March Madness

We've had a fun and exciting month. On the 11th we took a road trip to St. George, UT. The girls live there with their mom. Ashlyn decided to be baptized and wanted her dad to do it. She had a special baptismal service as the only person to be baptized. She looked beautiful. We are very proud of her. Her dad gave her a special blessing.

This was the first time that Hannah and Ashlyn saw their new baby sister Brynn. In addition, my parents drove to St. George to spend the weekend with us and it was the first time they met their new granddaughter. Mark's grandparents and aunt and uncle also live in St. George. We were very blessed and thankful that they could all support us in this occasion.

Here is Hannah holding Brynn for the first time.

This is us with my parents.

After the baptism, while we had family gathered, Mark blessed Brynn. He gave her a wonderful blessing. She was named Brynn Martha Freeman, after Mark's very special Aunt Martha. We were honored to have all of our family there to participate, especially Mark's grandfather, who participated in the blessing while seated in his wheelchair. It was a special time for all of us.

Here's Brynn in the beautiful dress, headband, and booties and my mom (Grammy) made for her.

Makayla with Brynn.

Here we are with Grandma and Grandpa Avey.

We had a great rest of the day relaxing with my parents, and then drove back home, taking Hannah and Ashlyn with us. They spent the next week with us for their spring break, and then flew home. While they were here, we were lucky enough to have St. Patrick's Day, when the girls look forward to drinking green milk and eating green foods. We had green pancakes, green mac and cheese, as well as other naturally green things like broccoli. Everyone was sure to wear something green.

Dinner of green mac and cheese, peas, broccoli, and hot dog "octopus" with green milk.

Green shirts all around.

While the girls were here, we went bowling. The girls acted grumpy with serious faces when they were bowling, so Mark teased them that they don't like bowling. Although they denied that, right after that, they sure put on the smiles at the McDonald's playland.

Ashlyn got a strike, and I happened to snap a picture of her with the strike in the background.

I went back to work last week. It was hard to leave the kids, but it worked out fine. Of the two days at the babysitter's, I was able to visit them one day during lunch and feed Brynn. My mind was a little rusty trying to get things going again with the electronic charting at work and also thinking about vaccines and medications. Thank goodness for my cheat sheets to double check.

Brynn is just starting to smile. Sooo cute.