Quick cousin picnic

Our flight to Anchorage included a four hour layover in Salt Lake City. We went through security and met Pop Pop, Tu Tu, Ryan, Eileen, and all the Lamb cousins for a picnic dinner in an unoccupied corner of baggage claim.

It was a fun, quick visit and the goodbye wasn't too painful because we will see each other again in a just few weeks when we vacation in Charleston.

Easter clothes

Nothing makes me feel Spring in the air more than Easter clothes. Spring in Utah is a bit schizophrenic, but I am used to erratic weather thanks to my years in Alaska. The past few days we have seen snow, but Easter week was gorgeous and we even got a little sunburned at the zoo.

A few confessions.

1. These pictures are not from Easter Sunday. Lottie and Trent were sick, so only Evie and I went to church. A few days later I got the kids all snazzy and orchestrated a little photo shoot.

2. That last shot is the product of a photoshop face-swap. One of my kids blinked. Can you tell which?

3. My kids are not the only ones on the front porch in their Easter clothes. The cousins came from North Carolina for two weeks. We dubbed the time Cousin Camp and a fabulous time was had by all. I posted a selection of photos on my photo-a-day blog if anyone is interested.

The finale

Uncle Ryan joined us in Utah for one final week together. It was a lot of fun and I don't think a second went by without at least two of the little girls talking at the same time. The house seems so quiet now!

One of our activities was to celebrate Ellie's birthday. A few weeks ago Debbie took Evie and Ellie to A Seussical Musical, which set in motion an intense obsession with all things Dr. Seuss. Naturally, Ellie's party was given the Cat in the Hat treatment.

The coveted present of the day was Ellie's penguin Dream Light. All the girls can recite the Dream Light commercial by heart and Ellie was tickled to death to receive one for her birthday. A good portion of the afternoon was spent in the dark theater room, staring in awe at the starry ceiling.

With all the activity from the little girls, I sometimes forget to take pictures of the little boys in the family. Winston sat pleasantly in his high chair as long as someone was feeding him (how else is he to maintain his 25lb figure?) and Trent spent the entire day sleeping, as per usual.

Also as per usual, we spent a lot of time in the pool. Uncle Ryan brought his own brand of fun in the form of catapulting the older girls off his shoulders into the water. The older girls also demonstrated their amazing synchronized diving skills, which they had been practicing vigilantly for days.

Did I mention he sleeps all the time? It is exhausting work to eat and grow.

The Bolympics

During the Summer Olympics, Evie and Ellie were allowed to stay up an hour past bedtime to watch the events. Evie especially loved synchronized swimming. She would stand up and cheer after every dive and kept us all informed on the splash level of each athlete.

Charlotte and Addy also loved the Olympics, or the "Bolympics" as Charlotte called it. I made the girls some special shirts and we had our own little Olympics on the lawn. The events included a 5-yard sprint, long jump, hurdles, and gymnastics. Each girl was awarded a medal and we all sang the national anthem during the award ceremony.

Evie was devastated when she found out the next Olympics won't happen until she is six-years old. It has been a few weeks since they ended, but she still wears her Olympic shirt as often as I let her and practices her "balance beam" routine on the floor every day. Go world.