meeting grandpa great and getting spoiled

We were finally given the okay from the doc to take Rylee to meet her Great Grandpa Madsen this past week.  

We'd gotten used to visiting him on Sundays when we were pregnant so it was nice to see him after a few weeks of us being MIA!  Rylee was so intrigued with her Grandpa Great.  The moment we gave her to him to hold, she was entranced.  She stared at him the entire time he talked to her and gave him a big smile at first glance up at his face.   

Which meant she got a big smile from Grandpa too!  

It was a tender moment seeing my daughter with the man who I fished with, talked with, sat on his lap, and rubbed his soft fuzzy hair when I was growing up.  He's always been close to my heart so to see Rylee take to him so quickly put a smile on my face too!

Then we had to take a 4 generation picture with my Grandpa, Rylee's Grandpa, and me and Rylee.  It's one of my new favorite pictures!  Tyler did a fabulous job taking pictures of our visit and capturing some memories.  I know I'll treasure them and I'm glad we have them for Rylee down the road too!

Then Uncle Stuart and Aunt Talya came for a visit and spoiled Rylee with some lovin' and gifting her with the cutest seal from their Cali trip.  Rylee was ever so kind to give them a gift back and left a little treasure on Stuart's pants by soiling them for him.  The first time she's ever had a blowout that's actually leaked out and it just had to be on Uncle Stuart...

Good thing she's cute and Stuart has a good attitude!

Then she played with Aunt Talya's hair for a good 10 minutes.  She was cooing and talking while she tangled her hand in it.  She already knows good hair when she sees it!

Tyler grabbed a cute picture of Rylee in her carseat that day too.  Ry-Ry loves her little wubbanub giraffe.  She doesn't necessarily love putting it in her mouth, but she likes holding it and it does help her keep her pacifier in when she wants it in.  Which is pretty much never...

You could say it was a fantastic day enjoying our little Rylee Girl and sharing her with family and friends!

a conglomeration of a birthday, spring break, conference, and IKEA

It's Spring break this week.  

And it has been greatly needed.  Getting enough sleep and being able to finally give into my nesting urges has done wonders for this baby mama this week.  

T, of course, was included in the baby plans as usual.  We made our last IKEA run today and setup the last of the baby room.  With the exception of a changing pad and the crib mattress, Baby Girl's nursery is finito!  Finally.  

We're hoping to that we'll can cover the last costs of the essentials (i.e. the carseat and stroller and crib mattress) with what we get from our Baby Showers next week.

We're kinda excited.

AND I went shopping for baby quilt material with my buddy Dana who's making the baby quilt for us.  She kinda rocks and I'm super excited about what she's doing for it.  It's going to be awesome!

{soft serve ice cream at IKEA for $1 total?  Yes, please!}

I also celebrated a birthday last week.  It was a hard week, which made for an ornery and emotional Jamie on her birthday.  But I had my awesome colleagues take me out for some Cafe Rio and make me a neat-o sign in front of my classroom door.  

T also made me a sign at home, bought me yummy mini Cocoa Bean Cafe cupcakes, AND a fruit bouquet from Edible Arrangements.

Can you tell I'm pregnant and really just wanted some good food for my birthday?

He even made me crepes Saturday morning with toppings galore.  I pigged out and probably gained a couple pounds.  

T got to go to the Priesthood Session with his Dad and brothers.  He loved it.  They don't get to hang out very often with the four of them.

 {Papa Kris and Kole}

{Nanner and T}

My favorite thing this Spring Break so far, though?  Visiting one of my favorite people and heroes.  My Grandpa has had a tough couple of months and is definitely making some improvements and getting more optimistic.  

This is the man who took me on some of my very first fishing trips, taught me how to have a close relationship without even needing to talk to the person sitting in the boat next to you, and taught me pure, unselfish love.

He's always been one of my favorites.  Always.  I feel like we have similar personalities at times when I just like to listen to the conversations going on rather than have to contribute to them.  We're both listeners.  We both love a good joke and we looooove chocolate.  

I've always had a special bond with this man and it's no big secret that we're each others favorites.  Who else would've gotten this guy to go on a walk outside for the first time in months (okay, so maybe my mother had a great deal of influence on that too...)? 

It was a great day talking with him about my Aunt Carey's birth (he says there's not much to tell since he wasn't allowed in the delivery room back then, BUT the doctor didn't show up until after Carey was born.  Someone else had to deliver her), watching parts of a basketball game, talking about fishing, eating chocolate shakes (compliments of my mother who makes one for him every. single. day.), and enjoying the sunshine. 

If you've never met this man and don't get to hang out with him, you've led a sad, sad life...

Happy Spring Break... it's not over yet!

Oh, and Danie and Dustin left this week.  I still don't like to talk about it.  It makes me cry and pregnancy hormones really kick in.

Cali is lucky to have them.  Provo sucks without them now.

a concert of a lifetime.

Today we headed up to temple square and went to a very special concert.  A concert that only a dozen of us were invited to.

The person who put on the concert?

Why none other than our very own Grandma Kussee!

Grandma's birthday is in the month of June and Papa Kris (T's dad) planned a very special event for her.  He made the arrangements necessary for Grandma to play the organ at the tabernacle on Temple Square!  If there's one thing you should know about Papa Kris it's that he loves the women in his life a lot.  Especially Grandma Kussee.  It was a pretty special birthday gift for a mother from her son.  

T and I ended up getting to temple square about a half an hour early so we decided to roam the temple grounds and enjoy the beautiful flower beds and scenery around the House of the Lord.

We also finally figured out that this building is the Assembly Hall building!  We had both forgotten and T was excited to figure out what it was!  Obviously we need to spend a little more time on Temple Square and relearn the history of the church again.

Of course we had to take a picture of the SLC temple.  It's a tradition!

And the flowers!  The flowers were beautiful.  If I had a larger flower bed area at our duplex I would go crazy planting more flowers.  Or I would just hire the temple ground workers to come plant flowers. Then they might live longer.

T insisted that his "Pretty Girl" get a picture with the pretty flowers.  I think it was just an excuse to get the camera out of my hands so I would stop taking pictures of him.

This fountain always makes me smile when we walk past it.  When we were first dating, T and I came here with a group of singles from his singles ward to see the Christmas lights during the winter.  We both threw a penny over our shoulder and made wishes at this fountain.  T doesn't remember his wish. Mine was that I would marry him in the distant future.

Wishes really do come true.

And now for the real reason we went to temple square!  We met up with the Kuseee members of the family that could make it for the special event and waited outside door #1 of the tabernacle.  It was like we had backstage passes to a major concert and were waiting to be let in by security.

Brother Clay Christiansen (the organist for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir) met us at the door at approximately 11:30 and let us in through the backstage area of the organ.  We came into the tabernacle  by the enormous pipes and into the choir seating where we could look out into the auditorium.

Grandma with Clay Christiansen!  The two of them talked about the organ for a little bit while the rest of us took our seats in the choir seating.

Those pipes are massive!  The intricate detailing around them is breathtaking.

Our famous organ-playing grandmother!  Among her selections she played were I Believe in Christ, America the Beautiful, and Each Life That Touches Ours For Good.

Brother Christiansen pulled out the stops for her while she played and the spirit in the room was phenomenal!  There's always a special feeling you get from the spirit when grandmas are around.  Today was absolutely no exception.  She made us cry with the beauty of her musical talent today.

At the end of her mini concert for us, she shared a tender moment with Papa Kris that teared us all up again.  We caught it all on video, but alas, it won't upload.

We all clamored over the chance to get a picture with grandma once she was done playing.  I think we're going need to get her to sign all of them!

{Grandma, Mama Becky, Papa Kris}

We had to get our own photo with grandma too!  Grandma even shared a few stories from the past with us about playing the organ.

When she was raising her kids, Grandma played the organ in their ward.  The kids usually sat by themselves since Grandpa was out and about doing his callings also.  When they would get disruptive or act up all Grandma would have to do was snap her fingers and they'd instantly sit up straight and be reverent again!  

Every so often while she would be playing when he was little, little Kris would go up to the organ while she was playing and accidentally step on one of the low notes and it would play during the song she was playing!  She'd look at him and tell him to "Knock that off!" and he'd get in trouble.  

I love stories that grandparents tell.  I love our heritage and the lives that Grandma and Grandpa Kussee  have lived.  There's nothing like a pair of good grandparents! 

We were literally close enough to the organ pipes that we could have reached up and almost touched them!  

Grandma and Grandpa used to live in Rochester, NY and some of their friends got to come watch Grandma with us.  That's dedicated friendship.

  

These two are pretty remarkable.  They're still completely mobile and as in love as they were when they were first married.  They don't have two separate recliners to sit in, they sit on the same sofa during movies and hold hands.  They still love to kiss (Grandpa said that will never die!) and flirt with each other.  Grandma still dresses fancy for Grandpa and she always has the most hip hairstyle every month.

They're the perfect example of where Tyler and I want to be in 50 years.  Still young and in love!

It was a beautiful morning spent with a beautiful, talented grandmother and family!