April random

April shower bring early bulb flowers. Love my tulips and daffodils.

One last picture of HashBrown's shoes before I threw them away.

Katie came to vacation with her girls in Moab and we had family dinner on Friday (4/6). I sure love my siblings. And I love the subtle differences in these two pictures that show personality!

Parker gave a FHE lesson on feasting on the words of Christ and we each made our own acrostic word play. 

I came out late after church and the kids had all walked on ahead, not wanting to wait for me. But they did leave their bags. I just thought that was cute.

I tried to make oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and they turned out really flat and spread out. This is what Sterling called "doilies" when he was growing up.  The inferior (compared to his mom's) cookies that he and his dad would make. The kids got a big kick out of that. Parker had a lot of fun taking the cookies to school and inviting his friends to eat "doilies."

The kids took this picture and then edited it. Cute!

The girls were invited to go to the Bees baseball game with their cousins. They had a great time!

Camille has really enjoyed her art class. This pencil drawing of Taylor Swift was put on display at the middle school. Good job Camille!

The kids had a lot of fun finding their unicorn name using this list on the cereal box. 

On the fifth Sunday at church, the youth teach primary so the adult can have a combined session. Parker was in charge of teaching the CTR6 class. As part of the lesson, Parker needed to prepare a board game. He drew the game in an old pizza box which caused quite a stir at church. :) I was really proud of him for being so prepared and putting a lot of thought and work into the lesson.

Rachel had pioneer-themed stake Activity Days activity. She enjoyed dressing up and playing pioneer games. 

My Hike: Horse Tail Falls

After about a month of not being able to hike together, Tanya and I made it to Horse Tail Falls. Of course. we had to go a little off-trail to find our way to a good spot to eat a snack, but we did finally find our way back to the trail.:)

Elder Carroll's farewell

We sent Syd and Parker off on an airplane to Arizona for Peter's mission farewell. It was Parker's first time on a plane and we just dropped them off curbside. haha. Baptism by fire. 

Syd took this picture of the Grand Canyon.

Here they are at church with Uncle Clark.

! Cousins !

Jeremy, Parker, Peter, Sydney

I picked these two hooligans up on Monday and took them out to breakfast. We missed them and it was good to have them back!

I'm so grateful for extended families that are good examples and loving and supportive. It was wonderful knowing we could put our kids on a plane and have them picked up and taken care of with no worries. And that they could go to church and support Peter in his call to serve as a missionary. 

Love our Brown family!

Baby Congo

The kids were so excited to get a new baby kitty. 

They named her Congo.

We've had a lot of fun playing with her. The girls worked a long while on Saturday building a house for Congo. And it's a good thing because we've had real cold weather, including snow! Poor kitty.

Congo gets pretty tuckered out playing with all the kids and often needs a nap.

One of his favorite places to sleep is with Sterling.

Selfies!

This generation... sheesh

They are so cute!

Spring Break Day 5: Irrigation and temple

Tuesday was irrigation day on the Brown homestead. We've heard Sterling talk about it a lot but this was our first chance to participate.

Diverting the canal water.

Bryce is standing in the middle of the water, guarding the citrus pit.

After we irrigated, we cleaned up and went to the Gilbert temple to do baptisms for the dead. It was great going to 11:30 in the morning. Not busy at all! In and out in an hour!

Our completely "to-do" list!

Our final night we had dinner at Leisel's. Again, I wish I had taken more pictures. The dinner was great with a salad from their garden. Leisel showed me her latest crochet project, a blanket I plan on copying. And Peter took Syd and Park out to practice tennis.

By the end of the evening we were all tuckered out. The bottom three fell alseep pretty quickly.

Grandpa talked the older two into watching another movie with him. (50 First Dates, I think)

We were loathe to leave. Its a paradise out there on the Brown homestead. And the family is just over-the-top amazing. We love them so much! And Syd and Parker can't wait to go back for Peter's farewell. 

Spring Break Day 4: work hard/ play hard

We unloaded our sleeping bags again and set up camp in the bedrooms and grandpa's house. Monday morning we got right to work in the yard!

Camille and Rachel gathered pine needles and other debris.

Bryce and Sydney helped pick oranges.

Parker really enjoyed his job on the riding lawn mower.

Soaking in the Arizona sun.

Sterling trimmed a couple of palm trees.

After working all morning we went to lunch at the greasy spoon, otherwise known as Pete's fish and chips.

We stopped by the cemetery and said hello to Grandma Brown.

Last on our list was heading to Tortilla Flat to eat Prickly Pear ice cream. It was pink and tasty but a little bland. But when you have the chance to have ice cream made from a cactus, you say, YES!
This is a picture Sydney took on the way to Tortilla Flat.

And the bathrooms never disappoint. I didn't see the men's bathroom but I heard it was even more scandalous.

We had a quick dinner at KFC and then headed home where grandpa talked the kids into watch Bourne Legacy.