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.

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!

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!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Ah, I just love to hear Johnny Mathis sing that. Totally puts me in the mood!
Not knowing for sure if Mark will be here for next Christmas, we tried really hard to make this Christmas a really good one. Everything we did involved hot chocolate, and cookies if possible, we played lots of Christmas music and tried to be really involved in what was going on.

Here are a few of my favorite things:
*Christmas decorations~ I am particularly fond of our stockings. Charlie Brown and Linus, and the framed "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" print Chris made for me one year.


*Chocolates~ When I was little, I couldn't wait until I was old enough to be able to help dip chocolates. I remember the first year I was able to help Mom, we dipped them downstairs in the family room with the windows open and listened to a BYU football game on the radio. I love that my kids want to do it too.



*Gingerbread houses~ This is one of the traditions I remember doing every year for what seemed like my entire childhood. I wish I had been better about doing when Jonathon was little, but we didn't start doing them until a couple of years ago, thanks to Kimmie.


*Christmas Eve with the Evans~ It's so nice to be able to do Christmas Even with Evans and then Christmas Day up at Moms. That way there's no rush, we can enjoy being with our families. I wish I had Christmas Eve pictures with the Evans, but being me, I forgot my camera. So here's another favorite:
*Sugar cookies~ Yum Yum Yum, and the kids are getting old enough it's not nearly as much work as it used to be.


*The looks on the childrens faces~ The excitement, the giggles, the ripping of the paper. This year we papered over the entrance to the living room so the kids couldn't peek, and it was the best! I am totally doing that from now on. Zach, being the youngest, got to break through the paper first, and we were finally there to see the looks on their faces. Usually they get up, sneak in and look at everything (without unwrapping) before we wake up. This was way better!

*Christmas ornaments~ One of my happy memories involving my father is of him giving us Christmas ornaments. I have 3 or 4 that he gave me, and they are very important to me. Almost all of our ornaments have a specific memory or event attached to them, and I love them all for that.

Pears at Moms

When Mom had her hip replaced this summer, I spent a whole lot of time up at her house. Kimmie came up often, and on one of her trips she brought pears! Now, I hate, HATE!, canning pears. The whole peeling and pitting, and stickiness running down my arms to my elbows. But since they're one of the three fruits Jonathon will eat, and the only one that can be preserved, I decided I should do some. Kimmie helped on Labor day, and we got all the pretty pears canned, and then I spent another day or two making pear butter. While I hated the experience, the sticky, the mess, the peels everywhere, those jars were awfully pretty when we were all done.

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.

Christmastime

What a busy couple of weeks we had! First, Chris and Eve "popped" in for a visit with Sevi! Kimmie was expected, so more company was a surprise!

While they were here, we dipped chocolates.




A few days later, we decorated gingerbread houses with Grandma, Kimmie and the Deans.





Christmas Eve brought the annual Nativity and Christmas jammies at Grandma and Grandpa Evans.





Christmas morning started way too early, with lots of fun presents. I think my favorite, though, was Zach's Clone Trooper helmut; he looks like a bobblehead!



Jonathon got what he wanted; lots and lots of iTunes cards.



Grandma Toy gave Alli a Madame Alexander doll, and made her a wedding dress for her! Alli was in heaven.



We went to Mom's that afternoon to open presents and have dinner and play in the snow.






After Christmas, we went to Orem and spent a few days at Kimmie's. We went sledding at Rock Canyon, we played the Wii a lot, watched movies, went to a Utah Grizzlies hockey game (so much fun!), saw Bolt in 3-D, and went to Temple Square to look at the lights.










It was such a fun Christmas! We have been so blessed.