I'm Ba-ack!

It's been awhile, so I figured I needed to update. A lot has gone on this past summer, so I'll have to try to summarize. First off, I'm typing this awesome new post on my awesome new laptop that my awesome old husband gave me this past Mother's day. It was really AWESOME of him! I'd been wanting one for a couple of years, and it came just in the nick of time as my awesome (not) home computer got another awesome (NOT!) virus. Anyways, back to business.

In June, the whole Evans clan headed off for a long weekend at Lake Powell. Wipe the jealousy off your faces, folks, cuz' the weather was crappy most of the time we were there. We froze our butts off in the wind, chilled to our cold, wet bones. We did get about half of one day with a little sun and not much wind, and we made the best of it and had a great time anyways with the family.






June was also Maycie's second birthday. I can't believe my baby is growing up so fast! We celebrated it at the Reservoir again this year- it was great, and all the kids had fun playing in the water. I made Maycie a giant cupcake for her cake, and she loved it. She is obsessed with cupcakes, so she especially loved the play cupcake set that she got from her Aunt Kim, as well as the darling tea table that she got from her Grandma Tina and Mom.





Our family got at watch a lot of ballgames during the month of June, with both Wyatt playing baseball, and me playing softball. Wyatt is a great little baseball player, and I'm not just saying that because I'm his Mom- he really is. He hits well, and he can catch just about anything that comes his way. I won't go so far as to say that he gets it from his Mom, though I really didn't do too badly at my own games.



The Evans clan headed off to Island Park for our annual trip at the end of June. The weather was pretty nice, and we had a great time- as we do every year. We spent a day driving through Yellowstone, and I practically walked right up to a buffalo along side the road for a picture. He was very polite and posed very well, don't ya think? Old Faithful was still there waiting for our yearly visit, and it erupted with joy to see us- right on schedule. The kids had a lot of fun playing games with their cousins, and everyone had a great time riding 4-wheelers, walking around the island, and competing in the family Olympics. We were sad to leave at the end of the week, and already can't wait until next year.








Next on the list would be the Forth of July and Wyatt's birthday (which is actually on the Fifth). We spent the day in Layton with my Silotti family, and started it out with a big family breakfast. We then all headed out to watch the parade in Kaysville, where the kids all got lots of treats, prizes, and stuffed animals. The guys even got ties, though a some of them were pretty ugly. Luckily, Zane's isn't too bad, because he thinks it's great and wears it with pride. Later that afternoon, we had a big family BBQ and celebrated Wyatt's birthday. I can't believe he's eight now! Grandpa Silotti made sure to give him eight birthday spanks (and one to grow on) to teach him a lesson for growing up so fast! I bought him cupcakes with Sponge Bob rings on them, and the checkout lady asked why I would want cupcakes with pieces of cheese on them. We ended the day with sparkler fun and a great fireworks display, which has always been my favorite part of the Forth.






I'll make mention of the 24th of July as well, since we always look forward to that, too. My kids love to go to the rodeo and carnival, though thankfully we managed to skip the latter this year. Too many horror stories of people getting sick and throwing up on the rides the new carnies brought this year... We also never miss the parade, though my kids thought the candy throwing was a little lacking this time. We had a BBQ with family and friends in the evening, and the kids had lots of water fun with a dunk tank and bounce splash. At the end of the festivities, we watch the fireworks off our back deck, and I must say we have the best seats in the house!







August 1st was a special day, as Wyatt was able to be baptized and confirmed by his Dad. We had a nice baptism program for him where both his Grandmas spoke and the kids sang a song. He wasn't even scared to get dunked, though with Zane doing the dunking, I would've been! Afterwards, we had everyone over for lunch to celebrate with him. We're very proud of Wyatt and love him very much.



If you're tired of reading this, too bad, cuz' I'm not done yet. August always brings around another family reunion, so we headed out to Bear Lake for a long weekend of camping *#^%@! fun. Yes, that was a swear word. In the best circumstances, I don't really like to camp. But this year was extra awesome, as the weather was rainy and cold, so I got to deal with a leaky tent on top of it all. And sadly, we only go to go out on the boat for a couple of hours because it was too windy. The weekend did have it's bright spots, though. My aunt made all the kids marshmallow shooting guns which they utilized the ENTIRE time, and we all love the paper dig and evenings around the campfire. We also got treated to an authentic Polynesian Luau, as my cousin, the new Governor Gary Herbert's bodyguards are Polynesian, and they put on quite a dinner and show for everyone. Though I liked the pig, I must say I hope all those Polynesian Islands get McDonalds' before I go to visit! We ended the trip with our customary devotional on Sunday, and the weather cleared up nicely for that. Though we spent most of the time cold and/or wet, I still wouldn't miss going and visiting with my family that I don't get to see very much.






Alivia had quite a lot of fun this summer teaching dance classes with a few of her friends to all the little girls in the neighborhood. They were quite professional, and had the girls divided up into two different age groups. Classes were faithfully held each week, and they even helped the little girls make costumes and held a dress rehearsal to prepare for an end of summer performance. The recital was held on the church cultural hall stage, and boasted quite a nice turnout. Most of the neighborhood was in attendance to watch their daughters perform, and perform they did- it was quite entertaining! Teachers Alivia, Taylor, Bailey, and Camryn stood at the back to help coach the girls through their several dances, and they even performed a dance of their own. I must say their recital rivaled those of the best dance studios around- why pay out your rear for formal dance classes when you can get such quality instruction for FREE? The girls did a great job teaching, and all the little girls performed wonderfully and had such a good time. I'm sure all the moms in the neighborhood join me in thanking them for the best, no-charge summer activity ever!!







That brings me to the here and now. Today is the first day of school, and I'm a little sad that the summer has come and gone so quickly. Let me rephrase- I'll miss the warmth of summer, but let me hear a Whoop Whoop that the kids are now in school! Holy crap, it's quiet in here!! There's no FIGHTING!!! Just a minute while I let the tears of joy wash over me... okay, I'm good now. Anyways, they sure looked cute as I kicked their butts out the door! See ya in six blissful hours!!

Holy Crap, I'm Behind!

Yeah, the title says it all. Where does the time go? I'm really not one of those super busy people that never have time to update their blog, I just think that my time management skills are only about a B-. Okay, okay- maybe a C+...whatever. Anyways, I'll try to unload my mind of some of the many happenings we've had over the past couple of months so that someday my posterity can look back on what my life was like (hah, like they'd really want to).

The only really exciting thing in April was Easter. We went to the city Easter egg hunt on Saturday, the day before Easter, and the kids scrambled in the rain to grab a few plastic eggs filled with candy and coupons for tire rotations. Maycie, however, managed to luck out and scored an egg with a coupon for a little girl's Barbie trike, which if you've read my previous post on her obsession with Barbie Princesses, you'll understand just how excited she was. We also had our traditional Evans family egg hunt down on the farm, where the kids find eggs that are well hidden and loaded with candy and money. This year, my kids pocketed about $10-$20 apiece. On Sunday the kids found baskets left by that magical rabbit we call the Easter bunny, and we all attended church in matching Spring outfits. Then we had our traditional boiled egg roll, where we race colored eggs in twos down a ramp that my Dad built. The eggs slam into each other, and one cracks and one doesn't. We repeat this process till one champion egg remains. The winning egg holder gets the pride of knowing that they lucked out and chose the sturdiest egg that year (though a little cheating is not uncommon). Afterwards, we all throw the broken boiled eggs out into the church parking lot. No worries about littering people, because within a few minutes the seagulls are swarming and every piece of egg and shell is gobbled up. Kind of like the treats in my kids' Easter baskets. I'd have to say that Easter is one of my family's favorite holidays.






May is always the month of Alivia stuff. It's the month of the annual Utah State Jr. Livestock Show, where Alivia showed the pig she had been raising on our farm. Though she did a great job, her pig didn't win- I guess it's fat just wasn't up to par. Of course, only a few lucky pigs out of hundreds actually win the coveted prize of being the most choice pork on the market, so her pig didn't feel too bad. It actually did get a nice ribbon and sold for over $400 at the auction. Not too shabby for a home grown hog! Next up was the Freedom Festival Hope of America program that the school participates in, which is actually pretty cool. Hundreds of kids from a lot of different schools sing together and they wear colored shirts which form the American flag. It's quite an inspiring patriotic sight. The next week, Alivia competed in the school district's Hershey track meet, and she ran the 200m, the 400m, a relay, and also competed in the long jump. She did a great job and had a lot of fun (mostly because the kids all get to miss school that day). Alivia's birthday- number 11 this year- was the same day as the track meet. We had a family party that night, and she scored an awesome new mountain bike. She also got money, clothes, a cute blanket and scentsy burner for her room, and more. That weekend Alivia got to have a swimming party with her friends, though the girls liked the hamburgers, frosties, and fries from Wendy's better than the actual swimming. Who doesn't? Last but not least, Alivia got a kitten for her birthday, though she has to share him with the whole family. We named him Charlie, and the kids love playing with him... or at least they did for the first week or so. Now his new kitty charm has worn off, and they grumble over having to clean the litter box. At least Charlie will have a friend for life with little Maycie, though he'd probably prefer not. After one too many loving choke holds, he runs and hides when he sees her coming. If he can't escape in time, he'll end up being stuffed in the seat of Maycie's trike while she takes him for a ride, or she'll use him as a pillow while she watches Dora or Sponge Bob. Poor kitty.











One last mention for May- Jack graduated from preschool, and his class put on a program to showcase some of what they learned this year. After hearing the monkey song, the elephant song, and the birdie-chicken song, as well as the colors, numbers, letters, and patriotic songs, all I can say is I'm super proud of Jack. That's a load to remember for a little kid! I still can't quite figure out those impossible moves from that birdie-chicken dance. What skills the kids learned! I'm sure my little Einstein will be at the top of his Kindergarten class when school starts- maybe he could even skip right to the first grade!






June has already been overloaded with blog-worthy stuff and we're only half way through the month. But since I haven't uploaded those pics yet, you'll have to check back later for the details. I'll leave you with a little teaser, though. How does a birth, a birthday, a funeral, baseball, and 10 foot high waves crashing over a little boat in 30 mile an hour winds sound? Stay tuned!

Stupid Peachie Os!!

I have to post this so I can look back someday and remember what the first car wreck I ever got into looked like. I know the first thing you're thinking is "who's fault was that?" Okay, I'll admit that it was my fault, though it really wasn't as bad as it looked- really. I was at the 1000 No. light waiting to go through and get on the freeway. The light went green and the line of cars started to move. It was raining and Maycie was whining for a treat- she knew I had a bag of peachie Os on the front seat. I was fishing one out for her (stupid peachie Os!!), and when I looked up, I saw that the vehicle ahead of me had stopped suddenly. I slammed on my brakes and swerved, but didn't have time to miss it completely. I smacked the corner of it's bumper going about 15 miles an hour. Well, the police officer said that judging by my skid mark, I was definitely going less than 20, so I'll just say about 15 because that sounds better, doesn't it? Anyways, because of the low speed, nobody was hurt so I was very grateful, and I was glad that it was my car that got the brunt of it instead of the poor girl's rodeo that I hit. She was super nice about it and told me not to worry- she even thought it was kind of funny because it was April Fool's Day and now she had a good excuse to be late to work. I thought it was kind of funny because I couldn't open my driver's side door and it took me about 5 minutes to figure out that I could get out of my car if I just crawled out through the passenger side door. The police officer was great, too- he told me he'd let me go to traffic school so the ticket I got would disappear. Don't feel too bad for me- traffic school ended up being pretty fun, and I got a rare chance to drive a minivan rental for a while during my Expedition's time in the shop (14 days!). The worst part of the whole experience ended up being the bill I had to pay, which really stunk. Hopefully, this will be the last time I'll ever have to pay one of those!

Warning: Spoiler Ahead

Okay, people- I know we're not supposed to tell, but I can't resist. I just saw the new Hannah Montana movie today with my kids and their cousins, and I found out that Hannah Montana is really a girl named Miley Cyrus! Just promise me that you won't tell anyone, okay? I don't think they want people to know. :)

Where did that come from?

This promises to be a very short post. I just think this is funny, and had to put it on the blog because I promised myself that I'd be better at posting the little, day to day things. I took a trip out to Salem today with Jack and Maycie, and as we were heading back we passed the Harry Krishna temple. Jack says, "look Mom, it's Satan's temple!" I about choked on the Pepsi I was drinking and asked him where he'd heard that. He told me he hadn't heard it anywhere, he just knew it. After I calmed my silent belly laughs, I proceeded to tell him that it was the Harry Krishna temple, which was just another church, and was not Satan's temple. I wonder if he thought that because it looks so different from our LDS temples. Anyways, I don't mean to offend any Harry Krishnas out there, it was just one of those funny things that come out of the mouths of four year olds.

A pincesses, a pincesses!

Yeah, I know. I haven't been on the ole' blog for about forever. I'd say I've been busy, but that would be a big fat lie- I've just been lazy. So anyways, here's the latest. Maycie has been OBSESSED with princesses lately. It all started with a particularly whiny day (her, not me) and I was trying to get her attention with something that would settle her down for a while. I grabbed a Barbie princess movie out of our DVD cupboard and put it on for her. To say she loved it would be an understatement. After watching Princess and the Pauper about a hundred times, I finally couldn't stand it anymore and went out to buy a few other Barbie princess movies just for the variety. So for the past many weeks, all anyone has been able to watch around here are Barbie princess movies, which are constantly playing on every TV in the house at once, because Maycie tends to move around from room to room and has to see them wherever she goes. We even have to have at least one Barbie movie in the car at all times or Maycie will whine until the rest of us go crazy. She's also taken to wearing tutus whenever we're in the house (I make her take them off when we go in the car) and dancing around as Barbie sings those annoying princess songs. Anyways, to get to the point of the story, you have to know that almost every princess movie ends in a wedding where Barbie marries the handsome prince. One night, I was sitting at the computer with Maycie on my lap. She loves to sit and look at pictures in my photo files with me, so I flip through the folders and she exclaims over all the people she recognizes. I happened to be going through my July 2008 photos, and a picture came up of my brother Cameron and his new bride Selina, where they were just walking out of the temple. She was dressed in her beautiful white wedding dress on the arm of my handsome little brother, with a bouquet of flowers in her hand. Maycie went berserk, clapping her hands and bouncing up and down on my lap and saying "a pincesses, a pincesses!" It was so cute. She wouldn't let me change the picture, so finally I ended up having to turn on another Barbie princess movie to distract her. But it was worth it- even tiny girls know that you should look and feel like a princess when you get married. Now if only I could get those stupid Barbie songs out of my head...

Best Buddies, Big Trouble

A better title for this post might be, "The Great Escape." Anyways, I have to take the time to blog this incident while it's still fresh in my mind. Let me start out by giving a little background info. Jack's best buddy is his cousin Walker, who happens to live just a couple of doors down from us. They do just about everything together- play super heroes, drive their tractors, have sleep-overs, wrestle, walk around in their underwear and cowboy boots, make pee holes outside, the list goes on. People who see them together always wonder if they are twins, because both have mischievous grins, they are the same size, and they both have this crazy white-blond hair (though Jack's is usually out of control while Walker's is always neatly trimmed). While they can be pretty funny sometimes, more often than not they are finding ways to get into trouble, and the little stunt they pulled today was anything but funny.
It started out as a typical day- while I was getting Maycie bathed and dressed, Jack was supposed to be quietly building a fort in the TV room (out of every blanket and pillow we own). When I finished with Maycie, I didn't see Jack anywhere, so I figured he must have walked down the street to Walker's house, which isn't unusual. I was a little miffed, since I always tell him he has to ask me before he leaves, so I called Jami to tell her to send Jack home. About five minutes later, Jami called back to tell me that both Jack and Walker had disappeared. I re-checked my house, thinking maybe they snuck in and were hiding from me. Then I checked the yard, as well as the neighbors' yards. I walked down to Jami's, but the boys hadn't turned up their, either. So I threw Maycie in the car and took off to check around the neighborhood. At this time, I was mad and swearing under my breath that I was going to kill those little terrors when I found them. I drove circles around the neighborhood, while calling friends and neighbors to see if maybe they had turned up at any of their houses to play. I also drove down past the school to see if they had decided to head there. By this time I was really panicked, so I called Zane to come home and then I stopped at the river to check the paths below the bridge. I walked up and down the bridge and the paths, and checked the areas around the water that I could get to. My heart was in my throat the whole time, and I was sick to my stomach hoping I wouldn't find anything. When I got back to my car, a friend was passing by and offered to help look. By this time I had lost it and started to cry- I didn't know what else to do. I headed back towards the neighborhood, where other friends were helping look, too. I was trying to think of other places I could go look (like the ball park, maybe?) when one of my neighbors received a call telling us that the boys might have been spotted a couple of neighborhoods over, so I followed a friend and headed back that way. As I was nearing the school, a cop car was passing and flagged us over. They had Jack and Walker strapped in the back seat. A woman had spotted them walking out in the rain in the Fieldstone neighborhood and had asked them where they lived. Jack told her he didn't know, so she told them to stay with her while she called the police. Walker then hit her and told her she was a stranger (at least they remembered you shouldn't talk to strangers, while taking off and walking miles to their cousin's house without asking apparently didn't seem to bother them). Thankfully, she wouldn't let them go till the police officers showed up. When they arrived, the cops asked the boys where they were trying to go. Jack told them they were trying to go to their other cousin Mason's house to play, who happens to live in the Fieldstone neighborhood (which, for those of you who don't know, is huge- they probably wouldn't have found the right street any time soon). One of the officers, being a friend of Mason's father, recognized the name and realized he had a couple of Evans boys on his hands. He knew about where they lived and was heading that way when they spotted us. All I can say is the relief was overwhelming. I did my best not to fall apart and bawl too much in front of the officers, and they were very nice about the whole situation. After hearing the story from them and telling them thank you a dozen more times, I took the little escapees home, delivering Walker to his mother who was equally scared and mad. After getting all the crying out, the lecture started. Then Zane got home and had his turn at the lecturing. We talked to Jack about how scared Mommy was and what could have happened to him and Walker if we hadn't found them. What if someone bad had grabbed them? Did he know that Mommy's heart would be so sad forever without Jack to give her hugs and kisses and make her laugh everyday? Hopefully, those little trouble-makers have learned their lesson and won't pull anything like that again. Needless to say, I didn't have the heart to punish Jack too severely; I was just so glad we found him safe and sound after our hour-long search. I even had to take a couple of pictures of Jack and Walker with their cool sheriff sticker-badges on that the police officers had given them. Thanks again to our good friends and neighbors who helped us look, and to the wonderful officers who picked them up (Officer Justin Gordon and his partner- I didn't get his name).
I'm sure the adventures of Jack and Walker are far from over (though I do hope this will be their last ride in the back of a police car). Add their cousin Mason to the mix, and we've got the three musketeers on our hands. Marla, the mother of the three Evans' boys- Zane, Morgan, and Grant- probably gets a bit of a chuckle when she thinks of the grandsons that give her boys a taste of the grief that they gave her for so many years. But oh, the poor mothers of Jack, Walker, and Mason. Hopefully the laughs will outnumber the shenanigans that they will pull in the future.