Papa and Nonny's Cedar visit

I mentioned that my parents stayed with us a few weeks ago, but I didn't add any details beyond the baby blessing festivities and our ski trip. Here are a few more of our little adventures in Cedar:

We picked them up at the St. George airport. The photos (left to right, up to down) give the play-by-play: we waited by the gate with Brianna swinging from the security poles, I hid around the corner while Mom and Dad came in to find Brianna, she ran away from them (though had been talking about how excited she was to see them for several days prior), I hugged mom, Dad hugged Brian (a little awkward for Brian - he didn't come from a hugging family - he must learn the Smith ways), Mom chased Brianna for a hug, then she and dad sat back and let Brianna come to them, they captured her finally and squeezed, then Mom won Brianna's endearment by taking her to the automatic hand santizer machine.

Pirate's Island in St. George was a fun place to go for dinner. Fun - meaning I didn't have to try to force my toddler into unnatural behavior (ie, sitting in the same place for more than 5 minutes). They have a great games-center and "little pirates" play area. Mom used all our tokens on the ski ball and had a tough time sharing with Brianna. I had to remind her to set a good example. Brian and Dad enjoyed man-talk time (top middle photo). We had coupons for 2 free salad bars (I LOVE our Dixie Direct book). Getting Brianna to leave resulted in the episode depicted in the previous post (screaming wiggly fish).

Nonny and Papa took Brianna to Discovery Park and a cute little bookstore.

Dad - unable to sit still - took it upon himself to install strong shelving and organize our garage! He also fixed a squeaky door and waxed my skiis. That's my love language - acts of service. Not gifts, not quality time, not words of affirmation... DOING nice things. That's why, while I'm here in Washington visiting my parents, I spent 10 hours cleaning out and organizing their jumungous basement. I knew he'd appreciate it more than anything else.

Mom insisted on visiting our city's only health-food store. She's way into that kind of thing. Dad isn't. But he came in when I told him about their awesome "oatscreme" - like icecream, but made out of oats and vanilla. Brianna loves it.

Bottom right photo: we had our neighbors, Tom and Debra, over for dinner one night. Mom helped me prepare a decent feast. This photo was after it was all cleared away - I was too busy playing hostess to take a picture of the spread. By playing hostess, I mean restraining Brianna from making scenes.

Most of all, I really enjoyed seeing my parents play with Brianna. They got right on the floor with her. Books, puzzles, Cooties... she was smothered in attention.

That's all. We reallyreally enjoyed having them. It probably would've been their only visit to Cedar during our time there (which will likely be another year or so), but they'll have to come again for the new baby this summer! That's the real reason we decided to get pregnant - to lure my parents back for another visit.