So it's begun

Maybe this means we'll have a white Christmas?!?!?!

Happy Anniversary!

Flowers from my sweetie for our 19th anniversary!

Mississippi and Louisiana

When Mark left in September, I really thought that was the last time I would see him for a year, so to be able to go see him was fabulous. Not to mention, it was Mississippi in November; not too bad.

So here we have the view from our balcony, the hilarious souvenir shop down the street where I made Mark pose inside the alligator, Beauvoir, where Jefferson Davis lived, and me and Mark on the beach.

This McDonalds bench ad made me laugh everytime we walked by it; seriously, 2 miles out in the Gulf of Mexico is a McDonalds?!?!? Mark chilling on the balcony, the Biloxi Lighthouse, and a sharks jaw from the same souvenir shop that survived Katrina.

New Orleans!!! I was so excited to go; too bad we only stayed for about 45 minutes. It was a fun drive, though; beautiful trees, driving over Lake Pontchartrain, and really just being in the car together. It just made things feel really normal. Weird, I know. We made it to St. Louis Cathedral just in time to take one picture before it got too dark.

Beignets at the Cafe du Monde! I love it when I get to do things I've always wanted to do. Bucket list check! I accidentally took a picture of the waiters butt...

And that was it. We spent our last morning sitting across the street from our hotel, running our feet through the sand, watching the waves, and wishing it could last so much longer.

Halloween 2010

What a fun Halloween! I love homemade costumes, and if you can do it out of stuff you've already got, even better! I never thought we could beat Zach's Boba Fett costume from last year, but this years Einstein was too much fun. And all it took was a fake moustache and a can of white hairspray. Alli's lifeguard costume came from her board shorts, left from a dance routine a couple of years ago, and a tee Kimmie brought her from Hawaii last year. Jonathon's hat came from a trip to Disneland last spring, and he already had a jacket that made for a great Indiana Jones. Kimmie was the Spider Woman, and I was a green witch, but none of my pictures turned out well. Seriously, so fun!

Science!

Lunch on Halloween; mummies, blood punch, cheesy caterpillars, and eyeballs.

Dinner at Mom's

We've been making either cookies or cupcakes to decorate for Halloween the last few years, and it's been so much fun! This year Macy wouldn't stop eating the candy, and it was so much fun to watch her try to sneak it whenever she thought Dad wasn't looking. Kimmie made an awesome starry night, a la Van Gogh.

More Craftiness!

So, again, I bought this last year, maybe the year before, and it's finally done! I wanted to make a book that would have a picture from every year, and I came really close. I could only find pictures of Jonathon for 2 years before Alli was born, and I don't think I took any pictures her first Halloween, but from the next year on I've got them all. It's so fun to see them from one year to the next, and it brings back such great memories.

Lagoon

This year for our birthdays, Kimmie took us all to Lagoon! She did it last year, and it was so much fun. This year we went during Frightmares, which produced lots of laughter, and a couple of scary moments. The dancers with the chainsaws (ha ha ha ha!) really kind of freaked Zach out. Somehow, there are no pictures of Kimmie...I wonder how that happened. Alli and Zach went on Wicked with me and Kimmie, and we all screamed in the most wonderful kind of terror, and we got all three of them on the Samuri! Jonathon loved it, Alli hated it. So much fun, though!

Something new

I bought these letters a year ago, and then lost all of them except for the D. I finally found them, and within 24 hours had this done! I was so proud of myself, I can't tell you how much. I never finish anything quickly. Ever.

And so he goes....

The time had finally come. It was honestly such a relief to finally have him leave, not because I wanted him to go, but because we were finally able to move on. He can't come home until he leaves, after all!

Blackfoot had a little parade with the soldiers marching through town, ending up at Jensens Grove for hot dogs.

Hanging out at the airport, waiting for them to leave. Seriously, way too much emotion, just go already!

See you next year!

Yellowstone

So, the last time we went to Yellowstone Park, Jonathon was not quite a year old. It's been a while. This time we went with Mom, Kimmie, Chris, Eve and Sev. Sadly, Mark was in Boise for AT and wasn't able to come. We drove up Sunday afternoon, stopped by Mesa Falls (I forgot my camera...) and then continued on up to the Park. We drove up the west side of the upper loop and out of the Park to Gardner MT where we spent the night. It was snowing so hard when we left the park! It made for some beautiful trees along the side of the mountains. The next morning we checked out Mammoth Spring and then drove the rest of the upper loop, down to the falls, and then went home. For years, we went almost every summer, and it was so fun to finally go again.

Sev having fun with the carved bear while we waited to eat.

Mammoth Springs and the canyon, and a seriously enthusiastic Zach. He loved the big rock at Mammoth Springs; he called it a t-rex tooth. But when we asked him to smile, that's what we got. The strangers walking by thought it was hilarious.

Of course we had to stop at Tower Falls, and of course we had to have ice cream!

First Day of School 2010

Zach is starting the 4th grade, Alli the 7th, and Jonathon is starting his senior year! The first day of school for most of the high schoolers isn't until tomorrow to give the freshmen a chance to get used to the school without everyone else around. Jonathon happily stayed in his pajamas while the other two left early.

Craters of the Moon

Before school starts, and in-between Marks many training trips, we wanted to run out to Craters of the Moon. We went last year, but it was a quick trip, and we didn't have time to do everything. This trip we had more time, so we had a picnic lunch, climbed the spatter pots, and crawled around in the caves. The kids thought that was so cool, and Zach gave me a heart attack climbing out on a ledge. Fun!

Oregon!

We had a quick trip this year, due to the funeral, but it was still worth it. It's always so much fun to see the Holmes, and we were able to spend some time with Tolman, Audrey and Kaleb, too. We spent a couple of days on the beach, and went to Newport one day to the Oregon Coast Aquarium where we saw all sorts of sealife; jellyfish, octapus, crabs, turtles. The kids loved it; Zach was in awe of the shark jaw and was so excited to have his picture taken in it! He was, however, not nearly as excited to have his picture taken in the crab hat. Crabby!

For Ruth

After a very sudden stroke, and a very long week, we lost my mother-in-law Ruth Evans on July 23, 2010. She was an amazing, elegant lady, and we were so blessed to have her.

Pioneer Trek

Here's a few pics from Jonathon and Alli's trek. They walked about 24 miles total, slept under the stars, and according to Jonathon, ate the best food ever.

While they were still clean...

Everyone from our ward; Alli was the only girl!

One of the handcarts.

A pretty pioneer!

This is Alli's family during the womens pull.

Hers was the first one up, so when they were done they went back to help the others.

The men standing by watching.