Lately

Lots of fun stuff happening around here! Evan and I checked out the Medieval Fair in Norman (I totally remember going to this as a kid!) and Evan got his first llama ride. He was pretty excited about it. They also had elephant rides, camel rides, and giant tortoise rides, among other things.

Geryn and Evan are just the best of buddies. I've never seen E play so well with anyone! It's so fun to watch the two of them--except when I find them taking turns jumping off the bed together. Yikes!

Evan looked so handsome in his new tie that I had to take a pic. Unfortunately, it's not the best pic. Our camera is on the fritz and so my phone had to do (actually for all these photos.)

Our city had a Mayor's Easter Celebration at the community center. Sometimes I love living in the Bible belt. Political figures actually celebrate Easter! So refreshing. So we went to check it out. They had clowns and the Easter Bunny, and everyone was handing out candy and prizes. They had face painting, balloon animals, a petting zoo, and bounce houses. Oh, and the Easter egg hunts, of course! Everything was donated, so it was free. Super cool. You can see what Evan thought of the bounce house in the photo below. We went on it about five times.









Happy Easter everyone!

What we do

We go to the zoo. A lot. At the zoo with Evan, Geryn and Owen.















And every time we go, Evan requests that he wear his "Gorilla shirt." I usually oblige.














I've found a new cookie love. Peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. They're awesome and easy and soft and delicious. And Evan likes the batter.















We're into cars lately. And construction vehicles. And trains. Owen and Evan sat for at least half an hour playing with the car mat and going "vroom vroom" and "beep beep." Too cute.

Weekend with Papa

John's dad came out this past weekend to ordain John a High Priest. We were thrilled he could be here for such a special occasion. And he also got in some good bonding time with Evan. We recovered from the nasty snowstorms with some 70 degree weather, so we took advantage of it and went to the zoo.













Evan teaching Papa to play Angry Birds on the iPad.











It was such a fun weekend, and we loved having Papa here. You're welcome out anytime!

Monday night and Tuesday we had a blizzard in OKC. Yes, in OKC. So Tuesday and Wednesday John didn't have to work--which is great. But with temps in the single digits for the high, and a windchill of -15, we weren't exactly gearing up to go outside and play. So we started getting a little stir crazy.

What to do, what to do?

Well, who wouldn't want to eat a picnic in a cave? (Complete with flashlights and a computer-generated fire in the fireplace.) It was super fun!





















And about 15 minutes after I put Evan down for his afternoon nap, I came out to find John taking his own afternoon nap--in the cave. Still a little boy at heart.

Finally!

Over Thanksgiving we drove down to Houston to spend time with my brother and his family. It was their first time meeting Evan and our first time meeting Isaac. It was such a nice and relaxing trip! We ate good food, played in a chocolate fountain, had an amazing Thanksgiving dinner with Jennie Jo's family, and generally had a great time. Evan was in heaven playing with Savannah and Isaac and all their fun toys.

We also drove down to Galveston for the day. It was beautiful. We took the ferry and fed the seagulls, which Evan loved. There were a ton of porpoises to be seen off the boat. Then we went to the beach and played. And a nice trip to Chipotle finished us off. I love Chipotle!

It was so fun to see Dave and Jennie Jo and their awesome kids. I wish we could do it more often. My only regret on the trip is that I didn't take more pictures!

Christmas cookies = one happy boy

I feel bad I still haven't posted about our trip to Houston for Thanksgiving, but I can't find our camera cable. So till then--another Christmas-y post.

I made sugar cookies today so that we could decorate them tonight together as a family. It was Evan's first time, and he had a blast. He was slightly obsessed with the sprinkles.

This is how it went:

Evan's favorite song is...