Yard Work

Happy Spring! It was so exciting when all the snow melted in our yard a few weeks ago. We did, however, find some surprises that were lurking underneath it all. We had a few piles of cement poured onto the yard, piles of scrap lumber, and just junk overall. It was driving me nuts to look outside at it all, and Derek told me to wait until the all the snow melted before we removed everything. I think these pictures were taken the Saturday following the 'big melt.'

Bryon came over with some dirt and helped get rid of all the junk. Here they are removing cement, and you can see on the very left is more cement, it was a little ridiculous how much there was.
Evelyn and I helped out by sitting on the back steps cheering Derek on.

Then she decided that she needed to ride on the tractor and she was so happy. She is such a farmers daughter.

I don't have any 'after' pictures, and yes, I know I could go take one right now. I'll just tell you that it looks great now, all clean and even. Next job, sprinklers...

A Whole Lot of Nothing

I kept thinking that I wanted to blog about something, but had nothing. Well, these are the nothings I could scrap up from my pictures on my camera.

The other night before bed Derek started reading to Evelyn. I walked in and my heart just melted! I ran and got the camera. This is not an uncommon sight, but for some reason I loved it more than usual.

Since our vacation Evelyn is very enthralled with our pictures and videos of the dolphins and swimming and cousins. Just about every day now we watch a different home video. Here are my two comrades, I'm sure they're watching the dolphins. This picture makes me laugh every time I look at it because Evelyns face looks so drained and serious.

This is what pasta and pudding will do to an eighteen month old. I started to wipe her up and then decided to take a picture. That's why her right hand is clean. My family loves when I'm pregnant, pregnancy equals pudding (and pie, and cookies, and everything else yummy and sweet).

Our basement is unfinished and the bathroom area has these stumps that Evelyn has rightfully declared hers. Whenever we go down there to do something she has to sit down for a minute and enjoy the scenery.

Who Had Fun?

Okay, so on our vacation I had some serious flash backs of when I was little and my family would go somewhere new and exciting. Evelyn was so hyper! It was unbelievable and hysterical. Derek and I had so much fun just watching her. It was fun to know that she knew we were doing something fun. This post is all about how hyper she was all week. Which, by the way, she didn't nap practically at all while we were there.

This is her right before we went to go swimming the night that we arrived.


Here is Evelyn with her cousins at Knotts Berry Farm.

Swimming at Kurtis and Jolenes hotels' pool.

At Huntington Beach.

See what I mean? We had so much fun. I definitely recommend traveling with kids, it was much more fun to have her with us.

Who Had Fun? Part 2

Here are a few pictures of us, that aren't so hyper. Evelyn was fantastic on the plane. She loved being at the airport and seeing all the airplanes. She also loved to take the tray down from the seat in front of her and slam it back up. Thankfully she only did it a couple of times before she listened to me to stop. And the lady in front of us wasn't upset. We had some serious Evelyn fans everywhere we went. She has the playing-hard-to-get thing down pretty good. She plays shy and then does a fantastic sneaky grin.

She here she is on the plane to California. Oh and Gwen is peeking out in the back there, trying to get in the picture.
Here we are at Sea World touching the starfish.

Here is Derek on his favorite ride at Sea World.

Oh wait, this was his favorite.

Have I mentioned that Evelyn loves her cousins, particularly Caleb?

We had so much fun. Special thanks to Kurtis and Jolene for letting us spend breakfast and swimming with them. I'll just say that our hotel wasn't what it was cracked up to be. No pun intended.

Calling all Seasoned Travelers

I'm happy to say that in one week my little family is going to fly to California for a few days. (Do any of you recall our survival of the Time-Share-Presentation?) Well the time has come for me to start preparing our things for this vacation. I am so excited, and realize that I am also inexperienced in flying with a child. Meaning, I've never done it. Our flight is two hours and Evelyn may or may not have her own seat, depending on how full our flight is. This is where all of you come in: what do I do? What should I bring? What do I prepare? What toys or snack are best? Am I totally missing a huge aspect of flying with a child that becomes obvious after the first failed attempt?

Please comment on this if you know anything, unless you're just going to tell me that I'm going way overboard. But isn't that the joy of being a parent to only one child?

Wedding Day

No, not my wedding day, but my father-in-laws. The kids looked so cute! This is Evelyn all ready and just playing at Kurtis and Jolenes' house. This picture pretty much sums up Evelyns feelings towards Caleb. She couldn't get enough hugging him.

Old Style family picture, plus a shot of my new do.

Waiting for the ceremony to start, some Chex will help with that.

Here's the bride and groom getting hitched. As you can see they looked great, and it was a fun day.

More of My Obsession

I simply cannot get enough of my daughters hair. It is getting longer and curlier.

(Plus, a sneak peak at a bathroom in our house. I plan on posting pictures of the house, but first I need to take some.)

This is what happens the day after french braids: