ate delicious Indian food on Bardstown Road. Yum! We stayed up late playing Carcassone, a favorite board game.

game night!

Friday: We slept in! (Mom and Dad were adjusting to the 2-hour time zone difference). We walked over to the track and met up with my friend Sharisa and did some running. Dad has been a serious runner for about 5 years now, and Mom started up a few months ago, so that was fun. I'm pretty sure they're both in better shape than I am right now. . . Once Chad got out of morning classes, we picked him up and got a tour of the dental school. Then we spent some time at the Louisville Slugger Museum.

With Mom & Dad by the giant bat. Classic.

At the museum, just chillin' in the "dugout."

Silly Mom.

At the batting cages!

Dad had several hits. $1 to get 10 balls from the pitching machine at between 40 and 50 mph. They told us that was about the speed you would see from the pitchers in the 10-11 year old Little League World Series. Seemed pretty fast to me!

I am pleased to say I actually got some hits. AND, I used Babe Ruth's bat. Or a model he used. Or something like that.

Saturday: We walked down Bardstown Road (always a favorite for me), and shopped at a farmer's market. Then we had lunch at the Cheesecake Factory! (Heavenly). After lunch, we went to Churchill Downs to see the horse track. We were surprised by all the consoles with people betting on horse races taking place in other areas of the world. We stuck around watching them (the betters) for awhile, waiting to see if they yelled and got excited about the races they had bet on. They did. We went home and prepared for the little eggnog/hot chocolate party Chad and I had planned for the evening. Plenty of people came over from the ward and we had great Christmas numbers from several people! It was great.

oh, I could write a whole post just about the food at Cheesecake Factory. 

at the race track.

I've already got my ugly sweater on for the party.

Sunday: Mom and Dad left for Nashville to go visit Taylor and Jenny and Carson. We were really sad to see them go. What a fun trip! It made me feel like we got Christmas with them, even though we won't be going home. It also just reminded me how great it is having awesome parents who are lots of fun. Love you guys!