He's 8!

Evan had a good birthday! He turned 8 years old and had a handful of happy moments. The night before his birthday, he didn't want to fall asleep on his own. Oliver thought he was asleep, and got up to leave, and Evan woke up. He then came out of the bedroom and found the pile of balloons I'd been blowing up. He kind of decided he didn't want to go back to bed. But I took him back to his room, where I stayed until 4:45am. Then Oliver left our bed around 6:00am to go back and keep him in his bed for an hour or two more. He finally woke up and was able to play with the balloons.

I attempted to make the world know that it was Evan's birthday. I made a sign that said "Evan is 8" and put it on our front door. Unfortunately, it was a ridiculously windy day and I have no idea where that sign is now. It blew off sometime between 1pm & 3pm. Oh well. To make up for it, I painted a few notes onto our car since we drove around a little on his birthday.

Oliver had to go to a band competition for a lot of the day (but good job band for getting 1st place!), and while gone, the boys and I just played and then went for a drive up Middle Canyon.

After Oliver left the band early, we went to Village Inn where we met Evan's local family members to celebrate him. Grandma, Grampa, Beth & Natalie were all able to come and give him hugs and smiles from these wonderful happy faces.

We are so blessed to have our oldest son in our lives. He brings love and happiness to our everyday.

Evan January 2007

Fall Break

We had a few days away from school during Fall Break. We didn't have giant plans, but it doesn't mean we didn't have some fun. On Thursday, the boys and I didn't do a whole lot, but Oliver took a few students on an epic hike. Part of their hike was across a ridge that I personally was too scared to attempt several years ago.

The Escape Club on the ridge.

On Friday, we drove to Utah County and met up with Natalie, Beth, and Grandma at a pumpkin patch. We didn't linger too long, Oliver was done quickly. Evan was thrilled to show up and have three of his favorites be there also. He kept turning around to make sure everyone was with him.

Running around the tall hay bale maze.

Going through the tiny hay bale maze.

On the flatbed truck at the end of the little maze.

Beautiful sunset

Happy Natalie!

 And then at the Creekhouse, Oliver & Beth wanted to continue the fall feeling by making pumpkin chocolate chip cupcakes with dark chocolate frosting and "witch's brew". They maintained this name for it as Ryan helped them so that he was convinced that's what it was. It wasn't until we were actually drinking it that Ryan said: "This is root beer!"

On Saturday, we had a relaxing morning. Then we went for a drive up Hobble Creek Canyon to see the beautiful trees. We stopped at a campground and park to play for a little while before driving back down. 

One of the few photos I could catch of the fast moving Ryan.

Grampa had fun on the playground too.

Evan going down the slide.

Oliver and I then went to the mall for a few errands. It was the first time we've gone and done something by ourselves in a long time. Thanks Grandma and Grampa!

October 14th

I again ran into a problem with running out of battery in the camera before the end of the day. But here are a few photos to represent this day in our life history.

1. Good morning Evan. Woke up at 6:30. But smiled at the camera for me!

2. This laundry pile never moved all day long. 

3. The other half of the leaves fell down two days ago and I haven't fixed it yet. But it helps me feel like fall even though are neighborhood is more on the treeless side.

4. Our grass patch is getting greener and fuller.

5. I played volleyball this morning after dropping Evan off at school.

6. While trying to take the picture of my shoes and kneepads, I realized that I've got something blocking my straight down view.

7. After school, trying to figure out what to play for a little bit before his friend went home.

8. Less excited about smiling at me after school than before.

9. I asked Ryan to take a picture of Daddy. He had one that was nice and straight, but I like this one better. I love this man.

Pictureless items of the day:

10. Oliver asleep on the couch, Evan asleep on the floor, with Ryan watching a show on another couch. 

11. Before I picked the boys up from school, I volunteered for an hour at the library.

12. The Young Women painted pumpkins at our activity tonight. Lots of color in that room and lots of laughter.

13.  Evan didn't want to stop eating-kept pulling on my arm as I was trying to eat so that I would get him more food. Luckily, his daddy was kinder than I.

14. Again, a sign of the Daddy kindness-Evan didn't want to go to sleep so Daddy stayed up until 2:30am where he finally realized he needed sleep so we switched. Luckily, Evan only stayed up for about another half hour. 

Fall is Here

I'm excited for the fall season! Back on the first day of the Autumnal Equinox, or the first full day of fall, we did some fall oriented things. I made some apple oreos and we delivered them to daddy and a few coworkers as they had parent teacher conferences that night. I made some "fall munch" which was pretty good. Its a cereal mixture with a cinnamon brown sugar coating and some candy corn and m&ms. I also had the thought of doing a bunch of fall crafts with Ryan, but we only did one. I should still get him to do the other one I wanted.

Apparently creating things with glue and tissue paper makes him feel like a zombie.

One fall leaf to be hung in the window! And would have been except that Evan tore it apart before I was able to put it up.

We have yet to try to decorate our house for fall, but that could happen sometime soon. The weather definitely cooled down over the last few days and has made me wish for big trees with falling leaves. We did go visit Oliver's parents for a short time on Friday night. It's pretty nice to have them close enough to do something as simple as hanging out with them for a few hours and then come back home for bedtime. Its been a good few weeks and October will be a great month. It started off well. I actually made a real dinner last night! And I didn't eat any chocolate! (I've had a pretty bad sweet tooth the last month and I'm trying to overcome it.)

From the beginning of September-helping in the kitchen.

This wasn't actually my idea, it was Oliver's but my sweet tooth didn't say no. These are called Sufganiyot and are jelly filled donuts.

Evan was even patiently waiting to eat one or more.

Evan laid on me while I was on the couch last night. He probably stayed in one position for 45 minutes. Yes, I was probably enticing him with watching a show on the Samsung, but still, he stayed and was soft and I loved it. Once the new baby comes, it'll be harder for that to happen for a while and so I'm glad it happened. Because of that, that small moment needs to be remembered. He laid his head either on my chest or on my growing belly where he likely fell asleep briefly because he left a giant drool spot. Sitting there rubbing his back and his head while he wasn't kicking or hitting or pulling hair was great.
A few other things that have happened have been more in the spiritual realm of my life. The Sunday before the first day of fall, I was able to participate via satellite in the rededication of the Ogden Utah Temple. It was renovated and now is ready for work to begin again. During the rededication there are a handful of talks given and then a prayer to dedicate the building to he important and special work that can only be done in a temple of the Lord. It was beautiful and inspiring and reminded both Oliver and I that we need to attend the temple more often to participate in the work done there.
The other spiritually uplifting event happened last weekend. There was a meeting for all women age 8 and up. While it was the first meeting for General Conference, I'm still trying to remember that these meetings are for all people in the world, not just for members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I was inspired by several messages given and it again encourages me to improve and try to be a better me than I have been so far. This coming weekend is the rest of General Conference so I'm excited for that .
Oliver has been busy as the high school band has begun their competitions again. He was gone last Saturday where they got 1st overall as well as in 2 other categories. They'll be going to another one this Saturday and then again next Tuesday. He still won't be home by the time I have to start my first after school swim team practice, but luckily the head coach is lenient and is okay that I'll be late and bringing the boys with me. I'm also excited for the change in seasons because it means I'm getting closer to the season where we'll meet our youngest son. He has been active and moving every day and I love to feel his turning over and flipping around inside my belly. Last night Oliver was able to rest his hand on my belly and feel those kicks and movements himself. Baby isn't big enough yet for Ryan to really feel those movements(he's not patient enough) but we'll get there. He's just as excited to have a little brother as I am for him to have one. I love the fall.