Grandma & Grandpa Evarts

This summer Grandma & Grandpa Evarts came to play. We had so much fun and the girls warmed up faster than usual. We went up the canyon for a campfire, played at Cherry Hills water park, shopped at IKEA!, went to the parade of homes, and the boys got in plenty of races. Someday we hope to live closer so we can see them more.

The girls loved Grandpa's fast car. He took them for a ride and they kept yelling faster, faster. Adam & I didn't mind it either. He tooke me for a cruize up the canyon then let Adam and I take it on a date to the temple. My green minivan just didn't drive the same after that.

Grandma wanted to make a cake with the girls and they talked her into making a candyland cake. They had fun in the candy isles choosing exactly the right toppings, dipping their fingers in the batter, and of course devouring the finished product.

I'm dying to add new pictures but they are stuck on my camera and my computer won't let them off!

Fun in Couer de lane

Thanks to my sister-in-law Julie, I actually have some pictures of something we've done this summer. We spent a week in Northern Idaho with my family at a B&B. Most of the time was spent in the water and it was great.

Here's my whole family, minus Scott's wife Natalie (and now baby Zachary). My mom threw a pajama party one night and gave us all new pajamas!

Adam water skiing!
Cousin Brittanie peacin out with Brynn & Hallie on the boat. They all loved tubing. Teigen discovering a new dietary need of sand. As if dirt wasn't enough. He eats both by the fistfulls.
Brynn playing in the sand. I think all of my kids could live on a beach.

RACE FOR THE CURE

Created by: Adam

I know it's a joke and I don't even know if I will do this right. Julie, this is for you. The Evarts family is very lucky to have such a great Wife and Mother. The fact that Julie trained for 6 weeks for this 5K and ran the whole way is a notable accomplishment. The family and I had a pretty fun time hanging out. Thanks to everybody that supported Julie in her first 5K, both in person and Spirit. By the way, Amy ran the race as well. Way to go. Bill and Julia said that it was easier than their morning walks. We saw many interesting people including some costumes. Take a look at some of the pictures...


Start Line

Anxiety builds "Pre-race"

Girls Patiently Waiting for Mom

Julie in Race

Bill and Julia in Race

Pregnant ta ta Lady

After the Race we went to the local Green-build expo. This was pretty fun. I felt like I was up in Alaska again. Bill bought a really cool sun oven. We will have to see how it works once he gets it in the mail. I had the privilege of powering the sound system for a band through riding a bike. I think I got my own workout for the day. Julie and Amy had some relaxing massages. Payback for all the hard work. Hallie and Brynn had a fun time dancing and creating many poses using the railings. Teigen just loved being in the backpack and playing on the lawn at the expo. Here are some more pictures.

Just a few pictures

Beautiful Brynn..this is about the first day she let me do her hair in many a days. And still she screamed at me the whole time and covers her hair with her hands. But she did say she was pretty and wanted to take a picture.


I let both of the girls choose what picture they wanted to post of themselves on the blog and of course, Hallie choose the one with the cheesiest smile. This Sunday, I pleaded with them that I could choose their dress, shoes and how to do their hair. What a bargain! Most of the time I let them do it all which demonstrates pure personality. Hallie loves to be fancy, is easily described as, "the more the merrier." Four shirts, 3 necklaces, a bracelet, 6 barrettes, a ribboned ponytail holder, a headband, mismatched socks and 2 different shoes. Lip gloss is usually the cherry on top! I'll have to remember to take a picture next time she is all decked out.

Teigen's first time with rice cereal. I don't think he was impressed. Every bite made his whole face scrunch up in disgust.

Look a like's

I was looking at these pictures of Teigen and they reminded me so much of Hallie. I guess my kids do have the same father after all. Teigen is so cute these days and willing to flash a smile at anyone who will look his way. He sure does make us all happy.

Kids just wanta have fun...that's all they really want

Here's our day to the fire station! Firefighters are all the talk around our house these days. All Hallie wants to do is marry a firefighter. I told her she could be one, but she said, "no, I want to be a mom and a princess, I want to marry a firefighter. We've depleted the local library of all it's fire books, rented movies and we even hang out in front of the fire station waiting for the big doors to open and the engines to roll out. So I finally made the call to the station and asked if we could check it out. We decided to enroll some of our friends for the big day as well!

Brynn in her cool new fire hat at the fire engine playground.

This is all the friends we got to go with us. I set this up for Hallie and Brynn, but of course they are the only two that would not even make eye contact with the firefighters let alone go anywhere near them for a picture.

Afterwards when no one was looking she did decide it was safe to go close to the firetruck.

Pre-school was at my house this week and for their 1/2 hour of free time they all decided to play doctor. It was pretty fun to watch.

Girls in robes. You'd think they were at the day spa!

Ode to the Man

One Man, so many skills. Of course with this upcoming "Day of Love," I've been thinking about Adam. I obviously don't think about him enough, because when I went to find pictures of him....I could not. I think the few pictures I've already posted of him are all we've taken this year. Sad. But in looking through them, I did come across some of the projects he's done. So instead of showing him off, I'll show off his projects.

This year I wanted to get the girls a doll house. When I mentioned it to Adam, he immediately said that he wanted to build it. So after many late nights and having to work with me, this is the finished project. We took it all the way to Wayan for Christmas and Adam set it all up for the girls to awaken to on Christmas morning. They love it and will always have a custom made dollhouse from their dad!

This fireplace/Theater room was for my parents. They had an old wood burning fireplace with a rock wall all around it. My mom has always wanted a gas fireplace so Adam volunteered. My step-dad wanted to keep the red brick bench, but Adam did all the rest. I think the crowning moment came when he installed the flat screen and set up surround sound. I know he can't wait for the day when he can do that in our house. My parents bought a new sectional to put in the room and it's a great place to cozy up and have a movie marathon. Forget going out!

On top of those projects, he's spent many hours on our house. All this work and I don't think he's even got a new tool out of it. We love you lots Adam and for more than just your skills. Thanks for always thinking of us and doing all you can to make us happy.

Dear....

These are Teigen times. Hallie loves to hold him and mother him, while Brynn loves to lay beside him and play.

Brynn sporting her new apron from Grandma Evarts on Christmas morning.

Hallie showing her lovely Ballet Arms. She loves to look pretty, act pretty and be pretty. Although she considers herself "fancy." She also fell in love with the Nativity story this Christmas. She got to be Mother Mary in the Christmas Play at Joyschool and fit the part perfectly.

Dear Blogging Universe:

Wow, after realizing that my last blogs' title was "Halloween Happenings," I've realized that life has got to move on. I have made attempts to update my blog since then; the first failed after staring at the computer for two hours and still drawing a blank...and the second attempt I actually came up with something to write, found just the right pictures and was 2 minutes away from posting it when I couldn't handle any more whiny demands from my impatient children. So, in disgust, I started clicking buttons as hard and loud as I could, slammed my laptop shut, stormed to my bedroom and locked my door. Only to realize that I threw a better tantrum than any of my kids could pull off and in the process, lost my precious post.

But tonight I am inspired once again. Thanks to my mother-in-law, and my good friend Sallie, I read a book this week which told a story entirely through letters. I thought it was clever and witty and a great way to get to know a person. Maybe if I take this approach I might get somewhere past Halloween.

Teigen is no longer a newborn. He is officially outgrown the itty-bitty clothes and weighs in over 12 pounds...but that was a month ago. He talks like crazy in a baby cooing sort of way and will smile at anyone that will pay attention to him. I think he has tagged Hallie as his favorite as she is the one that can make him laugh the most. Maybe it is because he looks almost exactly like her, minus the red hair, or just because deep down I honestly believe she thinks she is his mother. I'm not sure whether to attribute that to the "oldest child syndrome" or just her personality but she is all about playing mother, or "family" as she calls it. My favorite saying of hers right now is, "Dad, I'm just not into that." Adam has also been giving her ice-skating lessons and she is getting better each time. It might take a while though because there is usually figure skater's there practicing and her eyes are glued on them. She is now convinced that having graceful arms is way more important than actually standing up. She even does this whole pretty arm routine while lying on the ice. Brynn on the other hand uses her coordination to actually skate, although she would much prefer to go swimming. The place we go has a lazy river in it so she slips on her little floaties and then wants to be left alone bobbing in the water. She also is one that is not afraid to speak her mind. We blessed Teigen in December and afterwards had dinner at the house. She thought that was way too many people to invade her house at one time and kept telling people to "go away" and would not stop crying that they were eating "her hamy." (Brynn language adds a "y" at the end of every word.) If you can get past her intimidating glare though and find a soft spot in her heart, she flashes the most adorable grins.

Other interesting news...we were evacuated from our house due to a 42,000 gallon tank of fuel exploding and catching on fire at our backyard refinery. We picked out yellow curtains to hang in the kitchen. Adam loves the D.I. I do laundry on a regular basis, but can't figure out how to actually get it folded and put away. Adam loves the "as is" section at IKEA. I crashed the car once again into a non moving object. This Post will now end, although you feared it would go on and on and on.