Happy Halloween!

Fun!

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Our Summer

We have had a super busy summer, between quick trips to Utah and a longer one to Portland, and working up at Mom's house, trying to get things done. Here's a few pics from what we've been up to:

We went down to visit KimE one weekend with Mom and went to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house, and spent some time at Orem's Summerfest. Once it started raining we went to the library and watched the old "Yours, Mine and Ours" in their theater, and then went out on the balcony to watch the fireworks.

We spent the Fourth of July up at Mom's, and tried to have a BBQ with Josh, Miri, Sarah, Travis and the girls. If only it had stopped raining long enough to cook our dinner. After dark, though, we lit lots of sparklers and fireworks and made s'mores.

At the end of July we left for Portland. We stayed with Tolman and Audrey, but spent the days with Chris, Eve and Sev. We had lots of fun; hit the coast a couple of times, went up to Mount St. Helens, shopped at Saturdays Market and spent lots of time in the air conditioning since it was SO hot!
At the forestry center in the Tillamook forest.

Down by the river.

Sev out on the coast; I can't remember where we were.

Alli had so much fun helping take care of Sev. They played lots of Patty Cake.

And she fed him Oreos.

Up at the top of Mount St. Helens, it was still so hot!

Hanging out at Seaside.

Happy Birthday Alli!

Today my baby girl turns 11! Here's a few pictures from the past few years.
Sweet baby Allison


Halloween 1999


This is half of a layout I did just because of her big blue eyes.


BYU Girl


Alli's 4th Birthday


Easter 2003


Elphaba and Glinda 2005


At Build-A-Bear with her own Elphie 2007


Official Dance picture 2008


Alli with her best friends, Carlee and Natalie April 2009


So sophisticated!

Me and my little girl!


Love you sweetie!!!

Downtown Dance is Amazing!

Alli's last dance competition for the year was today, and I am still amazed at how good these girls are! We are so lucky to have such an awesome teacher who takes such good care of our girls. She teaches them precision, dedication, and how to be the best while still being modest. After going to these competitions and seeing some of the outfits other teams wear, the music they dance to, and the moves they do, I have come to really appreciate what Amy does.
Alli and Amy

Alli danced to "Rockstar" this year, with a supercute costume. Today was the competition in Idaho Falls, and Mom came to watch her. It was great to have her there for the 3 hours during which Downtown was performing so she could see what I've been talking about the last two years. She was very patient, especially considering this is not her kind of music that was blasting, and there were lots of little teeny-boppers doing their really cute dances that they didn't really know.(Always fun to watch for the first few, but after 20, you've kinda had it)
At all three competitions this year, every dance Downtown performed took 1st in their category, until today, when the Elite lyrical number took 2nd to a really great number. They have received awards for highest overall points, execution, technique, showmanship, and more. They're the best!
This is not a great picture of Alli, but they never turn out very well.

Wicked!

This weekend I was finally able to take Alli to see Wicked! We went with Mom and Kimmie, and it was so much fun. We spent most of Saturday shopping, bought some fabric to make Alli's costume for recital opening number, got me some new canisters at IKEA (woohoo) and went to the Church History Museum. After getting all prettied up, we went to the Macaroni Grill for dinner, and then walked over to the Capitol Theater.

It was an amazing performance; the Glinda we saw was so funny, and I think my favorite of the three I've seen. Elphaba was really good, too. The whole production was great. Alli just sat mesmerized through the whole thing and loved it. She was so excited to wear her green dress and black sweater (show her solidarity with Elphie!), and of course, her cat, Elphie, got to come in her witch's dress. We've been waiting for almost 4 years to see this, and to be able to take Alli was the best.

Easter morning we went to the Tabernacle Choir Broadcast, which was fun, and took some pictures on a beautiful spring morning.









Then we went to church with Kimmie and had dinner at her house. She LOVED her giant sucker I put in her Easter basket. It was such a wonderful weekend!

Ketchup!

I have lots of catching up to do, so this may be a long post. Between trying to clean up the mess made while redecorating, trying to get the Relief Society dinner over with, and getting a "fun" case of the flu, I haven't been able to sit down and keep up on my blog. Here's hoping things get better!

We had a fun Valentine's Day; it lasted all weekend! We had pink pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream for breakfast, we all went to a movie and dinner with my mom and then made sugar cookies Sunday afternoon.

Then the next weekend, while Kimmie was here, we made me a new workspace designed by Mom! AND we refurbished that ugly cabinet I've had in the dining room forever. Now it's in the living room and so pretty!

Before

After

For our Enrichment meeting this month, I was assigned to bring cupcakes for a centerpiece and dessert. I thought this was a great time to try some new things, so I found some new recipes and got to work. The strawberry swirl cupcakes with the fluffy frosting were so sweet, and phenomenally messy, as you can see on Alli's friend Natalie. The classic white cupcakes with coconut frosting were to die for! And then I later found a recipe for a strawberry buttercream frost that was so yummy! That was a fun week.

Then this past weekend, Zach was baptized. It was a fun evening, with Grandpa Evans and Grandma Toy talking, Alli led the music, and I sat there and enjoyed it all.

Happy Birthday Zach!

So I am a little late posting for Zach's birthday; the last three days have just been way too crazy busy to get it done. Here are a few fun pictures from the last 8 years.
Our brand new baby.


One year old


Two years old



Three years old, just before Mark left for Iraq.


Four years old



Five years old


Six years old

Seven years old


And now he's eight!

Happy Birthday Zach!!