Picnicking at the Park

The weather was absolutely perfect the whole time we were down in St. George. With my tanning goal still my number one priority, I suggested we spend the afternoon of our second day at the park. We packed up a lunch and soaked up some St. George rays.

After a little bit of wandering from the park, the boys found a gutter that proved to be more entertaining than the playground. Eli got a thrill out of jumping the water gap while Carson preferred to sit peacefully and throw grass into the water to watch it float away.

Eli and I had a date right after the park. I took Eli to his very first movie! We saw Rio 2. Eli seemed to enjoy it other than at the very end he got a little restless. The movie theater was fairly empty, and at one point he suddenly stood up and ran all the way down our row of empty seats into the aisle completely opposite of the theater from me.

Then he stared at me like, "What are you going to do about this, Mom?" I looked at him and wondered the same thing. Then he started doing laps around the handicap accessible bundle of chairs on the row in front of ours. I made my way towards him and he started giggling and shuffling his feet around preparing to bolt for it again. All it took was one threat to leave and he eventually made it back to his seat for the rest of the movie without further incident. So I'd call that a success.

Jeff and Carson stayed home because Jeff had been asked to speak in church the upcoming Sunday, so he wanted to work on his talk, and we didn't think Carson was quite ready for his first movie experience. When we got back, Eli did a little lizard hunting.

We had a couple hours to burn before dinner, so we took a walk around the St. George temple.

I love the St. George temple. But you already knew that.

Eli and Carson loved walking up all the stairs to go touch the doors.

And then my latest favorite brotherly picture happened.

Carson annoyingly got sick this day. We had plans with friends for the evening, but Carson got a really bad runny nose the night before, and he was breathing super heavy and raspy all through the night. We were worried he had RSV, though after listening to his throaty breathing all day on Thursday, I think he actually had croup. So there's the explanation for his rosy cheeks.

I had the brilliant idea to have Eli try to take a picture of me and Jeff. Eli was willing, and come to find out, able! I was impressed that we were completely in most of his shots. He did chop Jeff's head off a couple of times, but he got a couple good pictures!

After the temple walk, we just went back to the house to barbecue up dinner and get the kids in bed. I had a nice evening vegging out. I even painted my toenails!

The next morning David and Mary arrived for our big Easter weekend. Mary brought Carson a few presents for his birthday.

She gave Carson two monster trucks and a shovel and bucket. Both were a big hit!

The Barkley gave Carson his birthday kisses.

Right on the lips.

Repeatedly.

To be continued...