It's been a rainy week, but it cleared up enough on Friday for us to have a picnic dinner at the park. This wasn't just any park though; this was the hippie peace park (formally known as the international peace gardens). The park is divided into plots to represent different countries.

Needless to say, some countries were represented better than others. I think Switzerland was the winner. Constructing a huge concrete mountain peak takes the cake.

The Jordan river runs along the side of the park. There were no ducks to be seen, but Evelyn liked watching the water flow by.This is a little mermaid that Evelyn had fun socializing with. She kept touching the face, and I hope she wasn't expecting a response! I thought she might also like to look at a bust of an English queen, but when I held her up to see it, she completely freaked out! It took a while to calm her down. I guess she isn't fond of disembodied heads.

The funnest part of the park was seeing Evelyn's reaction to the grass. We had never set her in the grass before, and she was enthralled with it. Trying to pull it up kept her entertained for a long while.

Spring has finally arrived in Salt Lake. I think the high was in the 80's yesterday, and it felt like summer. There are flowers blooming everywhere, and people are out mowing their lawns.

We take Evelyn out for a stroll more often now, and she seems to get really absorbed in the sights. It really mellows her out, any way.

Here she is in her stroller looking ponderous....

We went to "The Gateway" with her on Friday evening, and she loved seeing all of the people. The Gateway is a big, fancy outdoor mall in Salt Lake. It's a neat idea, but I wouldn't want to shop there in winter! It was fun looking at all of the artsy decor in Z Gallerie, and the store owner was quite charmed by Evelyn. Evelyn ended their conversation by spitting up on the floor, but the owner was sweet about it. We thought it was fun that the main patio at the Gateway was a sort of fountain that shot up jets of water periodically. There were tons of happy kids running around in the water, but I am not sure that their parents were thrilled.

We would like to wish our moms a happy Mother's Day! Thanks for all you do for us Leslie and Robyn! Where would we be without you?

Hi everyone! Just a quick update.... Evelyn is much better at sitting up now, and she is much more playful too. Recently I was holding her on my lap facing away from me, and she kept arching her back and leaning her head back in order to look at me upside down. She would crack up every time she did it. I've never seen her so wound up before!

Now that she can sit up on her own, we have started using her highchair. She seems to enjoy being able to look at us while she eats. She also seems to like how the trey holds things where she can reach them. Sometimes we will put some balls on the trey, and she will roll them around with her hands until she has rolled them all off.

As for other things going on in our lives, I have a final on Wednesday, and then I will be done with classes. From that point on, it will be just research. Clarisse was able to see her parents on Friday, and they had lunch together. They were on their way back home from the resort in Idaho and had some thoughtful gifts from Allen and Giovanna.

We are looking forward to seeing the Streeters LATER THIS MONTH!!! Love you all!