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.

Interactive FHE

I'm sure there would be others who would agree with me that having FHE with small children can be an interesting experience. Their attention spans are low, they get distracted easily, and other issues come up. Recently we've started having what I call "interactive FHE." I've noticed that if we involve Will in the lesson as much as possible, he's a little more likely to pay better attention. Here are two of our recent attempts.

THE ARMOR OF GOD


Using two big paper bags, some packing tape, a milk carton cut in half, and aluminum foil, I was able to turn Will into a soldier.

LISTEN TO THE HOLY GHOST

I'm sure we've all done this at one point or another. We blindfolded Will, Bill and Kayla made a bunch of noise, and I was a few feet away speaking quietly trying to get Will to come over to me. It was pretty funny by the end, but Will did a great job.

I have yet to come up with more lessons like that, so if anyone has ideas that have worked for them, I'd love suggestions.

Making sense of the world

I have always been a people watcher. I enjoy looking around at other people and watching how they interact or communicate, seeing what quirks they have, etc. Being a mom allows me to be a people watcher 24/7. I love seeing Will and Kayla grow and learn and get to know the world around them. Lately Kayla has discovered connections. She is constantly pointing to things in books, then either pointing to the real thing or going to get it. Her favorite things to point to or retrieve are clocks, dolls, balls, dogs, and bears. It's been really neat to see things click in her head and how much she's growing and learning.

Our life through pictures

We've done a lot of things over the past couple of months, and I finally have the pictures to prove it. So bear with me through this picture-heavy post.

FATHERS AND SONS CAMPOUT

Once again Will and Daddy got to bond together with other fathers and sons in our stake (and Kayla and Mommy got to enjoy some quiet girl time). The weather wasn't ideal, but they seemed to have a good time anyway.



Such a helpful boy

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Unfortunately this is the only picture we have from my birthday. We had a combined birthday party for me and Bill with a bunch of our friends. We had a BBQ, endured the sweltering heat, and had a great time.



NAUVOO

We decided at the last minute to go to Nauvoo for the pageant. We had done it a couple of years ago when it was just Will, and decided Kayla might be old enough to take this time. We were smart enough to borrow Bobby and Susan's tent, which made camping after the pageant a little more comfortable (but only barely - Nauvoo is HOT at night!) We loved the pageant, and enjoyed walking around Nauvoo the next day. Bill took the kids to a play ground near our campsite and let them get their wiggles out before the long ride home.












SOCCER
We decided to sign Will up for soccer this summer to help him (and us) get out of the house and doing something active. It's been so much fun to watch him play and learn new skills. We have a lot of respect for the coaches who are so patient and understanding with all the kids running around.


His "official" pose




I love how serious he looks in this shot. Total concentration.




SILLY SHOTS

Ever since we got our new digital camera (Thanks again Karen and Jake!) the kids love when we take pictures of them.



So that's a little update on our family. Beyond that, Bill has been hard at work either on campus or with his various church responsibilities. I have been at home with Will and Kayla trying to keep our lives running smoothly. It's been a great summer so far, and we look forward to what the future brings.

Our new addition

Thanks to some friends who were moving this weekend, we were able to get something we thought we'd have to wait years for.

An upright piano! We are very excited to have it, since all we've had up till now is a keyboard.


Will and Kayla are constantly asking us if they can play it. I think piano lessons for Will might be in the near future.

Ode to Bill

With today being Father's Day and since Bill's birthday was this last week, I decided to write a post all about one of the most wonderful men I know. I have a lot of great men in my life - my dad, my father-in-law, my two fantastic grandfathers, 4 awesome brothers-in-law, cousins, uncles, the list goes on and on. But there's one man who tops them all (in my humble opinion). And that would be my husband. Since the moment I met him (remind me sometime to tell you the cheesy line he used), he's made me smile and laugh. He fits all the criteria that I wrote down when I was a teenager of the kind of man I wanted to marry. He makes me feel special, appreciated, and loved. He goes out of his way to take care of me and the kids. He is smarter than a lot of people I know, in many different ways. He is dedicated to his schoolwork and his church callings. He is a worthy priesthood holder who loves the Lord. He is an amazing father who takes time out of his day as much as he can to spend time with each of our kids. He is handsome, kind, loving, funny, forgiving, selfless, honest, and overall just one of the most amazing people I know. I'm grateful that I get the opportunity to be his wife and to spend my life with him. I love you honey!


(Sorry for the random picture, honey. But you look handsome! :-)

Just a taste

For the past few months I've been involved in an Institute choir called Heritage Singers. It's been such a privilege and so much fun for me to be a part of it. Our director is incredibly talented and we've all enjoyed performing and sharing our talents. Recently we had the opportunity to record one of our songs to be part of the BYU Magazine podcast. When I heard the finished product I was blown away by how good we all sounded (it's a lot different only hearing a few voices at a time during rehearsals compared to the whole choir), so I thought I'd share. The song is called "The Road Home." Enjoy!

"Motherhood" comes in all shapes and sizes

I was sitting in sacrament meeting this morning listening to talks about motherhood. Normally when I hear them I'm merely listening and not paying close attention to anything more than 5 feet ahead of me (as happens to most mothers with small children, I'm sure). But today for some reason, I started looking around at all the women in the congregation. And I realized that, mixed in with the women who are in my similar situation - young, just a couple of kids, husbands in school, etc. - there are many other types of women. There are great-grandmothers; first-time grandmothers; divorced, working mothers; grandmothers raising grandchildren; pregnant women; and women who are single with no children. It got me thinking about the word "mother." It doesn't always mean a woman who is married with a bunch of kids. It can mean an aunt or a grandmother who is raising family members, it can mean the bishop's wife who takes care of ward members, it can mean a visiting teacher who goes above and beyond her calling. I heard someone once use the phrase "mother heart." I think all women in some way have a "mother heart". They are naturally nurturing and loving, they care for friends and family, sometimes complete strangers, in numerous ways. There are women who take in foster children, who babysit for friends on a regular basis, who sit with stressed mothers in sacrament meeting. I could go on and on. So this Mother's Day I not only honor my own mother and those in my family and circle of friends, but all women who are mothers-at-heart, who are true examples of what a mother should be. Happy Mother's Day!

Since putting it on my blog makes it official

I don't usually write a post like this, but I needed to have it in writing so that you all can ask me about it and motivate me on the days that I might not want to work on this goal. I have decided to "run" in a 5K. A lot of my friends participated in a marathon on Saturday, plus on "The Biggest Loser" (one of my favorite shows these days) they ran a 5K. So I figured, why not me? I don't know when or where, but I'm determined to do it. I'll keep you posted with details later.