Observations of a mother part 2

It's been way too long since I've posted anything about Will, and let's face it, he's the most important member of our family these days (Just ask his great-grandma Phyllis). So here are some funny and cute things that Will says or does on a regular basis. I'm amazed that I managed to get some great videos and pictures to go along with some of them. So here is a mother's shameless posting of her child's talents and quirks.

-He likes to watch "the movie about the doggy" (Because of Winn-Dixie), "the movie about the lion" (The Chronicles of Narnia), and "Doo-doo-doo" (The Best Two Years)
-He's at that wonderful stage where kisses and hugs from Mommy make everything better
-He knows how to say simple prayers, and even when someone else is saying it he always helps end it by saying "say these things...Christ...amen"
-When we get him out of time-out, he'll proceed to repeat back to us what he's not supposed to do (i.e. "Don't bite the doggy's nose")
-When Daddy is in the bathroom he knocks on the door and says "Honey!" like he's calling to him like Mommy does
-He can "read" (say sentences from memory) certain books because we've read them to him so many times

-When he goes somewhere with Daddy, he likes to push the button on the outside of our house and talk to Mommy on the intercom before coming inside
-He can recognize and name all of the previous and current members of the First Presidency, plus a couple of the previous prophets

-He likes to imitate Daddy. Some of the cutest things he does are lie back on the couch and pretend he's sleeping, or go up to Mommy and say "Thank you for your patience"
-When Mommy and Daddy are reading from the Book of Mormon, he likes to sit at the table with his own copy and "wead scwipoes" with them
-When we finish reading a book with him he says "Be end."
-He loves listening to Babu (my dad - Babu means Grandpa in Swahili) on the "radio" (CD)
-When he plays with his toy phone he says "Heyo"
-He calls strawberries "stwabewawiwawies"
-He handed me a wipe and said "Here's a bum"
-He has started taking off his clothes by himself, especially pajamas. Sometimes I'll go in to get him up in the morning and I'll find him in just a diaper.

So needless to say, I've got a pretty funny child who keeps us all entertained every day. We love you Will!

Addendum

After reading other people's posts and comments about Pres. Hinckley's passing, I felt like my comments were a little depressing, and I wanted to add a few more thoughts. Yes it is sad that he has passed, and that we won't have the opportunity to hear his wonderful wisdom and sense of humor anymore, but as many people have pointed out, he has been reunited with his sweet wife again, which I'm sure has brought them both immeasurable joy. It brings me a lot of peace when I think about the knowledge I have of life after this, and that we will have the chance to be reunited with those who have gone before us. I am so grateful for this wonderful church that I belong to, and its many truths.

A wonderful man

Yesterday our beloved Prophet, Gordon B. Hinckley, passed away quietly in his sleep. When I found out, I was shocked and saddened. He had been the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints since I was about 13 years old. I actually had the privilege of personally meeting him on a couple of occasions over the years, which made me love and admire him even more. He had such a great personality, and was able to connect with everyone that he met. He will be sorely missed by many people worldwide.

Personality Quiz

I'm a sucker for things like online quizzes, and I saw this on Katie R.'s blog a while ago, so I thought I'd give it a try. I was surprised at how well it actually describes me, including saying that I would be good as a child psychologist, which is what I was planning to be if I hadn't gotten married.

You Are An ISFJ

The Nurturer You have a strong need to belong, and you very loyal. A good listener, you excel at helping others in practical ways. In your spare time, you enjoy engaging your senses through art, cooking, and music. You find it easy to be devoted to one person, who you do special things for. In love, you express your emotions through actions. Taking care of someone is how you love them. And you do it well! At work, you do well in a structured environment. You complete tasks well and on time. You would make a good interior designer, chef, or child psychologist. How you see yourself: Competent, dependable, and detail oriented When other people don't get you, they see you as: Boring, dominant, and stuck in a rut

What's Your Personality Type?

Peace and Quiet!

I had to share some exciting news that only a mother would appreciate. For the past who-knows-how-long, every time Will woke up in the morning or after his nap, what I would hear was an ear-piercing scream. And not just one, either. My son has got some amazing lungs! Anyway, in the last week or two, I've noticed something - he doesn't scream anymore! We've been teaching him that, when he wakes up and wants to get out of bed, all he has to do is say something like "Mommy!" or "Want to get out!" Apparently our persistence in teaching him is paying off, because that's what he does now. I used to get a little cranky in the morning or after nap-time, because something about hearing him scream just got a little annoying. Now I can face the day with a smile on my face, knowing that this phase is finally over!

Utah Trip

Because Bill's grandma passed away recently, we were able to fly back to Utah for the funeral this past weekend. We were glad that everything worked out as far as flight plans, school and work schedules, and other things so that we could take a few days off. We flew out of St. Louis on Thursday morning (had to get up at 4 am for a 7:30 am flight - not so fun). I had been worried that Will would have problems with flying, since this was his first time, but he was amazingly well-behaved, thanks to countless readings of Cat in the Hat and Clifford.
Once we got to Salt Lake, my dad picked us up at the airport and drove us down to Provo. We made a quick stop at my grandparents' house to "surprise" them (we found out later that my dad had already told them we were coming - I had forgotten to tell him that we wanted to surprise them. They were gracious enough to fake it). We had a nice visit with them for a while, then we went down to BYU to visit some old friends and professors, as well as stopping by the bookstore for some of their amazing fudge.
Friday was spent primarily with Bill's family. Most of them either flew in or drove in sometime that day, so there was quite a crowd at the house. But it was fun to have everyone together. Someone told me that this was the first time in over 10 years that the whole Evans-Luce family had all gotten together. There was a lot of laughing, reminiscing, and just a good time.



Saturday was the day of the funeral. Bill woke up early in the morning with an upset stomach, which lingered throughout the day. But he got a blessing from his dad and Michael, which seemed to help enough for him to get through the day and be one of the pallbearers. The funeral itself was beautiful. Grandma Luce was an amazing woman, so the service was full of stories and memories from her children and grandchildren. We all laughed and cried and remembered this wonderful lady who had touched all of our lives.


Sunday we went to church with my mom and my sister Erika. Coincidentally, my mom had been asked to give a talk that day, so it was fun to be there to hear it. After church we spent a lot of the day driving around visiting some of our old friends. We went up to Wymount, where we had lived for 2 years and saw people like the Wheadons, the Ballards, the Pattons, and the Jones. We also got to see our old Wymount bishop and his wonderful wife, as well as one of my best friends, Jason. By the end of the night we were all beat, so we called it a night.
On Monday we had the opportunity to do an endowment session at the Provo Temple. This was so wonderful, because in Illinois we have to drive about 3 hours to go to the temple in St. Louis, so it was nice to be able to drive just a few minutes and go. Afterwards we came home and started packing so my mom could take us back up to Salt Lake. We had to stay in a hotel that night so we could catch ANOTHER early flight back home the next morning.
The trip home was not quite as pleasant as the trip to Utah. We had two flights that day, the first one to Denver and the second to St. Louis. Will wasn't too thrilled to be going back on a plane this time, so we had to deal with a lot of crankiness throughout the day. Luckily we made it back to St. Louis in one piece, and, even though we had a wonderful time in Utah, I have to say I'm actually glad to be back in Illinois.

"Quick" Story

In the last post I said that if people wanted to hear about how Bill proposed and why he proposed twice, I would be happy to tell them. A couple people responded and said they wanted to hear about it, so here's the story:

We had started talking about getting married around January or February of 2004. Bill said that he wanted to pick out the ring by himself and surprise me, which was perfectly fine with me. I told him the basic idea of what I wanted, but I was excited to see what he would pick out himself (I think he did a great job - my ring looks very unique and I love it). Anyway, near the end of March we were headed up to a stake fireside at BYU. We got into a small argument on the way, which we can't even remember now, but it put a small damper on the evening. After the fireside we were heading back to my apartment when Bill said that he thought we should talk. We walked over to the testing center and sat on the benches for a few minutes. We talked through what had happened earlier, then Bill got quiet. He got down on his knee, looked at me and said, "I didn't plan on doing this right now, but will you marry me?" And, since he didn't have my ring yet, he took off the CTR ring I had been wearing on that finger, then put it back on again to make it "official." It took me completely off guard, because I wasn't expecting it either, but of course I said yes right away, then we went inside and called some of our family, because Bill hadn't even talked to my dad yet!

The "real" proposal took place about a month later. Bill had promised that he would give me my engagement ring by the end of the semester. I have no idea how I made it through my classes, because I was so excited. One day he called me and told me to get dressed up because he was taking me somewhere special that night. When he picked me up, we headed toward campus, and it surprised me when we pulled into the Creamery on Ninth. I guess it shouldn't have surprised me too much, because that's where we had our first date, but I digress. Anyway, we walked in, and when we got to the tables I saw that one of them had been set up like a table at a fancy restaurant. There was a green tablecloth, a rose in a vase, and a little display of pictures of us. We sat down and ordered our food, and a few minutes after we had started eating one of the workers came up to our table with a rose in her hand. She set it down on the table, then said "12 more weeks" (which meant there were 12 more weeks until we were getting married). About 5 minutes after that another worker came over with another rose. She set it down and said, "Everything I do I do for you", which is one of my favorite songs. This continued throughout our meal, until I had 12 roses. Bill had put together 12 different things about our relationship to go along with each rose. After our meal we drove to the main part of campus and walked over to the Museum of Art where they have a great little garden area. Bill led me over to the small reflecting pool, gave me a penny and said, "If you throw in a penny and make a wish, your wish will come true." I threw in the penny and, of course, wished that he would propose to me that night. He took me over to the other side of the pool and told me to look down in the water. When I looked I saw a sign that said "Kristin and Billy", made completely out of coins. I reached down and pulled on the sign. When I did, I noticed there was a piece of fishing wire attached. And attached to the fishing wire was a bag with a ring box. Bill took the box out of the bag, opened it up, and I saw my beautiful ring. He took it out, put it on my finger, and said "I love you, will you marry me?"

So now you all know the wonderful story of how Bill proposed. Not everyone can say that they were proposed to twice, or in such a unique way. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I loved re-living it!

My wonderful husband

Ok, call me weird, but I am so excited that I got blog-tagged by Mary P., because I love bragging about my husband. So have fun!

-What is his name? William Ray Evans
-How long have you been together? We will be married 4 years on July 10

-How long did you date? Hmm, that's a tricky question...We started "hanging out" around May or June of 2003, but I'm not really sure when we decided we were officially dating. So I guess I'll say we "dated" for 10 months before we got engaged, then another 4 months until we got married.
-How old his he? He'll be 27 in June

-Who eats more? I'll probably shoot myself later for admitting this, but it kind of depends on what we're eating. Bill eats more most of the time, as far as regular meals, but I have been known to eat quite a bit, especially junk food.
-Who said I love you first? I think it was Bill, right after our first kiss.
-Who is taller? Ha! EVERYONE is taller than me, considering I sit down all the time. But even if I were able to stand up, he would still be taller than me.
-Who can sing better? Bill would probably say that I do, but he can carry a tune pretty well most of the time.
-Who is smarter? I think we both have our different strengths. I'm fairly good at things like music or Psychology (my major in college) and Bill is great with things like math, science, and history. He also seems to know a lot of random trivia.
-Who does the laundry? Since we've moved to Illinois, I've ended up doing it the majority of the time, because I'm the one who's home more often. When we were living in Wymount, Bill did it every single week, since I couldn't carry everything up to the laundry room by myself, so I think he deserves a break for a while.
-Who pays the bills? Definitely Bill. I've tried to get involved in that, but it either ends up depressing me (when I see how much money we DON'T have) or I get confused.
-Who sleeps in the right side? If you're looking at the bed, I do, because there's more room on that side for my chair.
-Who mows the lawn? The apartment management. But I'm sure once we get a lawn, Bill will end up doing it until our kids are old enough to help.
-Who cooks dinner? Most of the time I do, unless I'm having a down day, then Bill saves the day.

-Who drives? When we're together it's usually Bill, because he has a better sense of direction than I do, and I tend to get a little stressed out when I'm driving with him.
-Who is more stubborn? Ya know, we've asked ourselves this question a lot. I think it's kind of half-and-half.
-Who kissed who first? Bill kissed me first. It's kind of a cute little story. We were sitting in his car in the driveway of my apartment talking, then out of the blue he says "Have you ever been kissed?" I said no, then he leaned over and kissed me.
-Who asked who out first? This is a funny story. I was taking Marriage Prep at BYU, and one of our assignments was to ask someone out on a date. So one day while Bill and I were eating lunch I happened to be talking about the assignment, so I decided to ask him. He told me later that he was kind of hinting that he wanted me to ask him, but at the time I was totally clueless.
-Who proposed? Bill did - twice. I love telling the story, so if you ever want to hear about it, let me know!
-Who has more friends? Hmm, I think that I do, but I'm not really sure. Bill always says I'm the more social one, but he's got quite a few close friends that he still keeps in touch with.
-Who is more sensitive? I am definitely a lot more emotional than Bill is, but we are both pretty sensitive in different ways.

-Who has more siblings? Bill win hands down. He's the middle of 5, and I only have one sister.
-Who wears the pants? I think we try and make sure that we talk things over with each other and make decisions together.

I think I have the most amazing and husband in the world (although I'm sure the rest of you would say the same thing about yours). I love you honey!

Oh yeah, I tag Susan E., Laura H., and Jesika H.

The gospel is true!

I was thinking about Elder Ballard's admonition to use blogs and other sources of media to discuss the gospel and the Church. I have had a number of experiences over the last week or so that have strengthened my testimony and reminded me how much I love this gospel that I have decided to get on my soapbox for a minute and talk about them. Bear with me, because this could turn out to be a long post.

The first experience happened about Thursday or Friday. Will was having a hard time getting to sleep for his nap, so Bill and I went into his room and starting singing some songs to help him calm down. He really enjoys Primary songs, so we sang things like "I'm Trying to be Like Jesus" and "I Love to See the Temple". There's a line in "the temple song" (as Will calls it) that talks about feeling the Holy Spirit. As soon as I started singing those words, the Spirit came into the room so strongly that I couldn't even finish the rest of the song. I love those times when you can feel God's presence through the Spirit. It's such a wonderful, happy feeling.

The next two experiences both happened yesterday (Sunday). In sacrament meeting, one of the hymns we sang was "I Know that My Redeemer Lives." I have come to love that song, but especially the last few lines of verse 2. It says "He lives to comfort me when faint. He lives to hear my soul’s complaint. He lives to silence all my fears. He lives to wipe away my tears. He lives to calm my troubled heart. He lives all blessings to impart." Every time I read or sing those words, I am reminded of the fact that God knows each and every one of us and is aware of our struggles. I'm also reminded of how much God loves us regardless of the mistakes we might make and he's always there to comfort us when we are feeling down.

The last experience started out sad then ended on a peaceful note (at least for me). And I hope that Bill's family won't mind me sharing this. We found out that Bill's grandma died yesterday afternoon. I had gotten to know her fairly well when we were living in Provo, because we would go see her occasionally. She was a very neat person, and I was glad for the time we all got to spend together. Bill talked to his mom for a while on the phone, and there was something she said that stuck with me and made me look at the whole experience a little differently than I might have if I didn't have the knowledge of the gospel. She said "She's with Dad" (meaning she's with her husband, who passed away some years ago). I am so grateful that we have the blessing of the temple and the chance to be sealed together for eternity. I don't think I could get through this life if I didn't know that I would be able to be with my husband and children after death as well.

I am so grateful for the gospel in my life, and the peace and joy it brings to me every day in so many ways.

So Sad

My sister Erika gave Will the book "Cat in the Hat" for Christmas, and ever since then one of us has had to read it to him practically every single day. When we discovered his love for Dr. Seuss (we thought), we headed to the library and checked out three more books. When we got home, however, we discovered that he does not enjoy "Green Eggs and Ham" or "Fox In Socks" as much as we had hoped. I am sure, however, that the books will not go untouched for the next few days

A smorgasbord of pictures

I have decided that we don't take enough pictures of our every day life, so here are just a few that we've taken over the past week or two.


We decided to have a quiet New Year's Eve at home together, but I think we went a little overboard with the food. I guess it's a tradition in Bill's family to make a bunch of appetizers instead of a meal, then snacking on them throughout the evening. It was good food, but we are still working on leftovers. Oh, and if you look closely, you can see my new haircut. I decided a few weeks ago that I was sick of my hair, so, to Bill's chagrin, I went to Great Clips and spent $13. I love it, and I think Bill's getting used to it.


This is Will chowing down on the many items of food we had, and enjoying the fact that Mommy and Daddy let him stay up a whole hour past his bedtime


I think we've found a new tradition for New Year's Eve. I decided that I wanted to make caramel corn to munch on throughout the evening. It took a long time, and it wasn't as gooey as I had hoped, but I have no problem making it again in attempting to improve it.


This was our first picture of 2008. Not the most wonderful picture we've taken, but we wanted to document the dawning of a new year



Will is so proud of the fact that he now eats some of his meals at the table with Mommy and Daddy. He still sits in his high chair for breakfast and lunch the majority of the time, but sometimes we let him eat on the "big boy chair." Guess it's time to head to Walmart to find a booster seat.


I decided yesterday to channel my creative side and make a new toy for Will. He has recently gotten into playing with boxes, so I took one and tried to make it into an airplane. Unfortunately, once I was done, Will wasn't as impressed with it as I had hoped he would be. He was very adamant about not getting into it, even with our prodding and encouraging.


We have liftoff! Will finally decided that the airplane was worth trying out


I'm a little disappointed with this picture. I wanted Bill to capture how much Will loves having us read to him, but instead you get a very unflattering picture of me in my pj's. Oh well.

Observations of a mother

I was asked by my grandma, who spent over a year taking care of Will so that I could finish school, to write down things that I have observed Will doing or saying, his likes and disklikes, etc. At first I was a little overwhelmed by the task, but I must admit that I'm glad she gave me that challenge, because I know it'll be a very precious thing for me to look back on someday when he's grown and gone. This is a very incomplete list, but I hope to write more as I think of them.

Likes:
-Anything having to do with Clifford, or dogs in general
-Playing with his Lego sets
-Reading books with either Mommy or Daddy (favorites: Cat in the Hat, Scamp, The Friend, Clifford stories)
-Singing songs (favorites: ABC song, Popcorn popping, I'm Trying to Be Like Jesus, I Love to See the Temple)
-Playing at the library

Dislikes:
-Being in time-out
-Being told it's naptime or bedtime

Funny things he says:
-When watching videos of himself, he gets a huge smile on his face and says, “That is Will!”
-When I go to the doctor for checkups, he says “Mommy going to the hopistal?”
-He calls Walmart the “twinkle-star grocery store”