We love our trips to see Grandparents and this trip we were able to see both pairs! It was a long trip, but it was so nice to have time to see everyone. Britt travelled out to Utah with me and the kiddos and then Ben met us in Utah halfway through the trip when we was done with his rotation at Fort Bragg.
Our trip to Utah was pretty uneventful except for the crazy tetris we had to do to get all our stuff to fit in the Uber. I'm sure we couldn't have gotten a good review from that guy. As we were leaving he said maybe next time we should book a bigger car. I would've felt bad if when booking the uber with a carseat it didn't specifically say that the cars will typically be larger cars. I was lied to! And it's not an easy fix because I needed a car with a carseat for Riley so we just had to make it work. Britt hopped out of her SUV uber to be crunched into our tiny Honda uber. We had learned from our last Frontier flight and instead were flying a direct Delta flight so we felt like we were living in style. Also, I'm never going back from TSA precheck. It's the best thing ever.
The first days of our trip were all about cousin time and playing at grandma and grandpa's house. Riley loved playing with her cousins, but with little kids things are never quite picture perfect. The first day they all had such a good time. Elena read a book aloud to all the younger ones. Elena and Riley seemed to play together perfectly. At one point I heard Elena start a conversation with Riley by saying, "Have I ever told you..." Which was just the cutest adult thing to hear in a little kid conversation. It seemed like they had a wonderful time together. After playing together for a while Elena came up to me and said, "She (Riley) should be a narrator." Haha Elena noticed Riley's habit of talking like a book when playing (Phrases like: "Oh no," he gasped. "Don't do that," she exclaimed)
The next day when a cousin arrived Riley whined, "Not again!" Haha I figured she'd be thrilled because of the fun they had the day before, but I guess I still should've let her know to expect company. They ended up having a great time again after Riley got in the right mood to play with others.
Riley and I also went over to the Coopers house a few times to play over there. Then it was Andrew's turn to not be so sure how he felt about the visitors. At one point Riley sat down and played on his little Vtech table. When she was done he went over to take his turn, but clearly still distraught that his cousin had been using his toy he stood back up immediately, tossed the stool aside, and declared, "It's too hot!"
An example of simple moments you just don't capture in zoom calls with kids, Riley sits next to Matt and asks, "What'd you do at work today Matt?" Matt replies, "Thanks for asking Riley! No one around here ever asks me about that!"
We got to celebrate Easter with the Utah fam. Mom, of course, put together a wonderful egg hunt for the Cooper and Jack cousins. Knowing the importance of fairness to kids she had a specific big egg, one gold egg, and four or five normal eggs. During the hunt Riley got a little discouraged when she couldn't find her last few eggs, but she had great older cousins that helped her not get too upset. In a more controlled environment Riley probably would've just been allowed a few of her eggs, but she went right to it and had basically eaten it all before I even registered when was happening.
My favorite part of Easter was the darling outfits Mom and Dad had gifted the kids. They all look so darn cute! I loved all the photos we got. And it's hard work taking pictures of that many kids while also in church clothes. My favorite quote from Ana while we were taking pictures, "I feel like I need to gird up my loins."
Oh, I almost forgot that we also performed at church. Ana, Elena, Dad, Riley and I sang a primary song together and it was so sweet. I was so proud of Riley learning all the words, and singing her part in front of everyone. It was 50/50 if she was gonna be in the mood to actually do it the day of, but to my memory she did actually sing her part and did really well!
After lots of fun in Utah we got to pick up Ben in Salt Lake and drive up to Rexburg to spend some time with his family. Riley always has a great time with her Grandma and Grandpa Jack, but she is always equally as excited to see their dog Dobby. I don't know what we will do when that dog's time comes, she'll be so distraught. She just loves having a little dog to constantly keep track of.
Riley was pretty adorable playing with the kitchen and dolls at her grandparent's house. She had put on this cute little apron to work in the kitchen. At one point she decided work in the kitchen was done and in her words, "It's time for me to take off my apron and show them (her dolls) some moves."
Our favorite stop near Rexburg is always the aquarium. It's a very small aquarium, but it has a lot of hands on options for kids with the animals, so it's usually a lot of fun. This time when we walked through one section there was a bird being VERY noisy. Riley was not happy about that and wanted to get out of there quick. Once we'd passed through that room she exclaimed, "That scarlet macaw was too loud!" Haha always impressed by her animal knowledge.
Since this has been a post about visiting family I'm just gonna also squeeze in the trip from the Thompsons. While we were in Utah the Thompson family arrived in DC and broke into our house. We came home from our trip at like 1 am to find a little preteen asleep on our couch. They only had a few days left of their trip when we got back, but it was still fun to see them for a bit. That first morning Riley was amazed as cousins started appearing. When Calvin came up the stairs she said, "Who's that?" I answered, "Calvin." She responded, "But he's supposed to be the small one." She loved to comment on their comings and goings saying, "There goes the tall one," as Brady walked by. She also told me, "Brady is like a grown up."
There was a really cute part of the day when the boys and Riley somehow got into a dance party. Riley excitedly called over to me, "Mom it's a party over here! It really is!"
One of the best parts of their quick visit was that Mel and I went to a barre class at my gym. We wore matching outfits, at one point the teacher found out we were sisters and realized we meant to dress the same, she just thought it was coincidence. It's so fun that whenever Mel, Ana, or I are together we can share our love of workout classes and have fun working out together.
Before they left we had to take more pictures in front of our beautiful flowering bushes!
