Happy Birthday, Evelyn!

We were able to celebrate Evelyn's birthday over several days.  Some sweet old ladies that live a couple of houses down from us brought over this cute (but a little funny-looking) cake that I think is supposed to be a lamb (or a poodle?).  The cake was a thank-you gift for Alan shoveling their driveway a couple of times during the winter.  We decided to use it as an early birthday cake for Evy to destroy.  

Lamb or poodle?

Evy's cheeks are all red because she had a little bit of an allergic reaction to some strawberries.

 Evy often puts her hands behind her head like this.  She does it when I read stories to her in her rocking chair.  I think it is so cute.

Yummy cake!

Do you want some, too?

Evelyn is our first child to actually give us a show with eating/smashing her birthday cake.  We were quite disappointed with Jared's and Maggie's first birthdays.  Ha ha.  

 About a month ago I got bit by the crocheting bug and decided to make Maggie and Evy matching lavender dresses to wear this spring and summer.  (Seriously, it had been about a year and a half since I had last done any crocheting.) The pattern I found online was in Maggie's size, so I made that one first and then had to try and alter the pattern to make one Evy's size.  I admit that I had to undo quite a bit to make it finally work out.

I finished Evy's dress on her birthday.

I LOVE this picture.

This next video is of Evy opening up one of her presents a couple of days after her actual birthday.  

Arches National Park

About a month ago Alan started a new job (no particulars here since this blog is public). Although he liked his old job, it was time for a change.  He was very overworked and under-appreciated, not to mention the fact that he would never ever be able to take time off during our kids' spring and fall breaks. Well, since he started a new job, he was able to take a couple of days off and we went to our family favorite, Arches!  

We went during the same weekend as two of my brothers and their families, a friend of my oldest brother and his family, and some friends of ours that we knew from our first married student ward at BYU who now live just a few blocks away from us.  We spent some time with these friends of ours, but we also did a lot on our own.

We camped for two nights in the campground in Arches National Park.  I was nervous taking Evelyn, not quite sure how she would sleep, and it turned out I was right to be nervous. She did NOT like sleeping in her pack-and-play in the tent, and consequently spent 1 1/2 nights sleeping in the car with Alan.  Maggie was also up lots of times during each night.  Ah, well, I guess we don't go camping to get a good night's sleep, right?

 Our first day, before we drove into Arches, we actually went on a hike near Moab to Corona Arch.  This was a new hike for us, and we loved it!  It was very hot and a bit long for Maggie, but it was worth it.

My siblings and I bought this new child-carrying backpack as an early birthday present for Alan.  It arrived the day before we left on our trip and worked wonderfully!

 Near the end of the Corona Arch hike, there were lots of little cairns that people had built all next to each other.  Jared built his own, about 3 inches high.  :)

Some crazy adults were climbing to the top of Corona Arch and swinging off the top.  We saw several of them do this.  Can you see the guy in the middle and also someone standing on top of the arch?  You can also look up YouTube videos of people jumping off this arch.

Alan and Evy

Resting in the shade of Corona Arch

This picture was on the way back after seeing the arch.  This is also where Maggie had her first experience peeing in nature without a toilet.  :)

All of the next pictures are in Arches National Park:

Jared and Alan climbed on top of Sand Dune Arch

Maggie loved playing in the sand with her cousins at Sand Dune Arch

This is the only picture I am in on the whole trip!!  Ha ha.  We hiked to Landscape Arch.

Tunnel Arch

Pine Tree Arch

Alan and Evy underneath Pine Tree Arch

Jared and Maggie sitting underneath Pine Tree Arch

Maggie climbing in Double Arch

Alan took this video. Sorry it is sideways.

Maggie looking a little sad by Double Arch.  This was minutes before a big meltdown.

Jared and his cousin by Double Arch

 We also hiked around the Windows and into Turret Arch:

Turret Arch

Standing under Turret Arch and seeing one of the Windows behind him

The "spectacles" with the nose rock between

My attempt to get a picture of Maggie by some pretty yellow flowers

Jared was a more willing model

On the primitive loop trail around the Windows

We loved our little trip to Arches and can't wait to go again soon!

Aviary

One day during Jared's spring break we went to the Aviary.  It is not super close to our house, so I feel like it takes some effort to go.  Ha ha.  But Jared and Maggie both love it!  It is not as cool as the zoo, but they have so many amazing birds that we have enjoyed it every time we have gone these past couple of years.

 We saw a peacock with it's feathers fully extended!  I love all the peacocks that are wandering around and perched on top of roofs.

 This picture was in front of the ibis cage.  You can't really see the ibises, but they are beautiful red birds native to South America.

There is a toucan in the background of this picture.

I didn't get any pictures of the eagles, the hornbill, the condor, or the owls, but we loved those, too!    (Click here to see the post about our trip to the aviary a year ago.  It includes a few cool videos.)

March in Review

I just realized that I need to catch up on some things before I start blogging about the whirlwind of birthdays that our family has.  

This first video is Maggie practicing her very first talk that she gave in March as a sunbeam in Primary.  The topic: I can gain a testimony of Jesus Christ.  She did a great job during the actual talk, but I'm sure it was hard to hear because she was too close to the microphone, practically licking it.  Ha ha.  For this practice video, she was a bit camera shy and speaking very softly, but here you go anyways:

Here is Evelyn napping.  The silly rascal took off her own shirt before she finally fell asleep.  She is really starting to fight her morning nap, something that is very tragic for both her and me.  We more often than not have a very tired and grumpy baby during the day.  

This was Jared's "trap" for a leprechaun for St. Patrick's Day.  Jared thinks that putting a bunch of green things together will lure the leprechaun to leave gold treats (gold chocolate coins and Reese's peanut butter cups). I guess it works!  I forgot to take pictures of our St. Patrick's Day activities.  However, the evening before we had an amazing green party (complete with games!) planned by Grandma Stout, and the day of we had green jello, green eggs, and green waffles for dinner.  It was fun.

Spring means we get to play on our awesome playground in the backyard. Evelyn LOVES the swing!

Maggie wanted a picture, too.  She is such a sweet girl!

Cute Sayings

We finally bought a new computer, so I can hopefully get back into blogging more regularly.  Yay!

I have just been thinking about a few cute things Jared and Maggie have been doing lately that I wanted to record:

1. Jared pretends that he can control the weather.  He will wake up and say things like, "Mommy, the reason why it snowed last night is because I turned my snow machine on.  I need to turn on my heat machine to warm things up."  (I think this is loosely based on Snow Miser and Heat Miser from The Year Without a Santa Claus.) Jared talks about this so much that he even had a cute 2nd grade girl in his carpool slightly convinced that he does, in fact, control the weather.   :)

2. Maggie likes to "tuck in" her dollies and stuffed animals.  I will walk into my room and see some of her toys lying on my bed and tucked in under a blankie.  I will also find her doing this in other random places in our house.  It is so cute.

3. Maggie loves to play hide-and-go-seek with Alan and Jared.  Maggie will tell Alan where to hide and then pretend she doesn't know where he is.  "Where can Daddy be?  Is he in the closet? No...." Then she will find him and pretend to be surprised at where he hid.  When it is her turn to hide she will tell Alan where she will be.  It is so funny.

4. Maggie knows all of the sounds of all the ABCs. She is on the verge of being able to sound out three-letter words like CAT and BOX. Maggie also says things like "W starts with the letter D, and Y starts with the letter W!" (She's right--sound it out for yourself!)  She can spell her own name.

5. Maggie is obsessed with Frozen and has a lot of the songs memorized.  She is so cute!  She wants me to do her hair in an "Elsa braid" every morning.  I am just trying to figure out which of the dozens of Frozen toys out there should I buy her for her 4th birthday in May (???)

6. Jared wants a magical snow globe for next Christmas that will grant him wishes (Anyone seen Elmo Saves Christmas?) He talks about all the wishes he will make.  One day he asked me if I would rather be an eagle or a snake.  When I said eagle he said, "Well, Mom, after I get my snow globe for Christmas, you might get your wish..."

I can't think of anything else right now.  Maybe I will add more to this post later.