Accomplishments

Each day I look at my children and am so grateful to be their mom! (ok, there are SOME times during the day when they drive me crazy- but I am ALWAYS grateful for them!)
I am so proud of my kids and each of their accomplishments, so I thought I would brag a little!!

Kelsi
Kelsi has ALWAYS been a great student and takes her school work seriously, but this year she has branched out! Instead of all academic classes, Kelsi took Choir! I think she got brave enough for this from Paul, because she certainly didn't get it from me! They had a Christmas concert a couple of weeks ago, and Kelsi got a solo part!!!! She did AMAZING! She is growing into such a beautiful young lady and is so helpful to me! Everyone that is ever around her can feel how sweet and special she is. She is also getting quite a few babysitting jobs - and absolutley loves all the children she tends. She is such a special young lady and I hope she always knows how PROUD I am of her!!

Carson
Carson is such a busy little boy! He is doing so well in preschool and is learning his letters, the sounds they make and how to put them together to make words! He is getting really good and writing his own name, and is trying to write other words too! He LOVES when he gets the opportunity to play with friends and his imagination is getting even bigger! He is also helpful - when he wants to be - and is a cuddly little boy.
This past summer Carson learned to ride a two-wheeler without training wheels, and LOVES to ride his bike whenever he can! We are still working on him being nicer to his sisters, but I know he loves them and is so cute with Jaedyn when he is getting along with her. I am so grateful to have this little boy in my life! I love him so much!!

Jaedyn
Jaedyn is my little tornado! She is so curious and wants to get into EVERYTHING!! She is such a cute girl and has the CUTEST voice! When she says any word that ends in "er" it always comes out "ee" like: Finger becomes Fingee, or Sucker becomes Suckee. She is TOTALLY into taking baths and would spend all day in there if I let her! Her latest HUGE accomplishment is potty training! She is doing so well, and pretty much initiated the training herself (after the first week of my trying and giving up - she THEN decided she wanted to do it). We bribed her with going swimming which worked really well and she has been in big girl underwear for 3+ weeks!! It is nice to not have to deal with diapers any more! She is also getting very independant at dressing/undressing herself (sometimes a little TOO well, and we have a streaker in the house!) and putting her own shoes and socks on. Jaedyn brings happiness into our house, she is always flitting around and she truly is our princess! I am so grateful that God blessed Paul and I with this little girl - she truly is a blessing and a miracle!

These 3 angels are MY biggest accomplishment!!

It's tradition!

Every year for the past few years I have tried to buy my family a new shirt/new outfit for Thanksgiving so that we can all get dressed up. Then I figured since we were all dressed up, why not get our pictures taken? So that has pretty much been the one time of year we actually get our pictures taken together as a family. This year was no exception, we all put on our best duds and dressed up for the annual family photo! The kids weren't too excited about it, but all the adults were because every one of my siblings decided they wanted to get their family photos done too! It was nice to get pictures of everyone! Thanks to my dad for being the photographer!  Here's the best of what we ended up with....

Evans Family 2010 Angie, Kelsi, Jaedyn, Paul & Carson

 Swanson Family 2010 Ashlie, Gracie, Olivia & Ryan

Swanson Family 2010 Morgan, Dustin, Natalie & Tanner

Todd Family 2010 Tavin, Ashley, Baby Todd, Daxton & Mike

(Daxton WOULD NOT look at the camera, this is the best we got!)

I so love my family and am grateful to live close to my siblings! It is fun to get together and enjoy each others company.

Fall Fun

I went out to rake the leaves, and the kids wanted to jump in them!

M I C K E Y M O U S E 2010

The last week in October we were able to go with my parents and Ryan & Ashlie to Orlando to spend the week in their time share! It was a whirlwind of a trip, especially without the help of Paul, but it was fun and the kids got to see Mickey!! We flew out Monday afternoon and the kids did really well on the plane. We landed in Denver for a layover and stopped to get some lunch. Carson and Gracie decided to be social butterflies in the airport and were asking everyone they saw what their name was. After we arrived in Orlando the Car rental fiasco began! We reserved 2 cars - and it only took 1hr 30 minutes to get it figured out! Crazy! The kids were so jacked up, and I think they were driving Grandma Honey crazy! We finally made it to the timeshare at 1:30am - at which time my Dad, Ryan and Kelsi went to Walmart. I don't think I got to bed until about 3:00am, and after falling asleep for about an hour - the fire detector decided that it's batteries were dead and so it started beeping in a high pitched beep about every minute or so. I got up and literally yanked the stupid thing off the ceiling! Little did I know that this night would be a good indication of how much sleep I would be getting the rest of the week! Tuesday we didn't get up until late (duh, we didn't get to bed until 3:00!)  My Dad, Kelsi and Ryan made another trip to the Walmart - and Ashley and I took the kids swimming. Tuesday night we went to the Arabian Nights dinner show. It was cool to see all the horses and the food wasn't too bad either. After the show the kids got to go up and pet the horses. It was a fun night.

Wednesday we decided to visit the Magic Kingdom - it was SOOOO hot and humid in Florida that we were worn out pretty quickly, but we kept on pushing! We stayed in the park until 9:00pm, so that we could see the electrical parade. Gracie and Olivia finally fell asleep, but my kids were like energizer bunnies and just kept going. We got to enjoy a lot of the rides and see a few characters (although we didn't wait in the long lines to get up close to them).

The girls decided to dress up as Princesses to go see the Princesses!

 There was a really cute worker at Cosmic Rays that was painting mickey mouse ears with window cleaner so the kids could get their pictures taken!

Apparently he isn't destined to be the next King! 

 This is what happens when you mix a two year old and a chocolate covered Mickey Mouse Ice Cream bar!

There is a tradition of eating lunch at Cosmic Ray's when our family visits the Magic Kingdom!

Tuckered out!

Thursday the group split up - Ryan & Ashlie went to SeaWorld, while Mom & Dad and us went to the Disney Hollywood Studios. This park is more of things to look at, rather than rides - but due to a series of fortunate events my Mom, Dad & Kelsi got to go on the AeroSmith roller coaster without even having to wait! We were actually able to get some pictures with the characters here, and this is where we saw HIM - the MOUSE himself! We had to wait in line for about an hour - but the kids were excited to see him! There was a fun ride here that was like you were in the movies and we got to see the "back lot" tour as well. The highlight of this was that we got to see Lightning McQueen & Mater - but once again we didn't wait in the looooong line to see them! It was a HOT and HUMID day again, so we did get exhausted - but we had to stay up because this was the night we were going to Mickey's Not So Scarey Halloween Party! This was the highlight of the trip for me! Kelsi, Carson & Jaedyn got dressed in their Halloween costumes and we were able to trick-or-treat throughout the entire Magic Kingdom. It wasn't very crowded so we got to ride any ride we wanted without any wait. It was fun of my mom to come with us! We also got to enjoy a show by the "Villians". The kids got a ton of candy and because it was dark the weather had cooled down A LITTLE bit. If you have the chance to be at the Magic Kingdom over Halloween I would definately recommend doing this activity!

Friday was our day to "rest" - we spent most of the day at Downtown Disney shopping and my dad treated us to lunch at The House of Blues. Friday had actually cooled off a bit, so that was really nice! After we got back to the room I took the kids swimming and had a fun time with them! We tried to get to bed early because we had a 7:50am flight the next day. Saturday morning I woke up at 4:00am so that I could finish getting packed and get ready to leave. We were running a little bit late, so we had to race through the airport - you know the show Home Alone? That's what it felt like! We got on the plane in the nick of time, however there was a bit of a challenge trying to find some seats together (some guy would rather have spent a 5 hour flight alone with 2 kids than give up his window seat!) Luckily there are still nice people in this world and there were two guys that offered to switch seats so that I could sit by Carson & Jaedyn. The kids did really well, and actually fell asleep on the plane.

Trying on hats!

Cool Harleys!

Lego Store!

 Carson & Gracie held hands the whole time at Downtown Disney! It was cute!

Searching for pennies!

When we came home to Utah - we were greeted by Paul at the gate!! We arrived home on October 30th (the unofficial Halloween) and therefore had to hurry home so that we could celebrate! It was fun trip and I am so grateful that my parents were so generous in letting us spend the week with them in the timeshare!

WE LOVE YOU GRANDMA & GRANDPA!!

The ONLY picture we got on Halloween!



30 day blog journal - Day 30

Day 30 of the Blog journal - Last entry!
Day 30 is my dreams for the future.....I have several immediate dreams like that our businesses will grow and get big enough to support our family comfortably, that we can get out of debt, that I can be a good Mom and Wife. Ulitmately my long term goals are to raise happy, good children - grow and maintain my relationship with my husband - be more involved and loving to all my friends and family - develop and grow in my relationship with my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and do some good in the world!

I hope you have enjoyed this 30 day journey as much as I have. It has been fun to journal some of my thoughts, experiences, likes/dislikes, and see where I am at in my life! Thanks for reading!

30 day blog journal - Day 29

Day 29 -
Hopes and dreams for the next 365 days. I have to admit that 2010 has been a really rough year for me and my family, and a lot of it has been caused by my own stupidity. I have hopes and dreams for 2011 that I will be able to fix some of the things I have done wrong, pay more attention to my husband, prioritize my life and relationships with others, get my life in order, take better care of myself and my family, get out of debt and just be *happy*.

30 day blog journal - Day 28

Day 28 -
What is in my handbag/purse:
Wallet, Keys, glasses, asprin, nail file, phone, chapstick, notebook, pen, business cards, gum, reciepts, headphones, comb, lotion, tweezers, nail clippers, and whatever else my kids think I need to carry for them!

30 day blog journal - Day 27

Day 27 - My worst habit...
Wow - talking about really opening yourself up! I would have to say my worst habit is being really hard on myself and not taking compliments. I feel so uncomfortable with who I am, that I cannot see the good things in myself, and when someone tries to point them out I immediately negate them by saying something negative. This is a REALLY hard thing for me to accept, and to break - but I am trying to work on it. I am trying to see that good things in myself and trying to accept compliments graciously.

30 day blog journal - Day 26

Day 26 ~ My week in great detail...
Once again life as a Mom keeps me busy - In addition to all the responsbilities I have on a daily basis some of my "weekly" activties would include going to church, doing Relief Society visits, taking Carson to preschool, trying to find time for a date with my husband, trying to call my Mom at least once a week, talking Kelsi in to going to Young Womens, etc. My life is busy, but pretty average - I am trying to find my "routine", trying to do all the things I think/need/want to do, and trying to make time for those I love. I haven't been sucessful at accomplishing everything yet, but I am going to keep working on it!

30 day blog journal - Day 25

Day 25 ~ My day in great detail....
The life of a Mom is busy! I don't want to bore you with all the details, but on any given day I am taking care of children, household duties, yardwork, being a crossing guard, doing laundry, trying to get 2 business started, fulfilling responsbilities in my calling as Relief Society Secretary, trying to make everyone happy, making meals, grocery shopping, running errands, doing carpool, changing diapers (and wishing Jaedyn was potty trained), etc. etc. I'm sure you all know the routine!!

30 day blog journal - Day 24

Day 24 - Where I live. I live in West Jordan Utah - which is a WONDERFUL place to live. We live really close to lots of shopping, resturaunts, activities, parks and family! West Jordan is a very clean place to live and feels really safe to me. I absolutley love our neighborhood and all our neighbors. We have lived in West Jordan for the past 5 years and 3 of it in our current house.

30 day blog journal - Day 23

I have been on vacation and haven't kept up with my 30 days - but I am back at it!
Day 23 is a YouTube video - I don't watch many videos on YouTube, but my friend Tracey told me about this video called The Bedroom intruder. Look it up if you want a good laugh.

30 day blog journal - Day 22

Day 22  is a website....
I am such a sucker for cookbooks, and now with the internet I LOVE cooking blogs/websites. I found this website one day and am ADDICTED to it. It is http://www.bakerella.com/  She is so creative with her baking and usually has a new post/recipe every Monday. Hope you enjoy it too!!

30 day blog journal - Day 21

Day 21 is a recipe! The recipe I am going to share is from my friend Wendy Paul, who got the recipe from her friend Maryann Byg (who also happens to be the cousin to my Highschool best friend!) It is called "Sally Lynn Georgia Bread" and it is SOO good. It tastes A LOT like cornbread, but there isn't any cornmeal in it! It is delicious with a bowl of soup or chili! Yummy comfort food!
Enjoy:
¼ c butter – softened
¼ c sugar
1 egg
¼ tsp salt
1 c. flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
½ c milk

Cream butter and sugar – beat until fluffy. Beat in egg. Sift together dry ingredients. Fold into wet mixture by thirds – alternating with milk and ending with flour. Bake in a greased loaf pan for 25-30 minutes at 375°

30 day blog journal - Day 20

Day 20 - A Hobby of mine! Well, with 3 kids, a husband and a household to run I don't get much time to hobbies......I can tell you the things I WISH I were doing: Baking, Sewing, Reading, Exercising, Gardening, Canning and making scrapbooks for my kids.

30 day blog journal - Day 19

Day 19 - A talent of mine
This is also a toughie - I don't feel like I have many talents - I know that I enjoy baking - and would hope that is one of my talents. I know there are talents that aren't "tangible" and I would say I probably have some of these - I would HOPE that some of my talents are kindness, compassion, serving others and being a hardworker. I guess it's hard to see some of these things in yourself!

30 day blog journal - Day 18

Day 18 is my wedding!
My wedding was on March 3, 2006 and was a BEAUTIFUL day. It was a small and quiet ceremony with our immediate family. The ceremony was held at the Lion House and then we had a really nice luncheon afterwards. We also had a reception to celebrate with the rest of our friends and family on May 18th - it was held at the Pavillion in the Sandy Park. We had yummy food, dancing and lots of love and support from all of those that are so close to us. I am also looking forward to another "wedding" of sorts - I am waiting for the day that Paul, I and the kids can be sealed together in the Temple. I know that will be a special day when we are sealed for all time and eternity. I look forward to kneeling across the alter from Paul and making covenants with him to be together forever.

30 day blog journal - Day 17

An artpiece (drawing, sculpture, painting, etc):
I am not sure if this is referring to something I have done, or something that I really like.
Well - I am NOT artistic and have NEVER created an artpiece - so I guess I will have to go with something I really like. I LOVE a picture that was painted by my INCREDIBLY talented neighbor - Sarah Merkley (Morrow). It is her interpretation of the Tree of Life - It is titled "Heed them Not". It is an amazing piece of artwork. I must say I am COMPLETELY jealous of ALL of her talents! Thank you Sarah for sharing your gifts and talents with me!

Check out a picture of the artwork on Sarah's website:

http://www.heedthemnot.com/Site/Heed.html


Here is some information from Sarah about her painting:
Artist Commentary

“The woman siting amidst the roots of the tree represents Zion as a whole. We are all familiar with her position. We sit within the security of a tree we know to be real, holding its fruit in our hand, and yet we can still be distracted by the world’s allurement and mystique. This piece describes the personal inner battle we all face in the latter days.”

Heed Them Not was featured in the 7th International Art Competition of the Museum of Church History and Art in Salt Lake City, Utah from March 24th through September 4th, 2006.

30 day blog journal - Day 16

Day 16 - A song that always makes me cry.....
The song that gets me EVERY time I sing it - chills - tears - a great sense of peace and love:
"How Firm a Foundation"
How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,

Is laid for your faith in His excellent word!
What more can He say than to you He hath said—
To you who for refuge to Jesus have fled?

“Fear not, I am with thee, oh, be not dismayed,
For I am thy God, and will still give thee aid;
I’ll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,
Upheld by My gracious, omnipotent hand.

“When through the deep waters I call thee to go,
The rivers of sorrow shall not overflow;
For I will be with thee thy trouble to bless,
And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.

“When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,
My grace, all-sufficient, shall be thy supply;
The flame shall not harm thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.

“The soul that on Jesus doth lean for repose,
I will not, I will not, desert to his foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I’ll never, no never, no never forsake.”

30 day blog journal - Day 15

Ok, Ok, so I got behind again! Well I am back at it! Day 15 - My *Dream* House! I must admit that I actually really love the house we live in now. There are a few things that would make it better, you know like self cleaning toilets & floors and if my house would repel all spiders and mice, but  alas that's not going to happen! I guess if I were to change anything about my house it would be to have a rambler style house. I would also love to have enough extra bedrooms to have an "Angie Craft/Exercise" room (which I thought I WAS going to get - but the Engraving business has taken over the extra room), and I would also like a guest bedroom. I LOVE our neighboorhood & neighbors, I LOVE how close we are to shopping stores, etc. and I  LOVE that the yard is all put in, with mature trees, bushes and plants. I am sure that I will ALWAYS have things I want done to my house also, like new carpet, hardwood flooring, paint, etc - but these are all things we can do with a little extra time & money (yeah, right!)! I think we will probably be in our house for quite sometime - so I am so glad that I LOVE where we are!!