The Evans Express

Friday, April 25, 2014

Happy Birthday my dear boy!

Robby is gone tonight, the kids are asleep, so I need to get a post done.
How about Timothy's Birthday?
He is 5. How? I'll never know.
He loved his Birthday!

(because two is better than one... not because he is 10)

Funny story about his cake. When I finished decorating, I asked him what he thought. He looked at it, then said, "It needs three more M&M's." Hence the 3 red ones on top.

He enjoyed singing "Happy Birthday" to himself!

We Love you, Timothy! You are so smart and energetic. You love to talk and tell stories and "jokes" and make up silly words to songs. You are usually a great helper, and a good big brother! Thanks for being the best Timothy in my world! I Love You!

Spencer was there too! And he is cute!

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

My Cute baby

Because I need to, I'm simply going to share lots of pictures of my baby girl!

By the way, she is currently breaking 3 teeth (possibly working on 2 more than that) and sleeps terribly... mostly because her nose is so runny and stuffy... it is rough. But man, she is such a happy baby during the day! I love her.

Friday, March 14, 2014

Zoo Day

Hogle Zoo, in Salt Lake City, does free days the last Wednesday of every month during winter. February is the last "winter month" and it was a gorgeous day. So, we called up my sister in law, and headed to the zoo. We ended up parking 1/2 a mile up the street (or so it seemed) because there were so many cars.

The free price combined with the beautiful day made for a packed zoo. So, we decided that we would see what we saw and not worry about missing things (since we didn't pay).

We saw the elephants (they did tricks! very cool), and the rhinos. Then some monkeys. The boys went down the lighthouse slide. Then we saw the eagle, otters, seals, and giraffes. Went on the carousel, and met up with friends, then saw an orangutan. The end.

Here is photo documentation of some of our visit.

The Eagle's nest (it was very bright outside)

Giraffes

Carousel

Ape House (how do you measure up?)

At the carousel, we actually met up with our dear friends.

(They live in Bountiful, which is way too far away)

All our kiddos together.

Maiji and Timothy were ECSTATIC to see each other.

They actually held hands the rest of the time we were together. So Cute.
(Sadly my camera was fritzing and I couldn't get a picture of it, despite trying several times)

After the LONG walk back to our van, we went to City Creek for lunch. After eating, and while waiting for everyone to go potty, the boys found a fun table near the bathrooms to finish off their nuggets and fries.

It was a fun, almost free time. Thanks for coming Amanda.

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

love

I came across this picture today. I love it.

But more importantly I LOVE him.

Monday, February 3, 2014

Overwhelmed? A new place to start.

Going around facebook lately have been all these cute little quizzes... "what kind of Mormom are you", What Harry Potter Character are you most like", etc. I take them sometimes just for fun.
Today I took the "What kind of Parent are you?" quiz.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/mikespohr/what-type-of-parent-are-you?bffbdiy

I got the The Overwhelmed.
Desciption:

You never imagined parenting could be this hard before you had kids, and now talk about showers the way most people talk about vacations.

The sad thing is, it is true... but I feel like I do it to myself.
(Case in point: I took the quiz again, just to see, and purposefully chose different answers. I STILL got The Overwhelmed)

I think I try to do too much in a short amount of time, then get stressed and overwhelmed, and freak out on my kids. Then I feel guilty and so I go to the other extreme and do nothing (including play with my kids). Then I feel guilty for that and then try to do more and the cycle starts over.

It is a vicious cycle. BUT I think it boils down to me being selfish. Sad.
I know I there are SO MANY things I should be doing to make myself a better person, help my family be better, do my calling better, etc. But when I think about it, I get overwhelmed.
I have a hard time making decisions by myself (I like Robby to tell me what to decide or give his input). I need to take control of me and do it one small step at a time. But where to start?

My friend took it and got the "Effortlessy Cool". And she said, Ya, I'd have to agree. I really enjoy my time with my kids... and I'm very lazy."
Although I don't agree with her lazy part, she really is an example of a great mom and loves what she does. I wish I could say "I really enjoy my time with my kids" and mean it 100%. I do have moments that I love being with them, but not nearly enough... I more often want a chance to get away. That is terrible.
I chose to be a mom. I chose (and was blessed to be able) to be a stay at home mom. I need to appreciate that and take full advantage of it.

Well, now that that is out there... I suppose I need to take this and recognize it for what it is. My weakness. The scriptures say that Weak things can be made strong if we put out trust in the Lord.
Ether 12:27
27 And if men come unto me I will show unto them their^aweakness. I ^bgive unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my ^cgrace is sufficient for all men that ^dhumble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make ^eweak things become strong unto them.

I guess I found my starting point.