Overdue report on Grandma and Grandpa Hale's visit

We were thrilled to have a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Hale two times this winter. We hadn't seen them for 2 1/2 years--since summer 2007, except through wonderful Skype. This was partly because they were on their 3rd 18-month mission to Villa Hermosa Mexico, and partly because we only get to Utah about yearly and we didn't make it out to Utah this past summer when they returned. My parents did a cross-country trip visiting all their kids, friends and geneology sites. They showed up on our doorstep just in time for dinner on Saturday, November 14th. We had them for 3 nights and then they stayed over at Joey and Katy's house. Mostly we did a lot of great chatting. The biggest topic of conversation was where and when to do the family cruise for my parents 50th anniversary next year. They came to church with us and met lots of great people and made a great impression. They kept on asking my Dad to relate his opinion as he'd been a mission president--he never had been, but somehow they got that idea. On Monday night for Family Home Evening they shared a lot of pictures from Mexico. Talmage was really desperate for him to show a picture of a snake, but alas, he only had pictures of a 4-foot iguana that they found hanging out in their dryer vent. Katie and I took my Mom to the Pink Palace museum, it was not that great of a museum. But it was fun to drive Mom through mid-town and see all the beautiful old mansions, and through a ghetto part of town that had Harvard, Yale and Hale streets.
They stopped by again the first week of December on their way back West on the 40. This visit was less chaotic because we had them all to ourselves (Joey and Katie enjoyed their time alone with them too). It was the first Family Home Evening after Thanksgiving and they helped us decorate for Christmas. We made them breakfast in the morning and sent them on their way. The boys really enjoyed the time with them. This was my parents first time meeting our Trace. We were excited for them to meet him because he's such a cheery little guy. My Dad said, "He's always smiling."