Visiting Grandma & Grandpa

Rivers and I went to visit Grandma Sharon and Grandpa Ted for the week. When we flew into the airport, my dad, Troy, and I headed straight up the mountain to go skiing at the Canyons. (BTW, awesome deal to all you out of state ski fans . . . if you have an airline ticket and an out of state licence, you can ski at the Canyons for free, the same day you fly in!) Despite the lack of snow storms this year, we found some pretty sweet runs, and had an absolute blast. Meanwhile Rivers slept at Troys house with Grandma Sharon, he chased the six dogs, peeled five bananas, worked out in Troy and Laura's mini-gym, and climbed fifty stairs - over and over and over again.
That night Rivs had a special treat. . . we went to a train restaurant in Heber to eat. He chased the train all over the restaurant, searching up and down to where the train would appear next.
We finally arrived in Price about 10 pm, and Rivs was shocked by all the toys. Despite the heavy eyes, he was determined to play!

My brother Troy got a new camera for his birthday. So after breaking down the manual portion of it, he used Rivs as his model. (These pics. and the two peek-a-boo below are Troys.) Rivs was loving the attention, to say the least. :)

My mom and dad are remodeling their house, and the carpet company gave them this absolutely gorgeous red fire engine! Rivers was in love. He played with this engine night and day for the entire week. Fire Fighter Rivers, here to save the day! 

Rivers other favorite thing at Grandma and Grandpa's house is their piano. He LOVES the piano. Every time the door was open to the front room, Rivs would sneak in, climb up on the seat and begin playing the piano. He actually played it quite nice, no banging, just playing each of the notes. Oh what a beautiful sound. :)

Just mom and Rivs. Hanging out on a sunny afternoon. (I can't ever get enough of this kid)

I like this picture mostly because it reminds me so much of growing up and being home. Besides the for sale sign in the background (no, my parents are not moving) this is how I imagine my childhood. :) Anyways, it's one of the funnest things about being a parent - sharing the things you love most with your little one. Yep, going home is definitely one of them! :) 

Rivers loved playing in the front yard. My parents front hill was a regular adventure for the little mountaineer. He'd hike up, searching for rocks and sticks then climb the stairs back down, going around and around. Just like a playground. 

Rivs fitting right into Price Ut - four wheeler and all! :) 

We went sledding with Grandma. Let's just say Grandma and Rivs are polar opposites in their love of sledding. This year Rivs has not been a huge fan of the sport. He went down fine the first round, I even thought he seemed to enjoy it. But by the time we got up the hill the second time, he told me he was all done. I begged him to join me but he refused. So I went down without him. Oh my goodness, that just made Rivers more upset. So the next time I invited him with me, telling him, we had to go down to go home. He seemed okay with it, so I snatched him up, but the whole way down he yelled at me. No way, not cool mom. He's now questioning any trust he's ever given to me. I'm sorry Rivers!

Rivers distraught face. He looks exactly like how he feels!

My mom having the time of her life sledding down the hill. She loves everything like this, sledding, zip lines, you name it, she loves it!

Me pulling Rivs in a sled. Like my get-up? :)

I love this picture of Grandma and Rivs. Grandma always plays so so cute with kids. She has always been my role model!

Then we got to see Grandma! What a treat. Rivs didn't get to see her until the very end of the trip because he had a runny nose and a cough. But thankfully by the time Sunday rolled around, he was looking good. So we invited Grandma over for an amazing Turkey dinner. Grandma hates the food at her place, so I promised her a homemade dinner. We made asparagus, stuffing, turkey and mashed potatoes, with pie. To put it simply Grandma was in heaven!

Then Grandma, climbed all the stairs to check out my parents newly remodeled bedroom. Grandma constantly amazes me. She's 96 years old and looks and acts amazing!

Rivers made himself right at home. He climbed up onto their bed and started jumping. (sorry for the blurry picture, he's just so fast! :) And here he is listening to my mom play the organ. The kid is crazy in love with music. When my mom finished he started clapping. What a confidence builder. I'm telling you, the kid's worth keeping around!
BTW funny story. My parents have all these little doors leading to storage places in their room. Rivers loved these little rooms. So while we were eating dinner, he took off exploring. Before long I heard all this banging coming down the stairs. Rivers had discovered next years Christmas presents! They were obviously a hit, because he was collecting each and every one of them to show off to me, and play with.

A DAY OUT WITH GRANDPA!

Grandpa Ted and Rivers became best friends on this trip. On Thursday I made plans to visit my good friend Kalista, before she takes off to the Philippines for the next three years. Instead of forcing Rivers to a day of lunch and the mall (and a three hour drive) my dad offered to watch Rivers for the day. I took him up on the offer.

So the two of them played hard. They played fire engines, cars, and even Barbie dolls. :) He read Rivers lots and lots and lots of books. They went for a walk with the dogs, and to the office. Where Rivers ran around entertaining the nurses, checking his weight, climbed chairs, and played with Mickey and Mini Mouse while my dad saw some patients.
Next the two of them went out to eat at no other than McDonalds. (I think my dad was itching for an excuse to get a Big Mac, so the two of them combined equaled a perfect McDonald's day!).
Later that week I was away redecorating my dad's office, so while my dad was watching the Super Bowl, Rivs would go downstairs grab some toys, haul them up the stairs, climb up onto the couch and sit down next to my dad to enjoy the big game. The two of them are best buddies. . . . they even have a secret handshake now! :

And if being spoiled by Grandpa isn't enough, Grandma took Rivs to the mall (while I got a little time to go clothes shopping) and the two of them totally splurged. Rivs got to ride every car in the place. But that was nothing compared to the train. A train rides around and around throughout the whole mall, and Rivers got to Ride on it with Grandma twice! The first time he sat right behind the engineer. Every time the engineer would pull the whistle Rivers would copy and exclaim "choo! choo!" As they rode around he would wave at all the people they passed, just like he was in the parade. . . even better though, because he's on a train not a float! 

When they got off the train and began driving cars, Rivs saw the train, and started chasing after it. So they rode it again, this time in the little Red Caboose! What an awesome awesome day!

The Train! A dream come true!

As if trains, cars, and fire engines aren't enough, Rivs got to fly in an airplane all the way home. This trip he connected the contraption we were in is the same thing he finds flying in the sky. He was stoked! The whole time he would fly his hand in the air making his "airplane" noise. He kept smashing his face against the window to look at the wings and the clouds, the mountains and the ground. It was awesome. When he discovered the miniature airplane toy Grandma sent home with him he wouldn't let it go, this was just like the airplane he was in! So awesome!

Home! Ben got stuck in traffic so Rivs and I had some time to play in the airport and change him into his pj's so we wouldn't need to wake him up when we got home. Then we walked outside, and when Rivers saw his daddy, he started laughing and squealing and ran into Ben's arms saying "daddy!"

A kiss from Rivers is the sweetest gift of all!

Rivs checking out the daddy's hairry face.

When we got home, Rivers was asleep in his car seat. I tried to carry him in to put him right to bed, but as soon as Rivs heard Canberra he was wide awake squealing in delight "Ca, Ca" he says! He started chasing her around, grabbing her face and kissing her. He ran into his room jumped onto his rocking horse and began rocking like mad! The kid was ecstatic! Everyone was so excited to be back together, that Ben decided to show off the new set up he put together to play Pandora in the living room. So, as you can imagine, the house was rocking to Toddler Tunes at 9:30 pm. The whole family was dancing to Itsy Bitsy Spider, and swinging Rivers high into the air as we slow danced in a circle to Imagine. We danced and danced and danced some more (yes, we love dancing :) when finally at 10:30 pm we layed down a pooped out little boy who fell into a deep slumber until 9 the next morning. What a day! We loved our trip and we love being home!