April 2012 odds and ends

The camera got more use this April than it had in a long time. Mom took it along to the park, for instance, the time that pretty much everyone played in the volleyball sand rather than on the actual playground.

Amanda did get a little playground time in, but she eventually made her way to the dirt, too.

Mom also got out the camera in our own neck of the woods. Here's Curtis, just because he's cute and he still loves having his picture taken.

Here we have brothers checking out the bushes together.

And here we have sisters out for a stroll.

We took a family outing to a park with a duck pond.

The swings there were pretty popular. Curtis especially liked having Dad around to help him swing high.

There was also a big tulip garden. Here are some close up.

And here's Lydia with the garden in the background.

Curtis turned 3 in April! Here he is with the monkey pj's he got as a present, much to his delight.

And here he is at Grandma and Grandpa's house with his cake and his new cars. We frosted the cake with Nutella, just to try it out, and it went over pretty well.

We tried to have a family picture taken. Emphasis on "tried".

Mom and the kids went on a grand excursion to Beaver. (We were just in Beaver. Had to throw that word play in.) The boys even had matching shirts for the occasion.

We met Grandmother and Grandfather there just days before their big move. The kids were happy to be able to visit them again, but they were even more excited about the ice cream Grandfather got them at the cheese factory. Lydia let Grandmother hold her ice cream cup, but she insisted on spooning the ice cream herself.

Amanda ran her second one mile race in April, this time at her school for a fund raiser.

If you look carefully, you can see her here in purple pants, near the end of the race.

One of our old faithful trikes bit the dust. Jared was especially sad about it because it was the one he usually rode. So, we took a Saturday morning and went yard sale shopping. In addition to a tent, a small trampoline, and lots of pants for Jared, we found this great bike for him.

In order to get all the stuff home, we had to fold down the back seat of the minivan. That exposed a bunch of clutter and crumbs, and after Mom got it all cleaned out, she celebrated by taking the Muffins on a drive around Utah Lake. On the far side of the lake, we found a tiny town called Elberta, the main feature of which seemed to be this post office, which Amanda declared to be adorable.

So yes, the camera got some exercise in April (and this post only features a fraction of the total pictures taken!).