Homecoming

We finally made our way home this week, after more than a month spent with my parents while Dan worked on some research at BYU. We had a lot of fun with grandparents and cousins, but I think we (well, Dan and I) are happy to be home. The kids are a little less sanguine: Evelyn cried when we pulled into the driveway, saying "Grandma's house!" And Andrew can't stop talking about the next time he sees his cousins. But I'm hopeful that they'll eventually get reconciled to being home.

Before we left, we had one last hurrah with cousins: Sarah and I took our kids to Red Butte Gardens in SLC. The gardens were truly beautiful--and the weather wasn't bad either, for the tail end of June (mostly overcast, and therefore cooler than expected). (If you want to see another account of our trip, with better pictures, see here.)


Evelyn started out the day looking pristine in her blue shirt and tiered skirt. However, this kid is drawn to water like the proverbial moth to a flame. As soon as we entered the children's garden, she saw this beauty. Where the other kids were content to skirt the fountain and laugh when the spray hit them, Evelyn insisted on running right through it. (I blame my mom and her sprinklers. I don't think Evelyn realized she wasn't suppose to run through shooting water without her swimsuit!)

I finally talked her out of one fountain, only to have her discover this one. Needless to say, by this point she was totally drenched. Not having foreseen this possibility, I didn't have a spare change of clothes for her. Scrounging through the diaper bag, however, I found an old onesie. I stripped her out of her clothes (which we spread to dry on the handles of Sarah's stroller) and put her in the onesie, which was almost immediately water-logged.

When, a little later, we found the sandbox filled with lovely red sand, the result was inevitable: a very wet, dirty, but happy child.


(Needless to say, I changed her back into her still dampish clothes before going to lunch at Red Robin. Evelyn's cute, but even she can't pull off the stained onesie look very well.)

While the rest of the state (apparently) celebrated July 4th yesterday, Cedar City is celebrating on the national observance day (tomorrow), so we don't have anything to report on that front. We did, however, take the kids hiking yesterday. It was a beautiful day in the mountains--clear and cool (comparatively). Andrew pulled out his big words for the occasion, pronouncing the view to be "magnificent." (Why is it that big words are so much funnier in the mouths of four-year-olds?) Actually, I suppose "hiking" is a little misleading. Andrew walked the first half of the loop, but then insisted on being carried in the hiking backpack; Evelyn rode in the backpack the first half, walked about 100 yards, and then got carried (by me) the rest of the way. Oh well. At least we got out, got some exercise, and enjoyed the company.