Evelyn's 4th Birthday

I can't believe that my little Evy turned 4 this past spring!  

Evelyn wanted a stuffed turtle and a headlamp most of all.  She is so cute!  

We had banana splits for dessert.  Evelyn requested banana splits, but I don't think she had ever had one before.  She didn't like the banana part so much.  Ha ha.

A visit from Grandma

Tulip Festival

In April and May we visited a local Tulip Festival many times. I love that Evelyn has short sleeves and Jared is wearing a winter coat!  I had a hard time convincing him he didn't need to wear it everyday.

8. Out of the Mouths of Babes

Evy has been watching American Tail: "I'm not afraid of cats, and I'm not afraid of the secret weapon." Just yesterday, she assured me that indeed "there ARE cats in America." 

Evy: We went to The Light of the World Garden at Thanksgiving Point, and we visited the very amazing depiction of the First Vision. We were pointing at the statues of Heavenly Father and Jesus and telling Evy that they really did appear to Joseph Smith. She then pointed toward the statues and stated, "See that invisible guy over there? That's the Holy Ghost."

A year ago, Shawna administered this toddler questionnaire to Evy and other nieces and nephews: 

- What's your name? Lincoln, no. Evelyn
- How old are you? Uh, 3, 2? No I'm 3!
- When is your birthday? Four, in October? No it's in April
- How old is Daddy? 2, 42
- How old is Mommy? 3, 42
- What's your favorite color? Blue, white and black and red [boy, she really narrowed it down there]
- What's your favorite food? Meat, spaghetti
- Who's your best friend? Uh, Bailey!, Maggie
- What's your favorite show? Uh, uh, lava, inside out
- What's your favorite movie? Lava, inside out
- What's your favorite animal? Dinosaur, sheeps
- What are you scared of? Not the mountains, hmmm monsters and skeletons
- What makes you happy? Smile, hmmm. If somebody doesn't hate me [that's kind of dark for her]

Maggie: I wish I was a boy so that I could have short hair. My long hair always sweats me, and I get really hot. Well, I don't wish I was a boy. I just wish that Mommy could always put my hair in a bun.

Evy: Mommy, I'm wearing underwear.

Jenny: Thank you for wearing underwear.

Maggie explained the original of the term bunk beds: "If you're on the bottom bed, and if you stand up, you would bonk your head. But they couldn't name them bonk beds—that wouldn't make any sense—so they named them bunk beds." Well, I've always wondered. Haven't you?

Evy: Did you know that people eat sharks? They cook 'em up, make 'em dead, put honey on them, and eat them! Oh, and people eat the yucky part of the snail! 

Evy: I don't like Cheerios with milk in them. I had it once, and it tasted like snakes. 

Evy: Whenever I take the sacrament, I feel like Jesus is right by me.

I was reading scriptures with Maggie a few weeks ago, and we talked about when Jesus was baptized. I asked Maggie why she thought we were baptized by being buried in the water. She was spot on when she explained that we're washed clean and that we are able to "start over." Then she added this little gem: "Being baptized is like swimming with the priesthood."

Maggie: You can tell Abby is related to me because we have the same mouths. You can tell Abby is related to Evy because they have the same eyes. And you can tell Abby is related to our cousin Summer because they both suck on the same two fingers.

Evy: How do mermaids go to the bathroom?

Jared always adopts my sayings: "By the skin of our teeth" is the latest addition to his lexicon.

Evy learned about and colored a picture of David and Goliath in Primary. When we asked her why Goliath was colored entirely in red, she lifted up her picture and exclaimed, for all to hear: "Because he's BLEEDING!!!"

You may remember that Jared and the girls are always inventing undercover potty words that they think we're not smart enough to figure out. Well, his latest invention is to "send you a merry Christmas" by tooting or to "wish you a happy New Year" by burping. The possibilities are endless.

Spring Break in Arches and Canyonlands

For spring break we took our almost-annual trip to Arches (surprise, surprise).  But this year we switched things up a bit by also visiting Canyonlands National Park, too, which was a first for me (at least in my adult life.) Jared had a free National Parks Pass this year for being a 4th grader, so we thought it was a good opportunity.  

Canyonlands had many beautiful vistas, but the hikes weren't as interesting for little kids.  We were glad we went, though.  

The hike to Mesa Arch was short and fun.  We also hiked one of the rim hikes.  

My three older kids are such good hikers!

Abby loved all the hikes!

Mesa Arch behind them.  Alan had a blanket under his hat because we were using to help shade Abigail in the backpack.

Pretty views!

 All of the rest of the pictures are from Arches.  We stayed in a hotel this trip because I didn't think Abigail would appreciate camping yet.  Oh, yeah, and the Arches Campgrounds is closed for remodeling this year, and that is our favorite place to camp.

Double Arch in background

  Closer views of Double Arch:

I love Evy's sad face in this picture.  Yes, we did haves some drama. 

On the hike around the Windows section:

Back view of "the spectacles"

Being adventurous by Turret Arch

Pine Tree Arch:

I love her little bear hat!  Aunt Mimi bought it for Maggie when she was a baby.

 Our trip wouldn't be complete without a visit to Sand Dune Arch:

Now you can see the arch in the background

We tried a new hike (for my kids) this trip, the Park Avenue hike:  

The Three Gossips

Jared did his 4th grade county report on Emery County in May.  We stopped to grab a picture on the drive home for his poster.

My kids are already looking forward to another trip to Arches soon!