Celebrating pioneers and other important milestones

This week has been a busy one, not least because the State of Utah celebrates Pioneer Day as a state holiday, so most of us were off work that day. (Well, since Dan was off work, I guess technically we were all off work, but by "us" I mean my extended family, too. All but Jared, who, since his employer is out of state, still had to work). So, for a rundown of the week . . .

Monday morning at 10 a.m. I had a job interview. Yes, you read that right. A week or so ago, I just happened to come across a posting for a part-time job at BYU for the Writing Fellows Coordinator position. Since I was a Writing Fellow as an undergrad and I've done a lot of work with peer writing tutors since then, I was pretty excited about the position, which seemed like a nice extension of stuff I did as a grad student, and, since the position is part time and my mom offered to baby-sit if I got the job, I decided to apply. And, as you may have guessed since I'm taking the time here to write about it, I was offered the job--and accepted it! I'm actually pretty excited--this will get me out of the house a bit, but not so much that I'll feel like I'm abandoning my kids. Plus, it will allow me to do something useful with my degree. And the extra income will let us save enough for a decent down-payment on a house when the time comes.

In other general Eves family news, Evelyn has started smiling--real, responsive smiles, not just gas-flickers. We've tried to catch some on camera, but, as usual, the real thing is much cuter than the flat representation.

Tuesday morning, Jeni and her kids came over to decorate cupcakes. I had a bit of a cupcake fetish last week--I wanted to practice filling cupcakes before I made the *real* batch for Dan's birthday, so Tuesday morning's batch were regular yellow cake mix cupcakes filled with chocolate pudding. They were a little strange, but the kids didn't mind, especially when they were loaded with frosting and other goodies. That evening, after Dan witnessed Andrew trying to use a potty chair that was way too small for him, we decided to get him one that would actually hold him, as part of our ever-fruitless attempts to help Andrew decide he wants to be potty trained. He seems to like the seat (as you can see), but so far, hasn't made any noticeable progress toward being diaper-free.


Wednesday afternoon, Andrew *helped* me mix up the real cupcakes for Dan's birthday bash. I'm not sure whether it was his help, or simply the recipe itself, but it took us nearly an hour to mix them up. The result was a quite tasty, if complex, cupcake. We got the recipe from the Food Network's cupcake challenge, from Martin Howard's recipe (it won first place in the tasting portion of the challenge). After Andrew went to bed, I finished the cupcakes by making a buttercream filling and a chocolate ganache topping. I think they would have been even better if I'd realized earlier that part of the chocolate I used for the ganache was unsweetened, but Dan seemed to think that the slightly bitter taste of the chocolate was a nice complement for the sweetness of the rest. And no, we didn't use the violet essence (see recipe)--I couldn't find any.

Bubby and Poppy stopped by that same afternoon to take Dan out for some birthday shopping--they procured a sharp looking pair of pants, some ties, and a sports-coat. Bubby is trying hard to get Dan suited up for interview season in the fall. They stopped by for dinner after their shopping spree and Poppy managed to win some charming smiles out of Miss Evelyn.

Thursday morning, we headed up to Draper for a get-together at my aunt Dahnelle's house. My mom's sister Tera was supposed to show up, but couldn't make it at the last minute, so it ended up being mostly a Collings family get-together with just a few additions: Dahnelle, her boyfriend (whose name I can't remember at the moment), Jeannie and Jeanette. Dahnelle procured a hobby horse from somewhere (purchased when her oldest daughter wanted a real horse) that Andrew enjoyed riding around the house. You can see a video of him below. We had a nice brunch there, and then headed on to Sarah's house, where Bubby and Poppy had spent the night.



When we arrived at Sarah's house, we discovered that no one was home--they'd gone up to Red Butte Gardens. We met them at Olive Garden for lunch, before returning back to the house for naps. Andrew finally (thankfully) took his nap--after a rather nerve-wracking hour for his parents where he threatened not to nap at all.

Of course, once he finally woke up, the first thing Andrew did was disappear downstairs with Katie, only to emerge a few minutes later wearing only his diaper and carrying a Snow White dress, which he needed help putting on. (We're mostly posting this picture for Jon Lee, who purportedly said that he didn't want to see any more pictures of Andrew in princess dress, and that we needed to buy that boy some trucks. Andrew does have trucks, he just likes playing dress-up with Katie.)


While dinner preparations were going on in the backyard (i.e., Aaron was manning the grill), we put the kids in swim suits and set them loose in the kiddie pool. We then had a wonderful dinner of hot dogs, fried chicken, grilled corn on the cob, potato salad, fruit salad, holiday dip, and other good things. After dinner, Sarah went to empty the pool and asked the kids to help--Andrew was more than happy to fill this big watering can with pool water and water the garden. It's one of his favorite things to do at Grandma's house.


Apparently the cupcakes were a big hit (I say apparently because I missed their unveiling--I was inside feeding Evelyn). Jake had several and, as you can tell, so did Lydia.

Below, you can see Lydia holding her third (?) cupcake of the evening. She looks good with chocolate lipstick.
Friday was, ironically enough, pretty quiet. I had an irritating sore throat, so Dan and I decided that our birthday/anniversary plans would be more enjoyable if we put them on hold for a while. (Friday was, for those who are keeping track, our five-year anniversary). Instead, we made biscuits and gravy for dinner (one of Dan's favorites, if seldom indulged in) and I took Evelyn grocery shopping so Dan could enjoy some time to himself.

Saturday we spent some time with my family--a belated sort of Pioneer Day celebration. Jeni planned several pioneer-type activities for the children. Enoch watched most of it from the dubious comfort of our wagon, since his parents were both occupied. He looked cute, though, so I had to take his picture.

Here are the kids getting ready for the three-legged race. Since they were all matched with grown-ups, the race was a little uneven. As you can see from the video below, Dan and Andrew came in dead last. Actually, they didn't even come in, as Andrew finally stopped and refused to go any further. Jared matched up with Brielle (Joshua refused to play), and my favorite part of the race was when he picked up Brielle and simply ran her to the finish line.




After the three-legged race, the older kids had an egg race with some plastic supplies I found on sale at Target. Jacob won by a wide margin, as both Emi and Andrew ended up loosing their eggs (despite having easier eggs to carry--of course, as you can maybe see from the picture, Jacob was holding his egg on the whole time. I don't think they quite understood the point of the challenge).
Here you can see Jacob in the clear lead; five steps into the race and Andrew has already lost his egg (it's behind his right leg).

The final outdoor part of the activities was a potato sack race. The video of this race (see below) is pretty funny. Jacob was the clear leader, but he stopped a few feet short of the goal and just jumped up and down. Emi was lagging behind, so Samuel finally picked her up and jumped her forward at a much faster rate. Dan demonstrated the jumping for the kids sans pillow-case. Andrew held his own for most of the race. But again, Brielle was my favorite--she just squealed while Jared bounced her forward. They never finished the race, since Jared finally just jumped her toward her mother, so Mitcee could appreciate the delighted expression on her face (you can see most of this in the video).



The final activity was making butter--Jeni put heavy whipping cream and marbles in glass jars and had the kids shake them. Unfortunately, the cream was still a little cold so it took longer than planned and all the kids lost interest before the butter actually formed so Jeni and Dan had to finish them off. The final product was actually pretty tasty, and Dan saved the butter milk to make pancakes this morning.



We also used the occasion to celebrate the multiple birthdays in the family: Dan's on Friday, my mom's next Wednesday and Emi's on Thursday. (Actually, it was mostly Emi's party--she had by far the most presents). The favored present was a Disney Soft and Sweet Princess Cinderella doll, purchased on Ebay since it's no longer carried in the store. Actually, we had a veritable plethora of dolls--I'd also ordered some similar dolls on Ebay for Emi, and a replacement for Andrew's pathetic Belle dolly. But the order didn't get shipped for over a month and Jeni, worried that it would never come, had ordered her own Cinderella doll. And we gave Emi an Ariel doll. So, there were four dolls, two for Emi, one for Andrew, and one unclaimed. This turned out to be fortuitous, however, since Brielle was fascinated with the dolls and so we gave her the extra Cinderella doll. She was thrilled (so was her mom, truth be told).

Saturday evening it was our turn to host Dan's family. We had the house to ourselves because my parents were in Salt Lake for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir/Osmonds concert. We had a reprise of the hotdog theme, plus some fresh from the garden beans. Everything went well, until Andrew decided to try and push Lydia down the stairs because he didn't want her following him and Katie. Not good. Anyway, Lydia cried, Andrew cried (we put him to bed), and Sarah decided it was time for her girls to get to bed, and that was the end of the party. It was still nice to see everyone.

This was Evelyn's outfit for church this morning--doesn't she look cute? I loved the jumper, and made the headband to match with some lace I picked out at Sarah's favorite lace store. I think it turned out pretty well, although it might be just a little big for Evelyn. And we got some cute pictures of her smiling.





Dan left this afternoon for a quick conference in Colorado--but in the meantime, it's just me and the kids (well, and Grandma upstairs if I get desperate). I already miss him!

The song of the righteous . . .

We had another funny Andrew episode tonight that we thought we'd relate. Our family home evening tonight was about the pioneers, although I'm not sure how successful our explanation was. When I asked Andrew what he would take with him if he were a pioneer and could only take one or two things, he reeled off a list of things he'd seen in the picture of pioneers: cows, children, wagons . . . More to the point, however, were the pioneer songs we introduced Andrew to ("Pioneer Children Sang as They Walked" and "Here Comes the Ox-Cart," which Dan loves). After we finished the lesson, we repeated one of the songs. At this point, Andrew announced that *he* had a song to teach Dan and I. So he climbed onto the piano bench, began pounding on the keys, and began to sing his own composition:

"Fold your arms,
Fold your arms,
to say a prayer."

bang, bang, bang on the piano, followed by,

"Please shut your arms,
to say a prayer."

At least he's creative! It was all Dan and I could do to keep from laughing as he unfolded his new "song." We were also amused by the last line of his prayer tonight, where he said, "Please bless my bed . . . that I can lay in it."

summer days

It's a good thing I posted earlier in the week, because my memory grows ever more truncated: now I can't even remember what we did on Wednesday. (This might, of course, be because so many days are similar). Thursday morning I got this brainstorm about taking the kids to the park in our new double stroller. I was rather proud of myself--I got everyone dressed early enough so that it wasn't too hot (when we left, at least), pried Andrew away from his TV show, and herded both children outside to get the stroller out of the trunk. Only to remember, as I stared at the vacant curb, that Dan had taken the car to work that morning. So we improvised; I put Evelyn in our Snugli carrier and put Andrew in the stroller. On our way down the hill, we were passed by a jogger who turned out to be a girl I knew from high school, Aimee Hodges, who was in town for a wedding. She slowed down enough to chat with us the rest of the way down the hill. I remember Aimee as being unfailingly kind and cheerful in high school, and of course she was a cheerleader and horribly cute, so she was super popular. I remember feeling somewhat inadequate around her for those reasons--it's funny how age and distance creates a much more level playing field around our former classmates! Now, we're simply glad to see each other without any of the constraints of high school cliques.

Friday morning Andrew and I had a playdate with my friend Karin and her son Ezra, who's eight months older than Andrew. (Evelyn just got to tag along. She slept most of the time anyway.) It was fun to chat with Karin, and I think Andrew enjoyed himself, too. (Halfway home he was quite insistent that we turn around and go back to Ezra's house: "Stop, mommy! Don't go that way. Go backwards!") Ezra took a little while to warm up to Andrew--if I were about Andrew's size, I think I'd be intimidated by his exuberance on first meeting too! Nolan, Ezra's little brother, was fascinated by Andrew, however.

Andrew has been alternately entertaining and exasperating me lately by his interest in Evelyn's movements. While I could do without him trying to "help" me nurse, I do like that he's always willing to get down on the floor with Evelyn when she has her "tummy time." In fact, he's started to insist that he and dolly have blankets, too, which is what you see pictured below. (This was after I put Evelyn on her back when tummy time was over, but you'll notice that dolly is still face-down, doing her tummy time.)



I finally figured out how to turn off the flash on our camera (I know, we've only had the camera for six months), so I finally got some semi-decent pictures of Evelyn. She is a cute little girl, if I say so myself. Her fat cheeks just kill me!



Saturday was our big adventure day. In the morning, we went up to Salt Lake and met up with Sarah and her kids and headed to Liberty Park, where the Animal Planet Expo was in town. I have to admit that I was a little disappointed by the expo, which was mostly filled with smaller booths. But the kids liked the jumping house quite a bit, and they probably would have liked the animals, if we'd been able to get close enough to actually see the animals and not the big screen behind them. It also was quite warm (it hit just over 100 that day), so we weren't inclined to linger.
Jake was the only one of the kids tall enough for this cool looking crocodile slide. I think he liked the slide pretty well, but he scratched up his face a bit coming out, so we were glad that the younger kids were prohibited.



Andrew and Lydia weren't technically tall enough (although Andrew was only an inch shy) for this jumping house, but the woman in charge was kind enough to let them both in--twice. The second time Lydia just sat on the floor and let the other little kids bounce her. I love Andrew's open-mouthed enjoyment in this picture. He wasn't quite coordinated enough to hop with both feet at the same time (as Katie is doing here), but he seemed to enjoy his skip-hop well enough.

Luckily, if the Expo wasn't all we'd hoped for, Liberty Park is a wonderful park for kids. Sarah told us that there was a nice little wading pool nearby, so we'd come prepared with swim suits for all the kids. I think splashing in the water was their favorite part of the whole trip.




This is how Evelyn spent most of the morning: sleeping in the stroller. (We finally got to use the stroller outside--and I'm still enthusiastic about it. It was nice to have, even if Andrew was in and out of the stroller constantly). She didn't wake up until we were starting to round up the kids from the water so we could beat the lunch rush.

We had lunch at Granatos, and Andrew did us proud by eating a full half of a meatball sandwich on his own (for context, Sarah's kids split the same sandwich among the three of them, and as we all know, Lydia's no slouch in the eating department). I had a nice prosciutto and provolone sandwich on ciabatta, and Dan had pastrami. I saved half of my sandwich to enjoy at a later date--and then left it in Sarah's fridge. (Enjoy, Wells!)

We tried, unsuccessfully, to put Andrew down for a nap at Sarah's house (thwarted, ultimately, by a poopy diaper). Sarah and I left the kids for a brief shopping trip to Mervyn's (Sarah had a discount card she wanted to use) and the lace store, where Sarah picked up ribbons to make curly ribbon barrettes for the girls' latest dresses. Sarah has inspired me to try and create my own headbands for Evelyn--we'll see how successful I am!

After we got back home, Evelyn and I abandoned ship for a girls' night out: I met several of my friends from high school for dinner at P.F. Changs (Karin, Tasha, Sally, and Jennie). It was wonderful to see everyone again and catch up, and the food was good as well. Of course we had to have lettuce wraps, and then we shared entrees. I got a bit of ragging from the girls by ordering some take-out for Dan, but I felt bad leaving him with a hysterical and napless Andrew. Evelyn slept through all of dinner, waking up just as we were leaving. What a good girl! I need to remember and enjoy her while she's still little enough to be quite portable.

The proof is in the pudding

(or in the milk, as the case may be). Evelyn proved today that we must be doing something right in feeding our kids. She had her two month check-up today, and I was rather astounded when I put her on the scales to find that she weighed in at 11 lbs. That's right: eleven. For someone who was just over 5 lbs two months ago, that's pretty significant. (Andrew also doubled his birthweight in about two months--at his two month check-up he was already 14 lbs). This means that she's gained approximately a pound a week since her one month check-up. No wonder her cheeks look so fat! Her other vital stats were 22.3 inches long and 40 cm head circumference. Her changes in height and weight mean that she's gone from being in the 6th and 8th percentile respectively to the 40th and 50th percentile. Not bad for a preemie.

Men are, that they might have joy

I don't always remember to take life slowly, to savor small moments, but I've had a couple of moments this week that remind me how blessed I am with my family--a wonderful husband and two delightful rugrats (granted, sometimes more delightful than others!). Small moments, like listening to Andrew talk to himself in the bathtub, or holding both children on my lap (which happens more often than I would like--Andrew occasionally thinks he needs to "help" me while I'm nursing Evelyn), sometimes fill me with such a complete feeling of happiness that it surprises me. Unfortunately, such moments aren't usually lasting, but that they happen at all is a small miracle to me.

Small moments aside, we've managed to survive another week. I took both kids out by myself for the first time this week--on Tuesday, we did a little jaunt to the Bean Museum of Natural History (or the "buseum" as Andrew likes to call it). This was actually a perfect first outing, since the museum is small enough that Andrew can run around and I can still keep an eye on him while pushing a stroller. Evelyn, of course, slept through the whole thing and didn't wake up till we were on our way home. We ran into Katy Knight, a girl I went to high school with and who was also a friend from our State College days, who is now working at the museum. Since the last time she saw me I was kidless, I think it surprised her a little to see me with two children in tow.

Andrew chose that afternoon to refuse to nap (delightful child), and no amount of threats or cajolery could change his mind. I was at my wits end when my sister called and said they were going to Sam's club, would we like to come? I was going to refuse--I didn't want to try and wrangle a sleep-deprived Andrew into a shopping cart--until she reminded me that it's sometimes easier to deal with cranky children when other grown-ups are around. And Andrew was, in fact, pretty good. I was proud of myself for surviving two outings in one day. Maybe now we can get out more often, especially since Evelyn is older now and the risks of exposure to germs are a little bit minimized.

Thursday morning I arranged for a play date for Andrew with a little boy down the street, whose grandmother watches him several days a week while his mom attends a class at BYU. Andrew was initially hesitant about going somewhere strange, but he enjoyed the new toys so much (not so much his playmate, since the two of them more or less played by themselves in the same room) that he asked me if he could stay after the other little boy's mom had come to take him home.

Friday, Jeni and my mom and I took all of the kids to Toys R Us. The outing started relatively uneventfully--Andrew insisted on playing with the toy train set as he always does. And then, as almost always happens while he is engrossed in Thomas, he fills his diaper. (Seriously, I think probably a good 75% of the times that we've been to the toy store he's pooped while playing with the trains. He does the same thing in nursery. I'm not sure what it is about trains, but they sure work to keep Andrew regular!) The outing didn't end so well, unfortunately. We told Andrew he could walk as long as he didn't run away, and, sure enough, towards the end he ran away into a side aisle and was put, kicking and screaming into the cart (it took the combined efforts of my mom and I to get him there) and sobbed pretty much until we got him out to the car. One concerned clerk commented, "the poor kid is pretty sad, isn't he?" I couldn't manage much sympathy for him, though.

Saturday morning Dan took Andrew to Target for some groceries and other necessities while I worked on revising a chapter that I co-wrote with two other women, which is due to be published in a book, provided we can actually get it done. Anyway, I was behind on my self-imposed schedule, since Evelyn decided that this past week was her week to be fussy in the evenings, so it was nice to have a little time to myself, even if I spent it writing.

That afternoon, after Andrew's nap, we decided to try out our new double stroller by taking it to the mall. I have spent hours in the last several months researching double strollers online--you could say it was my latest obsession (I am slightly obsessive-compulsive)--before finding one that we thought would work. I ended up ordering a Maclaren Twin Triumph, which wasn't too expensive (for a double stroller), was light-weight, could fit in our trunk--a big prerequisite, since the Graco stroller I initially liked wouldn't fit--had a high weight limit (55 lbs per seat--most are only 40, and with Andrew tipping the scales at 36-7 pounds, that didn't seem like it would work too long), and was pretty durable and could be used equally well indoors or out. Poppy says I'm betraying my Anglophilic nature, since the Maclaren is a British company. Our stroller had arrived the previous day and we (I) were anxious to see how it worked. At any rate, we were quite pleased with the stroller, which moves really easily, fits through doors no problem (even though it's side-to-side) and the handles are tall enough that Dan doesn't have to stoop to push it. We were less pleased, however, with its occupants, who decided to start crying in unison approximately five minutes into our trip. (Evelyn wasn't happy because she wanted to be sleeping, and Andrew wasn't happy because we'd told him no about something). Andrew proceeded to fall apart about every five minutes for the rest of the trip; luckily Evelyn fell asleep pretty quickly once I picked her up. (But it kind of defeated the point of a double stroller, since I carried her most of the time).

I have also, sadly, decided I need to give up chocolate for the duration. I have a horrible sweet tooth, and chocolate is one of my favorites, but this past week Dan and I have both been exhausted by dealing with Evelyn's fussy periods in the evening (which is usually when we get to unwind and recharge). For four or five nights in a row, she would fuss from about 8 until 10:30, not wanting to eat much, and only relaxing if she was held and bounced continuously. Otherwise she would cry. I realize that parents whose babies have colic face much more intense versions of this, but it still wasn't much fun. I read somewhere that sometimes these evening fusses are caused by food sensitivities, and a common culprit is chocolate, so I decided to try an experiment. For the last two days I've cut out all chocolate (I usually have a least a little bit once a day), and, unfortunately, the experiment seemed to work. Evelyn has been much less fussy the past two days, so I think I'm going to have to keep it up, at least for the next several weeks. (Although I may make an exception for Dan's birthday, which is in a couple weeks).

And that's pretty much the highlights from this week. At least, the ones I can remember . . .

An unorthodox prayer

Tonight, Andrew, upon being asked to say our family prayer, gave the following prayer:


Dear Heavenly Father,
Please bless Mickey Andrew [he was wearing Mickey Mouse pajamas].
Thank you for . . . everyone . . .
Except Reginald van Hoobie Doobie [a character in Edwina, The Dinosaur Who Didn't Know She was Extinct].


Creative, if a bit irreverant--but I'm sure its intended audience didn't mind!

Mess maker, mess maker, make me a mess . . .

So, I turned around the other day to discover that Andrew had pulled all his toys off the shelves, dumped everything out of its container, and dumped out approximately 8 puzzles . . . I asked what he was doing and he said (quite proudly, I should add), "I'm making a BIG mess!" At least he's honest.


Messes aside, he can be a sweet boy. Today, we had Evelyn propped on a pillow on the floor and her pacifier kept coming out, so she kept crying. Andrew asked, "Should I go talk to her?" and then laid down beside her and tried to give her her binkie. Evelyn didn't appreciate the gesture, but I sure did.

independence day

With my always stellar postpartum memory skills, I have absolutely no recollection of anything that happened before Thursday of last week (although I'm sure *something* must have happened). At any rate, with apologies for my lousy memory, we begin our narrative on Thursday.

Typically, when we go down to Dan's parents' house, we leave after Andrew's nap. This week, we decided to experiment and go before his nap, hoping that he'd nap in the car. He did--but only for half an hour, so its doubtful that we'll repeat this experiment anytime soon. Our ride down was uneventful: we stopped in Fillmore where Andrew's flagging spirits were revived with "zips" from a lemonade and an ice-cream cone (as we drove into Fillmore, Andrew was crying hysterically that he wanted to go home--in fact, he was so distraught that he made himself throw up as we were exiting the freeway). Meanwhile, I fed Evelyn. We ran into Sarah's good friend and her family while we were in the restaurant, which was kind of fun. They were on their way north from St. George.

We arrived at Bubby and Poppy's to find the party in full swing: Sarah and her brood and Matt and Laurie were all hanging out. The guys were planning a fishing trip, so Dan went to get a fishing license and then they all left, leaving Andrew as the resident male in the household. The kids played for a while and then we ordered pizza--unfortunately, since it was the night before a holiday, the demand for pizza was high and we didn't get to eat until nearly seven (so much for Andrew's early night!). After dinner, we enjoyed some popsicles--we stripped Andrew and Lydia down to diapers, and both of them managed to drip popsicle all over. As a result, they needed some serious cleaning; we bathed the kids by hosing them down with the garden hose--Andrew seemed to enjoy it, but Sarah's girls were traumatized (the water *was* a bit cold, and it took a lot more water to wash the soap out of their hair than out of Andrew's). Then, Andrew and Lydia went down (mercifully, they both went down pretty easily). Sarah, Trisha and I hung out in the yard for a while, talking, while Katie played. After Katie went to bed, we got to work making things for Laurie's baby shower (which was to take place on Saturday).

In the meantime, the guys apparently had a successful fishing outing--they caught about twenty fish apiece (although most were quite small) and Jake insisted on touching every fish they caught. They came home late and finished off the left-over pizza while recounting their triumphs.
We were up early the next morning to get everyone ready to attend the Cedar City Independence Day parade, a much anticipated event (although apparently this year's efforts fell short of expectations). Sarah makes a big deal out of the fourth, and her children were all appropriately decked in holiday colors. Sarah and Trisha even made sure that my children were dressed appropriately, picking a shirt for Andrew at Wal-mart and a onesie and shorts for Evelyn (but we opted for a red dress I'd packed instead). We didn't arrive early enough to stake a claim on the shady side of the street, and even at 9 a.m. the sidewalk area was sweltering. And bright, as you can tell from these lovely squinting faces.





To keep the kids occupied, we bought balloons from a vendor. They were a big hit with the kids, although less popular with the grown-ups, especially after we got home and they had to be repeatedly rescued from one of the ceiling fans.




Andrew found the parade a little trying--he enjoyed running around at first, but when he found that he couldn't run as much as he wanted, he started to lose interest. He also liked the candy that was thrown, but there wasn't a lot of it and he wasn't fast enough to get most of it before older children scooped it up, so that palled after a while to. In fact, we opted to leave before the parade was over to prevent incipient melt-down. Ironically enough, as we were leaving the street for the parking lot where we had parked our car, Andrew announced, "That was so much fun!" Hardly the description Dan and I would have given it!

We had just arrived back at Bubby and Poppy's when we got a call that the rest of the gang had left the parade early as well and were waiting for us at the Brown Cow, a local eatery frequented for its cold drinks and ice cream. We ordered in shifts, trying to make the most of the air-conditioning. The kids "played" the arcade games (Jake is the only one that knows you're supposed to pay to actually play) and the grown-ups chatted. Andrew made short work of a rootbeer, a small ice-cream cone, and a hamburger.

We took the kids home for naps and that afternoon we had a barbeque in the backyard (like most of suburban America, I imagine), with yummy hotdogs and hamburgers. That evening, we also spent some time in baby shower prep.

Saturday morning, of course, was mostly taken up with the shower. In the morning, Sarah and Trisha slaved away in the kitchen to prepare the food and Dan and Aaron took the kids to a local park to get them out of the way. Then, we loaded up the car and took everything over to the community center where the event was to be held. There were lots of people there (a tribute, no doubt, to Laurie's general likeability!). And Laurie and Matt certainly got lots of stuff--their little boy will be one well-dressed little boy, at least for his first few months. We played a couple of shower games (including one where you couldn't say the word "cute"--you can imagine how hard that was at a baby shower. I surprised myself by actually doing well enough to be one of the winners.) But I think most people enjoyed the wonderful sugar cookies and good company best of all. Trisha put me in charge of one of the games, so I handed Evelyn off to Dan's Aunt Nellie, who was gracious enough to hold her for me.


Laurie's face as she read our "note" accompanying our gift. The note explained that part of the present was forthcoming--a pirate onesie that reads "Aargh, wipe me booty!" (For those of you who don't know, Matt's nickname is "Booty").

The rest of our stay was fairly quiet--Sarah and her kids left after the shower to visit Aaron's family in St. George, so we spent the evening with Bubby and Poppy, eating left-overs (tacos) and generally hanging out. Matt and Laurie came over in the evening for some games. And of course, we had our second Dairy Queen run of the visit (the first being Friday night). We went to sacrament meeting with Trisha (Andrew behaved abominably and spent half the meeting in the hallway with Dan, crying, and I spent half the meeting feeding Evelyn). Afterward, we put Andrew down for a nap, had a wonderful spaghetti supper, and then drove back home. All in all, an enjoyable trip!

Andrew, wearing the slippers Trisha brought back from her recent trip to Holland. (A funny aside: because he opened the package on the morning of the fourth, he spent the rest of the morning convinced somehow that it was his birthday--I suppose he's been to too many birthday parties recently and since none were his he just assumed that it must be about time for his birthday . . . poor kid. He's still got nearly six months till the actual date!)