Happy Father's Day

We want to wish a Happy Father's Day to all the fathers among our readers--particularly Grandpa and Poppy. Andrew was given a cute little fake dollar bill with his picture on it from the nursery leader as we were leaving sacrament meeting (in a desperate hunt for a bathroom to change Andrew, but that's another story). This dollar bill was supposed to be a father's day gift for Dan. Instead (possibly confused by his own picture on the bill), Andrew insisted that the dollar was his, and gave Dan the other piece of paper the nursery leader had given him--a piece of bread that said "taste" and "smell" on it. I'm sure Dan was thrilled with that father's day present!

(This is a close-up picture I took of Evelyn while I was holding her--maybe I was a little too close!)
Our week has been pretty quiet. Grandma and grandpa finally returned Thursday morning after spending the night in the Denver airport--we were happy to see them, but probably not half so happy as they were to be back and to sleep in their own beds. Thursday night I dragged my mom out of the house (our pretext was that we needed to keep my mom awake so that she could go to bed at a reasonable hour) and took her to Gymboree, where they were doing a promotional where you could get a card upon entering the store that would give you a discount on your purchase. Of course, we had to go to both of the Gymboree stores in the Provo/Orem area and managed to spend money at both of them . . . actually, I should say that my mom got to spend money at both of them--I quite enjoy vicarious shopping, particularly when I get to help spend other people's money! At any rate, she should have some well-dressed grandkids this fall and next summer.

On Saturday Jeni and her family came over for lunch. The kids enjoyed running around with each other and the grownups (mostly) enjoyed chatting . . . that is, I had fun talking to my sister. I'm not really sure what Dan and Samuel did--probably ran interference with the kids while we chatted. Jeni's kids were particularly excited about seeing, and holding, Evelyn. And I have to admit that they were rather sweet about it. Even Enoch was fascinated by his baby cousin--when Jeni held Evelyn, he kept trying to reach up and touch her (Evelyn). As I write this, I'm struck by my family's fascination with certain letters of the alphabet in our children's names. Among the oldest grandkids, we have Jacob, Julia, and Joshua. And in the second round of grandkids, we have Emi (Emilia), Eli (Elizabeth), Enoch and Evelyn. Andrew and Brielle are the only grandkids with a letter to themselves, although when Catherine (or is it Kathryn? Or Katherine?) makes her debut this fall, there will doubtless be another one.

(If you look very closely at this picture here, you can see Evelyn's dimple.)



In closing, we bring you some funny "Andrew-isms" for the week. After my dad got home on Thursday, he was giving Andrew a hard time and told Andrew that what he really missed was some "Andrew-snacks." Andrew, in perfect earnestness, told my dad, "Grandpa, no Andrew snacks! You can have Andrew loves, but no snacks." And then he gave my dad a hug.

Tonight, at dinner, I tried to convince Andrew to eat a little bit of broccoli. As per usual, he refused. This time, however, he explained, "When I get bigger I will eat broccoli. But I'm just a little boy, I'm too little to eat broccoli."

Also tonight, while Dan talked to his mom on the phone about the impending visits of Bootie and Laurie, Andrew said, "I don't want to see Bootie. I want to see Laurie." (Sorry about that, Matt!)

I love this progression of pictures--Andrew gives Evelyn a hug, and she seems to tolerate him. So Andrew gives her an even tighter love, and poor Evelyn looks like she needs someone to rescue her.