Evans Women Weekend!

This past weekend I got the surprise of my life!! Here's how it began... As I mentioned before, Nate was out of town for the weekend attending a family law conference. I was thinking of ways to pass the time that would be fun with the girls, so when my friend Christie invited us to lunch on Friday, I jumped at the opportunity. We met at Chili's and were enjoying lunch when our waiter came and told us there were some ladies who had offered to pay for our lunch! Apparently they had seen me walking in with my girls and thought they were cute, so they wanted to cover our bill. How thoughtful! No one had ever done that for me before so I was pretty happy. A few minutes later our waiter came back and said that the ladies would like to meet us if possible, but there was one who was older and didn't walk well, so they were wondering if we could come down to their table. I thought this was a little bit strange, but we all got up & headed to where he said they were sitting. I kept thinking this could be a little bit awkward - what exactly do you say? "Hi, um thanks for lunch, we really appreciate it?" They were sitting at the opposite end of the restaurant so I casually walked down the isle holding the girls' hands, when all of a sudden...I saw my MOM!! And who was sitting across from her? My sisters Allison and Natalie!! I almost couldn't believe it, my three favorite women in the world were here...in Eugene! Apparently they had been planning the surprise trip for a long time & had all just flown in hours before. Allison had been texting back & forth with my friend Christie right in front of me, and I had no idea (Christie said she was having a conversation with our friend Sydney who was supposed to join us for lunch, but had cancelled at the last minute). What a fun surprise! People around us were asking how long it had been since we'd seen each other (it probably looked like it had been years by the way we were hugging!). I’m sure they were surprised when we said a few months, but hey, a girl's gotta see her mom & sisters frequently!

After all the hugging and questions of how did you...when did you...you're really here?!, the waiter moved us all to a large table where we could eat and visit. That was the start of a wonderful 4-day girls’ vacation! Neither Allison or Natalie had ever been to Eugene so we did a little bit of taking them around (to the University, law school, famous Hayward field, Voodoo donuts...all the things you don't want to miss in Eugene). :) We also spent a day shopping, went out to dinner twice, watched chick flicks and talked for hours and hours on end. Nate even watched Makenna and Sage when he got home on Saturday night so we could have a girls night out. It was a fabulous trip! Allison brought 3-month old little Katelyn with her (which was heavenly!), but other than that, it was just us women. It was so fun having time to just talk without having to worry about children (other than mine- who were in heaven having their aunts and grandma around!). The entire vacation just "refilled my cup". I can't say enough how much I love my mom and sisters - and to have them plan a trip and sacrifice time, money and babysitters just to come up and see me, meant the world. I am so grateful for such loving and caring women in my life. Makes me teary-eyed just thinking about it again! Thanks so much Mom, Allison & Nat - I love you guys!!

After the surprise at Chili's!

 Visiting the law school

 ...and Hayward field

 Natalie & cute baby Kate

Experiencing Voodoo Donuts!

Way to go Nate!

Alright, here’s my chance to brag a little bit about my amazing husband (without him downplaying it!). Nate works so hard in school and at work and I am always amazed at how much he does. A little while ago he applied for a scholarship to attend a family law conference for Oregon attorneys, and he got it! It doesn’t sound like much, but this was a 3-day conference on the Oregon coast with basically ALL family law attorneys and judges from the entire state, and they only picked 2 students from the school to attend it. The scholarship paid for his hotel room, food & travel expenses as well as the actual conference fee. During the days (Thursday afternoon, all day Friday & Saturday morning), he attended different seminars taught by family law experts. Then each night there were receptions for the attorneys, kind of like a fancy meet-and-greet. I can’t imagine being there by myself, not knowing anyone and being outgoing enough to introduce myself to and chat with top attorneys. But that's exactly what Nate did! He met some really neat people and the conference ended up being a great networking tool. Hopefully it will pay off with leads for jobs! Anyway, I'm very proud of Nate for all he has accomplished and hope he always knows that. I love you Nate!

Sage turns 2!!

Yesterday we celebrated our littlest cutie turning 2.  Happy Birthday Sage!!  I can’t express how thankful I am to have that sweet little girl in our family.  Sage truly is sunshine in our home and I can’t imagine life without her.  She is spunky, sweet, stubborn, smart, very sensitive to others and a major ham.  She keeps us on our toes but also has us laughing all the time.  She and Kenna are the best of friends and I am so thankful for how well they play together.  Sage picks up all sorts of things from Makenna (good & bad), but Makenna seems to follow Sage’s example more than the other way around (which is not usually a good thing as Makenna is a much better listener!).  A few of my favorite things about Sage – 

*She asks “how you doin’?” about 30 times a day, always in the sweetest voice with a cocked head and true interest in your reply.   If you ask her back, she always responds with “good…how are you doin?” even if she already asked you first.  Love it!

* At the rate she’s going, she is going to be the best mom in the world when she grows up (not to mention babysitter!).  She quite literally is obsessed with babies and cares for her dolls like they are real children.  She’s always feeding them, wrapping them up, singing them bedtime songs, rocking them to sleep and then making sure everyone is quiet so they don’t wake up.  It is adorable.  

* Sage is an amazing observer.  You sing her a song a few times & she can sing it on her own (her version anyway!). She’s really big on doing things “herself” and loves to mimic things we do (like insisting she has a coaster for her cup at dinner).  Overall I think she learns more from Makenna than Nate & I though, because no matter how many times we say “pour”, Sage still says “tour”, even after time & time again correcting her…just like her big sister. :)

For her birthday this year, we decided to stretch the celebration over 2 days.  Friday was her actual birthday, and when I asked her what she wanted to do, she said “put up our tent”…so that’s what we did!  When Nate got home we had a pizza party, opened presents and then watched Tangled all together in the tent.  It was a blast!  My favorite part was watching Sage open her presents.  Makenna gave her a Barbie & My Little Pony and Sage started squealing, “thank you SO much, thank you SO much!” over and over.  It was the cutest thing ever.  This morning we started off with Mickey Mouse pancakes and then spent the day as a family shopping and playing at the park.  After dinner we had birthday cake – Sage’s requested ‘pink monkey’!  It was a chocolate cake filled with banana pudding and of course the girls devoured it.   It was a fantastic 2 days spent together as a family, especially because we got to celebrate our little Miss Sage.  We love you princess!

What a big kid!

 Of course she chose olives as part of her birthday lunch...they love em!

 Getting ready for our tent party!

A Visit from Grandma & Grandpa!

Last week Nate’s parents came to visit us for 10 days!  It was so much fun to get to spend lots and lots of time with them.  The girls were in absolute heaven having so much time with their grandparents!  We tried to make it more of a relaxing trip by not planning out things to do every day.  That way we could just enjoy each other, let the girls play in their playroom with grandma & grandpa and not feel like we had to be running to the next thing all the time.  It was fabulous!  We still did PLENTY of fun things, but it also felt more like a true vacation from our crazy lives. 

On Saturday we picked Richard & Susan up from the airport in Portland and then stayed the day up there at the zoo!  I forgot my camera, so I don’t have proof of the fun, but we had a ball.  I think half of Oregon shared the thought that it was the last nice-weather weekend of the year - it was packed!  But we were still able to see most of the animals and have a great time.  The zoo never gets old!   On Monday, Nate’s parents watched the girls and let Nate & I have a date night!  Oh how I love date nights.  Especially when I know the girls are in good hands and as happy as can be without us!  We were able to go to dinner at Chili’s and see Transformer’s 3 in the dollar theater.  Not the best movie, but it was wonderful getting some one-on-one time with my sweet husband!  Earlier that day, the girls and I took grandma & grandpa to Lone Pine Farms.  We had so much fun running through the hay maze, playing on the playground and feeding the goats.  We also bought enough produce to feed a family for a month!  I think that might have been Richard & Susan’s favorite outing of the whole trip. J  On Wednesday, Nate was off school so we spent the whole day all together.  We started out at the Woodburn Outlet mall to check out the new Naartjie kids clothing store. (Richard is the CFO of Naartjie & they recently opened their first store in Oregon.)  The ever-spoiling grandparents bought the girls some really cute Naartjie outfits for the fall – I love them!  From there we went to Silver Falls to hike the Trail of Ten Falls.  That’s another place that can never get old.  We’ve hiked there several times, but I am always in awe of the beauty of it.  What a fun day! 

Friday was my wonderful mother-in-law’s birthday (how sweet of her to spend it with us!!).  We started out the celebration going to the Wildlife Safari in Winston.  It is a huge preserve of all kinds of wild animals roaming freely, and you just drive through it to see them all.  It was so cool!  We packed lunches & laid down the seats in the van so we could have a picnic while driving & unobstructed views of all the animals.  There were several animals that literally brushed right up against our car and we could have fed them from our window.  I swear the giraffes almost walked over our car!  It was amazing to see exotic animals up that close.  They also had a play area where you could touch different animals and walk through to see others up close (like at the zoo).  Overall the girls had a blast and I think the adults enjoyed it just as much.  It was a really fun time!  That night Susan picked out a neat Italian restaurant for her birthday dinner, Beppi & Gianni’s.  It’s always scary bringing a 2 & 3 year old to a nice restaurant like that, but the girls were very well behaved and we were all able to enjoy a fun dinner.  (Grandpa’s iPhone definitely helped out after Sage finished her dinner, but overall they had great manners – success!)  That night we opened presents, had birthday ice cream and celebrated our wonderful mom & grandma, who we are so lucky to have! 

The trip went by way too fast and before we knew it we were driving them back to the airport and saying goodbye for another couple months.  That’s always the worst part!  But we are so thankful for the time we did get to have with them and are so grateful to them for sacrificing to come visit us.  We feel so spoiled!  Makenna and Sage are so lucky to have grandparents who are so involved in their lives and who spend so much time with them.  And Nate and I are lucky to have parents/in-laws that are caring, giving and supportive of us no matter what.  We love them so much and cherish every minute we have with them.  Thanks again for the visit Richard and Susan, we love you!

Fun at the farm!

 Love the falls!  (and Richard carrying Sage) :)

 Yeah, it wore us out!

Our Wildlife Safari

 The brown bears were my favorite!!

 I probably could have petted the camel...if I dared!

 No...I did NOT touch the snake.  My girls are much braver than I am!

Celebrating Grandma!  Happy B-day Susan!