How do I top that?

The past couple of months have been filled with lots of FUN birthdays! My sisters go WAY overboard and create such a fun birthday for their kids - I am not sure how I am going to compete. Jaedyn's birthday is just a few weeks away and I need to think of something good....Here are a few highlights from the past few birthdays:
Gracie turns 4 and celebrates with a Pizza/DJ Room/SpongeBob/Classic Roller skating party!

Then Tavin celebrated his 4th birthday with a Pirate Themed Party - Ashley really got into the whole theme and everything was SOOO cute!!

And finally just a week ago Olivia celebrated her 3rd birthday with Tinkerbell (Jaedyn was SO Excited). Tinkerbell was as cute as can be and I think the kids really liked her (well, except maybe Tavin).

What fun! I'm so glad I get to celebrate these fun things with my nieces, nephews and kids! It is so fun to see them grow-up and I am glad that they all have each other - I hope they stay close and are good friends when they grow up!

No good deed goes un-punished

Last July Paul and I took the kids to the Pre-parade float exhibit for the 24th of July - and at the exhibit there was a table set up for the Census. They had flyers advertising the fact that they need people to work for the census. Well, being the patriotic girl that I am, I took one of their flyers and thought that it might be fun to be part of history and also earn a little extra cash and apply to work. I thought for sure I would get one of the part-time jobs where you go door-to-door and get people to fill out their census. Easy enough, right? Walk around, get some exercise, be outside, work a few hours a day....well, boy was I wrong! I guess because I got a 100 on the test (by a mere fluke - might I add) they wanted me to work in the office. Which was o.k. due to the unfortunate events of child support recalculations that now require us to bring in an extra $500.00 a month - anyways, this job is FULL TIME - plus OVER TIME, working in an office making phone calls to hire other people to do the job I orginally thought I was going to have. This has caused some strain on our family - the kids having to go to the babysitter, Kelsi being the surrogate mother, and the fact that I am so busy that I haven't had time to grocery shop, clean, do laundry or any yard work. This is a temporary job  - but it so - NOT what I had in mind.

We got to go outside!

There was a small window of very nice weather yesterday morning - the kids love being outside and have missed it so much this winter. Carson got the chairs out and he and Jaedyn sat outside and sun-bathed themselves while I finally cleaned my car out. Of course, only two hours later it was snowing, but hey it was nice while it lasted!!

Terrible Twos....already?!?!?!

Jaedyn climbing on the counter

Jaedyn has now entered her terrible twos!! Yes...I know it's still 2 months away from her 2nd birthday, but she has the attitude, energy, curiosity, and trouble-making skills of a full-fledge two year old! We recently purchased a small "card table" for the little kids, and Jaedyn has a new found freedom - Did you know you can easily move those small chairs ANYWHERE you want and climb on them?  Then you can climb on to something higher - this allows you to get in to things you had previously only been able to admire from a distance. Things like ....drawers (that hold MARKERS!) and ....cupboards that hold FOOD, and ....plants that have DIRT in them - which is SOOO fun to play with - especially when you drop it down the heater vent! That's right - Jaedyn has a new found freedom that is allowing for A LOT of messes at the Evan's household. There isn't a surface that Jaedyn hasn't tried to color on, a pile of papers that she hasn't strewn across the room, the recycle bin which contains the funnest of all things to play with, and she has also learned that if you pull open Mom and Dad's dresser drawers you can stand on them to get to whatever is on top of the dresser (Needless to say, Mom  has had to fix the drawer from coming off the track). Jaedyn is also talking really well, which is Oh sooo very cute, until the words out of her mouth are "NO" or when you ask her to do something and she says "No, I'm fine!". She is also good at saying "Mine", "Want That", "Jadybug's", "Carson Did It", "Carson be mean", "Mommy's Bed" (as opposed to sleeping her in own bed). She is such a sweetheart and gives the best kisses and hugs - she is so good natured at playing by herself, she also thinks she's as big as Carson and can do everything he does, she LOVES to read books, sing, get Carson laughing, make funny faces, "Shortcake" (Strawberry Shortcake) and to take baths.  She is such a busy girl, which gave us a small problem last week when I was trying to get her and Carson to settle down while visiting one of my Visiting Teaching sisters. Carson and her were so wound up that I grabbed her by the arm and was trying to get her to leave. While I was holding her arm she was wiggling around - well pretty soon she was crying, which I thought was just because she didn't want to leave. An hour or so after we were done visiting she wouldn't move her arm, she was still teary and kept saying her arm hurt. Paul convinced me that we needed to take her to the doctors - which I am glad we did because, sure enough, I had pulled her elbow out of socket - otherwise known as "Nurse Maid elbow". The doctor popped it back into place and she was fine afterwards, but it was still something to make a mother feel bad about. We are truly blessed to have Jaedyn in our family - but she sure does keep us runnin!! Love you Jadybug!

Somebody left the waffle-iron out on the table, so Jaedyn decided to make her own "creation"

I'm just sayin......

Our own little "Road Warrior"!  

I know, I'm a Mean Mom!!

Yuma trip 2009

We left for sunny Yuma Arizona the day after Christmas again this year. Let me tell you, I wasn't looking forward to a 10 hour drive with the little kids, but we made it! I packed a ton of treats, games, and movies to keep them entertained. Despite all the things I had done to prepare us for the drive, I knew we wouldn't be able to drive straight through - so I booked us a hotel room in Las Vegas. The name of the hotel was "Wild Wild West" - and the only reason I tell you this, is so that you will not make the same mistake I did and book your stay there! It was a dive!! After getting the car unloaded we decided to head over to the strip to check it out. Neither Paul nor I had been to Vegas in several years - and boy has it changed!! We ended up down on the end of the strip with the Luxor and Excaliber - but what I really wanted was to see Ceaser's Palace, the Mirage and Treasure Island - -  well...it is QUITE a walk from the end of the strip we were on to the end of the strip I wanted to be on ...so the kids got tired and we ended up having our big exciting Vegas meal at the McDonalds on the strip. I guess that's what you gotta do when you have little kids. Carson even left his "mark" on the parking lot of the strip (which I can explain in person if you really want to know!).

The next day we headed the rest of the way down to Yuma and arrived just in time for Grandma Mary's yuuuummmy Roast & Potatoes! It was so nice of her to fix us dinner and was a welcome change from the McDonalds we'd had the two previous meals. Bob and Carol (Fred & Mary's friends) also were in Yuma at the same time so we got to spend time with them as well.  Our hotel in Yuma was MUCH nicer than the one in Vegas and even nicer than the hotel we stayed in last year in Yuma. We proceeded to spend the next few days spending our money in Algadones and at the Yuma Swapmeet. We got to eat Nachos in the beer garden, barter for jewlery and all kinds of stuff we don't need, get loaded up on mexacillians and eat dinner at a fun mexican resturaunt. We did  have some excitment on Wednesday while in Mexico - there was a 5.8 earthquake - which was really scarey! Mary, Paul, Jaedyn and I were in a small shop looking at bowls and I heard a loud rumble. At first I thought it was a large truck, or the hummer carrying the armed Mexican guards, but as I looked at the face of the shop owner I could tell something bad was happening. Then I felt the ground shake. Paul was hurrying us out into the street and pretty soon Kelsi and Carson came out of the shop they were in. The quake lasted for quite awhile and it took me the rest of the afternoon to get my nerves calmed down and to stop my legs from shaking (although those that drink were able to calm their nerves a little easier in the beer garden). After shopping and spending all our money we did some sight-seeing. We visited a small lake in Yuma, visited an old junky car museum, got a date shake, ate at Lutes, the kids swam in the hotel's hot tub (the pool was not heated and too cold) and had a scare at dinner one night when Jaedyn fell from the highchair onto the cement floor - on her head! We  had a busy time in Yuma and really enjoyed the nice WARM weather. It is so nice of Mary and Fred to have us and are so gracious and really spoiled us! We also got to enjoy our New Year's Eve in Yuma again and as is becoming a tradition, we barbequed steaks - celebrated our New Year's early and turned in for the night so that we could get up and start driving home the next day. We did get the chance to stop in Boulder to see my Grandma and Grandpa Lundeen. We drove over the Hoover Dam and stayed at the Hacienda - which was really fun. My Grandpa took Paul on a hike to search for rocks (to start polishing in his new rock polisher) while I got to visit with my Grandma for a few hours. This trip was a little crazy with the kids, and I hope as they get older it will become easier, but I am sure that we are giving them some great memories that they will cherish when they get older.

Beer Garden = Nachos & Margaritas!

Jaedyn was fascinated by these "puppies"

Grandma Mary & Carson in Mexico

Grandpa resting with the little ones! It's hard work walking around Mexico!

YUM - Nachos!!

Carson kept saying "I'm the Guacamole Kid"

In front of Lutes

Some of the pretty scenery in Yuma.

These girls just loved Jaedyn - I think it was the blond hair and pale skin!

Carson knew he shouldn't look at this picture, but he was kinda fascinated with it. He was embarassed until we all started laughing.

Hot tubbin'

Happy New Year 2010!!!

Great Grandpa Lundeen!

Christmas 2009

This Christmas was as busy as ever. We are still (even after 5 1/2 years together) trying to figure out what our traditions are. Once again, this Christmas came and went and I felt like I didn't get to do everything I wanted to do or the way I wanted to do it. I wasn't really in the Christmas mood this year, and even despite my efforts to serve others and try to have the spirit of Christ in Christmas - I don't feel like I achieved that. The kids did enjoy some of the activities we did, and Carson really "got it" this year - getting excited about Santa Claus, the tree, the Little People Nativity I bought (even though he and Jaedyn were constantly fighting over the Baby Jesus), the lights, the goodies and the general excitement in the air. I hope that in the coming years I can try to bring my kids the happy memories of Christmas, that I had when I was a kid.
Some of the activities we did this year were to attend our Ward Christmas party (where Paul got to play a part as Richard Paul Evans), Festival of Trees, This is the Place Heritage Park, an Evans family party, and a Swanson family party. Paul and I went Christmas shopping and Paul got really excited buying a "retro" Christmas present for Carson - a Hot Wheels race track set - which Paul and Carson really enjoyed setting up Christmas morning. Paul also got the dreaded assembly task - putting together the "retro" kitchen set for Jaedyn. I am grateful for the opportunity I had to spend time with my family - I guess THAT is what Christmas is all about.

Carson putting a pound of frosting and sprinkles on the cookies!

New Christmas Jammies!

Cookies for Santa, Carrots for Rudolph

Reindeer "food" - Thanks to Aunt Natalie for this fun project!

Merry Christmas!

The excitement of a new toy!

Jaedyn started to understand what un-wrapping presents was all about!

Grandpa read the Grandkids 'Twas the Night Before Christmas - so cute!

A cute little bunch of monsters!