Off to the races

Back in May I made this goal. Bill joined in on the fun, and over the last two weeks both of us have reached that goal. First up was Bill's race, the Savoy Orchard Days 5k. The kids and I came along to cheer him on and did our best to entertain ourselves while we waited near the finish line.


Bill before the race



Crazy kids




Post-race picture


Doing stretches with Daddy


This was taken on top of the hill where the finish line was.

A week later it was my turn. I chose to run in the Women's Fitness 5K. Bill and the kids were there, and later Susan and her kids came to show their support.


Pre-race picture


At the starting line


This was the most grueling part of the race. We were running on the side of a main road so I spent a good 5-10 minutes being tilted to one side next to the sidewalk, which meant that my right arm was doing all the work.


Crossing the finish line. It was an awesome and emotional few minutes for me when I realized that I had finished and accomplished this goal. I think Bill and I have decided that we're going to try and do this again sometime in the future. If nothing else it was a wake-up call to how out of shape we are and how much we need to exercise and stay healthy. So if you ever need a kick in the pants to get you motivated, make the goal to run a marathon!

Looking back

I seem to be really bad at updating our blog lately, therefore you all are going to be subjected to another long, picture-heavy post. Here are some of the happenings of the Evans family over the past few months.

COUCHES
Being the poor college students that we are, our living room furniture is not what you would call classy or new. We've inherited pieces from family, neighbors, and craigslist. Until recently it didn't bother me much that we don't have matching furniture. But for some reason I started being frustrated that our couches didn't match. So began my quest to find matching slipcovers. And finally, thanks to some great family members who gave us gift cards, we were able to purchase some from JCPenney.

Before:

After:


I've now gotten the remodeling bug. We'll see how much finances and time allow us to do in the future.

DECATUR ZOO
You may remember last year when we went to the zoo near our home. This year we decided to go again, and we invited Bobby and Susan to come with us this time. Will and Alice had a blast hanging out and looking at all the animals, and Kayla and Robert enjoyed being out in the sun and playing.






One of the highlights of the zoo for Will was getting to go on the train. He asked about it both last year and this year, and was so excited when we got to go this time. It wasn't a very long ride, but he seemed to enjoy himself.



THE "CHEESE VEGETABLE"
In the 3+ years that we've lived here I've gotten used to some of the differences between the West and the Midwest. No mountains, lots of corn, the Church being a minority religion in the area, etc. One aspect of living here that I've come to enjoy is the types of entertainment. For example, a few weeks ago we went to the Amish Country Cheese Festival. (Will apparently misunderstood the name, so he started calling it the cheese "vegetable." We thought it was funny, so the name stuck.) Every year the small town of Arthur, Illinois hosts a 3-day event with cheese tasting, cheese-centered sporting competitions, vendors selling numerous items (cheese-related and otherwise), clowns making balloon animals, and a number of other activities. But the most exciting event of the festival seems to be the International Cheese Curling Competition. Last year we weren't able to go to the competition due to bad weather, but this year we decided to go see what it was all about. Needless to say, we made a very wise decision. Not only did we have a lot of fun, but Bill ended up being on the winning team. So I can now say that my husband is one of four international cheese curling champions. For more details on this exciting event, check out our friends blog.

The winning team: Alysa Stewart, Jacob Stewart, Joe Bair, Bill Evans


Look at that amazing technique.


After the cheese curling, we went to get Will a balloon animal. There is a group there that ties balloon animals of all sorts. Last year, Will got a balloon pumpkin. He has been talking about it ever since. He asked for months afterwards when we were going to go back and see the clowns and get another pumpkin. Well, this year, when we decided to go back to the festival, we made certain to go get another balloon animal. This year Will decided on a balloon fish on a fishing pole. It didn't last more than a day or two, but he was absolutely ecstatic.


PRESCHOOL
I have decided that it's a bittersweet thing to have your child start school. You are excited for them and all the fun that they will hopefully have, but you are a little sad that you no longer will have them at home 24/7. At least that's how I felt this last week when Will started preschool. There's a great program that one of the local high schools started called Little Maroons. (The high school's mascot is Max Maroon, who is apparently a bear. It appears that the only known picture of Max Maroon is found in an old alumni newsletter here -- You have no idea how long it took us to find this.) Will goes to preschool every Tuesday through Thursday for about 3 hours. We love it mostly because the majority of his friends are also in the preschool, so they all have a lot of fun together. We hope he will enjoy the whole year and that this will be good practice for kindergarten next year.



I love Will and his friend Spencer in this picture. Their faces seem to be saying "what are you doing here?"

Just for fun

I love taking pictures of Will and Kayla because I never know what will happen. These four videos have nothing to do with each other, but they're all fun in their own way.

Daddy came up with a new game that Will and Kayla love to play with him. And while I love to watch them, I worry sometimes about Bill's poor knees.


Kayla is becoming quite a dancer. This video shows only a tiny bit of her talent, and of course Will wanted in on the action too.


Will discovered a fun new game. If you stick pieces of paper up to the air conditioning vent they stick. This entertained him for at least a few minutes.


This last video is my favorite. Kayla is definitely a smart little girl. She says a lot of words and understands many things.