This one cracks me up, for some reason. He is very expressive with those eyebrows. And look at that head control!
And what is Ellie up to? Why, mopping the kitchen floor, of course.
Begging quarters off strangers at the koi fish pond so they could feed the fish.
My beautiful girls.
Ellie and Maybe
The kids LOVED playing in the fountain (as always), and didn't mind getting soaking wet.
Daddy with his boy. Everett slept through the entire garden, being carried like so.
Oh, and one of my Everett. At his check up today he was 12 lbs 7 oz and 23 inches. I can't believe he's two months already. 
While I was snapping pictures, Maren was enjoying Grandma's box 'o beads. 
And here are some less willing subjects. Just go ahead and try to get three kids 4 and under to all look at the camera, let alone smile. Sheesh. They are sure cute though. And, we are loving this nice Spring weather, and our tulips. 
I was impressed with how well the missionaries have cared for that spot of land, as well as their visitors. They were welcoming us before we even got out of our car. It was fun, and well worth the stop. We have discovered that Ellie is terrified of heights. We climbed up some wood stairs to get to the lookout and she freaked out, screaming all the while Nick was trying to get her down.
Both girls had a great time jumping in to Dad.
Maren was funny. She'd stand and put her arms up like this, count to three, and then sit back down on her bum and scoot in to where Dad was waiting for her. She's at least got part of it figured out.
Friday morning we headed out to find some dinosaur tracks. This turned in to quite the adventure as this happened:
That is our car, very stuck in the sand. You may call us idiots trying to get our car through that, and I'd have to say that you are right. Yep, we were idiots even trying to get our 2WD minivan through that thick sand. However, you ask Ellie what her favorite part of the trip was and she'll tell you that it was getting stuck. She even asked Nick if we could do it again. How convenient that we happened to stop in a big 'ol sandbox! We took advantage of the moment and got covered in red sand. Oh, and through this little experience our car was finally given a name: Sandy.
We did get our car out, in case you were getting worried. A friend in our ward had recently moved to St. George, so we called him. He has a big truck, chain, and tow rope and pulled us right out with little effort. Oh, and we never made it to the dinosaur tracks, and I'm afraid we never will as we will never be trying that again. That's a lot of 'never's. 
Maren LOVED this place and was really mad when we had to pull her away. We stopped at the outlets and then had dinner at the Pizza Factory. At the end of the day, our girls looked like this:
Both girls had lost the rubberbands in their hair, which was also quite greasy from the sunblock. Both had sand in various hiding places, and were dirty from spilled drinks and smeared treats. Ellie had dumped her root beer at dinner down the front of her. What messy kids. All of which, I think, was a sign of a really good day.
We just weren't ready for vacation to be over. We made a stop at the Red Barn for ice cream.
That is me, by the way. Pretty cute kid, eh? Anyway... I've decided that in a family, you kind of work a groove where everyone has a place and is comfortable. Well, having a child throws off your groove. Doesn't matter if it is baby #1 or baby #10 (I'm imagining here). So, these last several weeks I have certainly felt out of my groove. But the good news is that we've worked a new groove! I finally feel like I'm getting the hang of this three kid thing. And the kids are settled into their new grooves too. It makes for a much happier family!
Everett looked so handsome, all dressed in white. Grandma Brown made the beautiful blessing outfit. 
Afterwards, we had everyone over for a delicious turkey and ham dinner. It was such nice weather, which was a good thing, because we could send people outside. Thank you to all our family. 
