Friday, December 11, 2009

I hope they call me on a mission. . .and a new baby

We had a way exciting week in my family. Last Friday my little brother received a mission call to the Brasilia Brazil mission. We are very excited for you Mitchell (or 'biggest one' as Luke calls him) and know you will be a great missionary and a great example to Luke.

You will however, have to leave the girls alone for awhile.
Then, my little sister had her baby on Tuesday. We are so excited for her and her husband. They will be great parents.

Christmas Shopping

If you need anything to finish up your Christmas shopping, check out the catalog at www.discoverytoyslink.com/julievans. Tomorrow I will be putting in my last order before Christmas, let me know if you need anything.

Monday, November 2, 2009

Party

It's a Discovery Toys Party!
See what everyone is talking about!
Join Us. . .
for a fun-filled party where you can play and learn with our award-winning toys & games to enjoy with the children in your life. Discover ways to make learning a long-loving experience!

To fit everyone's busy schedule I will be holding an open house on two different days.
Stop by:
Thursday, November 5, 2009 from 4:00-8:00
or
Friday, November 6, 2009 from 1:00-4:00
AT MY HOUSE
Mark your calendar and bring a friend to see what everyone is talking about! You won't want to miss the opportunity to :

Start your Christmas Shopping!
Earn FREE Toys- Book a Fun Party!
www.discoverytoyslink.com/julievans

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Discovery Toys

Yesterday I received a Walmart add in red and green. I guess that means Christmas will be here before you know it. I have not even started buying, but I have started looking. This year I have been looking for something different, something that you don't see in every toy store. I started looking at the discovery toys site and found that I loved their products so I have decided to become a consultant. I will be having an open house in a few weeks (now that harvest is almost over), but for now check out my website http://www.discoverytoyslink.com/julievans . Maybe you are like me and just want something different or want to encourage learning and discovery in the gifts you give. I'll let you know when I have the openhouse, but for now happy shopping.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Our summer in five pictures or less

Rather than try to play catch up with all of the things we have done this summer, I thought I would pick five pictures that I like and tell those stories.
Abby learned to pull herself up to standing. I can't believe it. She is only eight months old and doesn't seem big enough for that yet. You can kind of see her cute bedding. I'll have to take a picture later.
Luke got his 'big boy bed'. I was going to make him a quilt to go on it, but when we picked out the fabric it was more to make just the quilt than this whole bed set. Why is fabric so expensive?
On this day he put himself down for a nap after lunch. He does that a lot. Anyway when I went in to check on him he was holding Lightening McQueen, Mickey Mouse and Pongo. What did kids do for toys before Disney? He also put his sippie on the post at the end. He is getting to be so big.


Our friends gave us this slide.


And we got Luke this pool. He loves to go swimming and now that it is getting cooler he is sad that I won't let him go.


Abby has learned to crawl. In this picture she is not actually crawling, but I like that it shows how excited Luke is to have her to play with and how excited she is to finally be able to chase after him. She will chase him from room to room. It has made her so much more content. She doesn't think she has to be held all the time.




Thursday, July 16, 2009

Make Sure

Everyone make sure to check Wendy's blog since she finally put it on there.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

A long time

I know that I never post. I love to read other people's blogs, but my computer/Internet is so slow that checking my email is all I have patience for most days. These pictures are like 2 months old, but they are the most recent ones I have uploaded onto my computer--I guess they are better than nothing.
We finally broke down and took the side off of the crib. We just weren't ready for Luke to be able to get up in the middle of the night. Some days it has been a real challenge, but we aren't the only ones that are miserable. Luke was heart broken when he realized we weren't putting the rail back on.

Sorry this picture is side ways. He did finally calm down that night when I laid down by him. In the next week or two we are going to try to transition to a real bed because Abby is out growing the bassinet and needs the crib. Luke has a really hard time with change. Wish us luck.
These are the most recent pictures I have of Abby. These were at Grandma's house with her cousin Landon. He is 3 1/2 months older than her and can get around much better.


Poor Abby is stuck just watching.


Other than this we are just here. Our garden looks 50 times better than last year. But that doesn't take much. Luke likes to play outside in his little pool. Again no pictures.We have gone swimming and to the zoo this summer. I haven't put those pictures up yet either. Just wanted everyone to know we are still here and having fun.




Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Special warning from the FDA and AAoP

In an effort to reduce childhood obesity, the FDA and the American Academy of Pediatrics have recommended that all babies be introduced to the grossest food possible first. Eating will be so disagreeable that they will hate food forever and avoid obesity and eating disorders. It works. Abby was not very impressed with Baby Rice Cereal.
She loves drinking out of a cup though.
Luke is my biggest helper. Whenever I ask him what Abby wants he says a drink. Maybe he can understand her better than I can.
She may have thought the rice cereal was bad but. . .

It was nothing compared to the mushy, unflavored vegetables.

( You can't tell in these pictures. But her little bib says "BYU-Idaho Baby" the alumni assoc. sent it when she was born. I think it is so cute.)

As for me, I'll have a piece of cheesecake please.





Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Snakes and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails

Shelley said I needed to update my blog more, but I don't have a lot to say so this is kind of random. Having a little boy is a whole new world for me. Growing up I had lots of sisters. We liked Barbies, dolls, and dress up. We didn't play ball. We didn't play in the dirt. We didn't get the most excitement in our life from scaring people. Luke is so fun to have around, but he is definitely forcing me to do things that I don't normally do. We play hide and seek on a daily basis. We play cars and build towers, just to knock them down (I don't understand this, but Doug does it too so it must be a guy thing). He is way better than me at catching, throwing, and hitting the ball--any ball. But he also makes me realize how blessed I am. In this picture he was sharing his car with Abby. He kept setting it on her tummy. For him this is a really big deal. He has a problem with sharing and he loves red race cars (because they look like Lightening McQueen). So giving it to her was so hard for him. He loves Abby. It was so cute.

I included these next pictures that I took to show how precious Abby is too.





The other day Luke wanted to help me do dishes but the water kept running down his sleeve so we just gave up and took his shirt off.



I realized that he just liked the bubbles so I let him have a bubble bath and he loved that even more.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

We had a wonderful Easter. Don't they look precious in their Easter clothes?
Luke was very concerned when he was up and dressed and Abby was still in bed.He kept getting her church shoes and laying them on top of her. That is what he is holding in this picture.
Best dressed cowboy around. . .but you still can't make me smile for the camera.
Hope everyone's Easter was great.


Monday, April 6, 2009

More Birthday

I stole these pictures off of Mary Lynn's blog of Luke's birthday because her Megan shares a birthday with Luke.
Megan got a fishing pole from Grandma and Grandpa. Luke thought it was the very coolest thing ever. Look at his little face. Megan was nice and let him play with it.


Even when he would go under the water, he loved the slide.

I just had to add this picture of Daddy 'babysitting'.

Happy Birthday

I can't believe it. Luke turned two. Everyone says that it goes so fast and even though you know it does, it is hard to just hold on to each moment.
Luke is all boy. He loved this Little People Garage because it has a ramp for all of his cars to slide down. We were all done birthday shopping for him and then Daddy came home with this giant tractor for him the day before his birthday. He loves to spoil him.
On Luke's birthday we went swimming and then had waffle's (Luke's favorite) at Grandma's house. I forgot my camera so I don't have pictures, but Luke loved the slide and wanted to jump off of the diving board when Daddy did.


The day after Luke's birthday his Grandma and Grandpa came to visit. He really didn't care that they came as long as they brought his "fun" Uncles and Aunts. Mitchell, Chad (the all time favorite), Melanie and Shelley don't have their own kids so Luke loves all of the attention that they give him.

He loves the slide that they bought for him, but he uses it more as a ramp to send his cars down, than as a slide.
He is the fastest person I've ever seen at blowing out his candles. Maybe that is because I always tell him to blow on his food to cool it off before he takes a bite. I am sure that is not proper manners.
Since he got the movie cars for Christmas, he has been in love with all things Cars. You walk through Walmart and they have Lightening McQueen everything and he wants it all. I am not much of a cake decorator so instead we bought toy cars and made Radiator Springs--complete with the Cozy Cone Motel and Luigi's Casa De La Tires. The tractor in the back left corner is "tipped."

Abby enjoyed the party too. Side note. We have now had this balloon for almost two weeks and the helium in it is going strong. It is still floating on the ceiling. Isn't that crazy? or have I just always had cheap balloons that lose their air fast?






Monday, March 23, 2009

My inspiration

I love to read Suzanne's blog. It is the most entertaining of any blog I have read, but I always feel guilty when I read all of the cute things that she does. When I taught school I celebrated all of the small holidays, but with my own kids a never feel like going to all of that effort. I already missed Johnny Appleseed Day and Dr. Seuss Day so I decided to start with an easy one. St. Patty's Day. The best thing about all of the stuff Suzanne does is that she keeps it simple and doesn't go to a big expense. I decided she would be my inspiration.


For supper we had green dishes and of course John Deere hats.
Abby looks so Irish.

Green waffles and orange juice for breakfast.


My adorable Leprechaun.



Doug was even a good sport.




You should see the deer

We were headed in to town to pick up Luke from my in-laws a couple of weeks ago. It was about 9:00 at night. There was lots of traffic headed the opposite direction. In between to oncoming cars we saw something running. We thought at first that it might be a dog. And all of the sudden there was a giant deer in our head lights. It was too late to swerve and there was no where to swerve anyway.




Yah that is all that happened to us. We were all just fine. Just a loud thud.
The deer was not so lucky. Everyone at church wanted to know why we didn't take it home to eat. Yes we live in Idaho. The deer is still sitting by the side of the road.




Thursday, March 5, 2009

Pictures

Kayla took our pictures the other day. She has put a few on her blog. Check them out. Especially the ones of Luke. I can't get over them. She did a great job. It was so cute. She could get him to do anything in the pictures (except hold Abby) if she would give him an M & M after the picture. I can't wait to see more.

Thursday, February 26, 2009

The beach

While we were in California, we decided to visit Doug's sister, Annie. She lives on a military base about 3 hours from Anaheim. We hit traffic through L.A. and had been driving 3 1/2 hours when I remembered I had taken my wallet (with my license) out of my purse and left it in our other hotel. We went on anyway and through luck or prayer I was able to get on anyway. I was so glad to get to see them and they were great to put up with us.

We went to see the ocean, but it was cold and so windy. In just the few minutes we were there, we were covered in sand.






The Happiest Place On Earth

Yes I know that Wendy (or was it Mary) used that same title, but I can't think of a better title for this entry. In the fall my dad started saying he wanted to take us all to Disneyland. Not everyone thought they could make it and my mom was ready to give up on the whole thing, but Mary's husband Sam told Mary "it's your family, it will never really happen." If you know my mom you know that she can't back down from a challenge. She went ahead with the plans and we all ended up going. 22 of us!! I have a ton of pictures, but here are some favorites.


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


The weather was good, but still a little chilly. Abby spent the whole week wrapped up. Most of the pictures you can't even see her in. I told Doug that when she gets older, she won't even think she got to go. She will think we just carried a pink blanket around. This picture is proof that she was really there.


Dumbo is my dad's favorite ride. He said he would be happy to just take the grandkids around on that one all day.

Abby is under the pink blanket, once again she won't believe she was really there.

Mitchell was feeling bad because he had to miss some dance that he had been asked to at home. This is probably better than that.

The last thing we did at Disneyland was go to the Pixar Parade. You'll never guess who was leading the parade--Lightening McQueen. Seeing Luke's face when the car came around the corner was the highlight of the whole trip for us. I wish I had been on the other side of him to get a better picture of his face.



This is how we all felt by the end of each day.


Thanks Sam for challenging my mom, thanks Mary for telling her about it, thanks dad for coming up with the idea and taking us. Thank you mom for planning it and putting up with all the Kiboshers (is that how you spell it??).