Evans Family Fun

Since Christmas, we have done nothing but party!  The Evans men (my dad, Nick, Ammon, Adam, Nate, Zach & Isaac) had a guy’s night out last night where they went to dinner, paintballing & then saw the new Mission Impossible movie on the IMAX – a true guys’ date!  My favorite part is hearing them all laugh together about who shot who and what happened when so-and-so ran out and someone else plastered them with paint.  Of course it is always followed by the showing off of the welts and battle scars.  I honestly don’t know how that is fun, but I love how much they love playing all together!  That night after I got the girls in bed, I went over to my parent’s house to spend some time with Natalie & my mom while the guys were out.  Nate & I didn’t get home till after 1 a.m. and walked in to find sweet grandma Susan on the couch with a sick Sage.  Apparently Sage had gone into their room, climbed in bed with grandma & then threw up all over both of them.  Susan cleaned up and got Sage in the bath only to put her in clean pj’s and have her throw up again!  By the time we got there Sage was on her third pair of jammies sound asleep in grandma’s arms.  You couldn’t find a better grandma in the whole world! 

Today the Evans women had a date of our own!  I didn’t get much sleep considering I didn’t get to bed till nearly 2 and my mom & Natalie picked me up at 8 a.m., but it was worth it!  We started the day meeting Allison & my cute Aunt Carolyn and cousin Madi for breakfast at IHOP.  Madi recently got called on a mission to Portugal so we planned a temple date to spend some time all together before she leaves.  It was so much fun just talking and laughing over breakfast!  Afterward we did a session together in the Bountiful temple and then spent another hour or so talking.  It was wonderful!  After that Madi & Carolyn had other plans and had to leave, but my cute sisters, mom & I went and got manicures and pedicures followed by lunch.  A true girls’ date!  I am so thankful for the special bond I share with my mom & sisters, they are some of my best friends in the whole world and I love every minute I get to spend with them!   I am also so thankful to Nate & my mother-in-law for watching the girls all day so I could go.  They had a pretty relaxing day, just what Sage needed to recover, and thankfully she seems to be feeling much better.  What a fun couple of days!

Breakfast with the girls

 At the Bountiful Temple

 Carolyn * Madi * Allison * Me * Natalie * Mom

(Of course I don't have any pictures from the guys' night.  Guess who takes all the pictures in our family?) :)

Christmas Loves

Oh boy did Santa visit the Wolfley household!!  We have had an amazing past couple of days and we’re spoiled rotten.  Christmas Eve day I spent shopping with my dad (his favorite tradition….he doesn’t buy a thing until Christmas Eve!).  Natalie came with us for part of it and we had a great time.  By the end of it my feet were killing from all the running around but we definitely found some great gifts!  That night we had a delicious Christmas Eve dinner with Nate’s family and then spent the night enjoying the wonderful Christmas spirit.  We decorated cupcakes and cookies and had a fabulous time.  Makenna and Sage each picked out one of theirs to leave for Santa with a note Kenna dictated herself.  Nate wrote whatever Kenna said, including “we left you some Chocolate milk, but please don’t drink it all.  Make sure to leave some for me and Sage.” :)  Very thoughtful!  Afterward we read some Christmas books (The Crippled Lamb & Why Christmas Trees Aren’t Perfect – my favorite!), tucked the girls in bed and told the Nativity story.  We’ve tried really hard this year to teach the girls the true meaning of Christmas and have the spirit of Christ in our home.  We told them that we are celebrating Christ’s birth and talked about how special that is & Kenna decided Santa brings presents because it’s Jesus’ birthday.  I like that idea! 

Christmas morning was of course magical!  Nate woke up early to make sure he was awake before the girls, but eventually we had to wake them up because Mike & Nicole had come over and all the adults were ready!  I have a feeling that won’t last many more years.  Both girls were still a little out of it when we went to see what Santa brought, but their excitement quickly took over.  We did “Santa gifts” then ate a gourmet Christmas breakfast & moved to the living room to open all the gifts from each other.  It was so much fun!  I absolutely live for the excitement of Makenna & Sage with every present.  I swear they were just as excited about what every one else was opening as what they were!  They definitely hurried the morning along as they kept running back to the tree to grab more gifts and pass them out to everyone.  No one-at-a-time unwrapping this year!  When Makenna opened a Barbie Nate & I had given her, she exclaimed “this is e-sactly what I needed!!!”  It was SO cute!  Richard & Susan also got the girls a super fun dollhouse with 3 boxes full of accessories (which of course we made them open last, otherwise there might still be presents under the tree!).  When Sage opened one of the boxes, she looked inside and yelled “NO WAY HOSÉ!  We laughed so hard.  Christmas really is all about the kids, they make it so much more fun!  After all the gifts were given we rushed to get ready and all went to church at my parent’s ward.  There was such a great spirit there!  I think every Christmas should fall on a Sunday.  We were able to enjoy the morning of gifts & Santa, but still feel the spirit of Christ & remember the true meaning of the day.  It was the best of both worlds! 

After church we went to visit my Grandpa and then headed up for my family’s awesome Christmas tradition – Christmas night sleepover at the cabin!  Since we started the tradition a few years ago, I have absolutely loved it!  We each get to spend Christmas Eve & morning with our own families and in-laws, but then get together with my parents, siblings & kids for the night and whole next day of fun and family time!  The 10 cousins had a ball with each other and the adults did, too!  We opened even more gifts (so spoiled!), played lots of games, lots of pool and talked for hours.  I just don’t think Christmas could have been any better!

Christmas Eve cupcake & cookie decorating!

 Christmas Morning with the Wolfleys!

 Getting ready for our amazing breakfast...one of my favorite parts of Christmas :)

 Christmas at the cabin with the Evans crew!

 (this is Kenna so excited to try out her new vacuum...a girl after my own heart!)

 Mom & Dad's sled full of goodies! (we can't wait to try out that sled!!)

 Me with my cute cousin Annie!

 Grandma reading a bedtime stories to all the girls

 The girls got a dollhouse to keep up at the cabin...think they liked it?!

 All 10 Evans cousins!

Just another week in Paradise

Well we officially made it to Utah and have been having a blast!  And yes, we even made it on Saturday!  I have to admit we have the best road-tripping children in the world.  We left our house at about 8:30 am on Saturday, drove ALL day only making 2 stops (1 for a quick lunch & 1 for gas) and made it to Nate’s parents’ house at about 10:30 pm.  During that whole 13 hour trip (with the time change), Makenna didn’t close her eyes once and Sage only slept about 45 minutes.  Even with all the time they had strapped into their car seats, wide awake, they hardly ever complained.  They watched a couple movies, played a lot of “I spy” and the “guess that animal” game, looked out the window, ate snacks, colored and stayed content.  It was a pretty pleasant trip!  Of course by the time we got to grandma & grandpa’s they were thrilled to run around and play with toys.  (I have to admit I was probably even more excited to be out of the car!  Road trips are not quite as fun pregnant.)  We have had a fantastic time in Utah so far.  We still can’t seem to get to bed before midnight because we’re all so excited to stay up chatting, playing games or watching movies, but vacations aren’t meant for sleeping anyway, right?!  We’ve been able to go to family Christmas parties, Nate had a guys’ night catching up with his old High School buddies, we took the girls to see the lights up at Willard Bay (which they LOVED), gone shopping and spent time with both of our families.  Oh how I love vacations! 

For Nate’s mom’s side of the family’s Christmas party, we went to the Solomon Center in Ogden and had a ball.  We ate at the Pizza Factory, played glow-in-the-dark miniature golf, rode bumper cars and played in the arcade.  Makenna and Sage loved winning tickets in the arcades and getting to pick out prizes with their tickets.  They also had a blast riding the bumper cars all by themselves!  Neither one of them quite met the height requirement to ride, but luckily the teenagers running it weren’t too strict. :)  Sage couldn’t reach the controls very well so Nate pretty much spent an entire round bumping her around the rink so she’d have a fun time!  Makenna did great and thought she was pretty darn funny crashing into Nate & I.  It was really cute.  By the end of the night Makenna started complaining about her ears again and had a fever.  Poor thing!  She has been getting ear infections so frequently lately, it breaks my heart.  Her pediatrician said she’s too old to get tubes placed & should be growing out of the “ear-infection stage” soon…I just hope it’s sooner than later.  The Baron family had rented out the Flow-rider at the Solomon Center where you simulate surfing so we stayed for Nate to give it a try & then took 2 very tired and worn out girls home for a 10:30 bedtime.  This vacation has definitely not been one for the girls getting much sleep either!  Luckily they are incredibly flexible and resilient.  We are spoiled!  Makenna’s ears seem to be getting better slowly & I’m keeping my fingers crossed that we can have a sickness-free remainder of our trip.  This first week has absolutely flown by but we have enjoyed every minute!  And we still have 2 weeks and Christmas left to enjoy.  Wohoo!

This is how we've felt nearly every day...played until we crashed!

 Bumper car fun!

 Nate testing out the surfing, it's harder than it looks!

FIVE down, ONE to go!

Another semester of law school down and only ONE more to go!!  Nate officially finished his last final today and we both couldn’t be happier.  It’s been a while since he’s gone to bed before midnight or one and he has studied just about every waking minute for the past several weeks.  No fun for anyone!  Hopefully now he can relax and maybe take a nap or read a book. (That is if I can restrain myself from jumping in with the honey-do’s!  I’ll do my best.)  :)  Now he only has 2 days of work and then we are off to visit family for the holidays for 3 weeks!!  (I know, spoiled, huh?  This will probably be the last long vacation we’ll ever have – the one benefit of being in school – so we’re going to take advantage of it!)  I can’t WAIT to spend time with everyone and have my little family all together.  Looking forward to that trip & Nate’s break is truly what has gotten me through these crazy last few weeks.  That and having my sweetest Mother-in-law come visit! 

Can I just say how spoiled I am to have such a wonderful Mother-in-law?  Susan flew up to Oregon last week to spend time with us girls during one of Nate’s finals weeks and we had a fabulous time!  I am so blessed to have a mother-in-law who I adore & who makes it a priority to keep in touch frequently whether by phone calls, Skype or visits.  We love spending time with her!!  She has such a special relationship with Makenna and Sage and they absolutely love her.  While she was here we tried to relax a little bit, but we still had plenty of fun!  We took the girls to see Arthur Christmas in the theater one day and went bowling another.  Susan also watched the girls one night so that Nate & I could have a date night.  My favorite!!  It was wonderful to have someone around while Nate was so busy.  It also definitely helped with my sanity and allowed Nate to have more uninterrupted study time.  Thank you so much Susan!! 

The rest of this week is FULL of Christmas parties, work, packing, cleaning, get-togethers and more packing.  If we can get out of the house by Saturday I will be amazed!!  I am so thankful that Nate will be around to help out and that we have the sweetest and most patient little girls in the world.  Makenna and Sage both love to help with housework (although usually it tends to just slow me down, but it’s cute nonetheless & I appreciate their enthusiasm!).  They also have been so good at entertaining themselves in their playroom or playing make-believe around the house if they know I have lots to do.  I am so thankful to have had 2 girls first who are close in age because they are the best of friends and it makes my life so much easier!  Oh how I love my girls! 

Speaking of my little munchkins, there are a few things they have said lately that I wanted to make sure to jot down so I wouldn’t forget.  This is definitely the age of the best kid catch-phrases.  They keep me laughing!!  Here are a few of my favorites:

Nate offered to help Kenna put on a movie so that he could get some studying done & said he’d watch it with her for a few minutes.  She immediately picked out Anastasia and said “it’s a scary one, but don’t worry about it Dad, I’ll protect you.  You don’t need to be afraid…and I know how to skip the scary parts!”  What a sweetheart!

The girls were playing “the 3 little pigs” in their hamper-fort while I was sorting laundry (of course I get the role of the big bad wolf!).  I said my part and Sage (as one of the pigs) yelled out, “don’t eat us Wolf, just eat chicken!”  I still don’t know how she came up with that on her own but it sure made me laugh!

Each morning I let the girls pick out which cereal they want to eat.  Inevitably they pick out 2 or 3 and have a mix.  Sage loves this tradition and one morning ran down to pick out her cereal.  As she grabbed out the boxes she named them saying “I want Life and Chex and Cavity Creeps!”  What are cavity creeps you ask?  Captain Crunch of course!  I guess I should preface that by saying that whenever we brush the girls’ teeth we say we are trying to smash all the cavity creeps that get in their mouths.  It is very effective!  …And probably very fitting for Captain Crunch!

The other day the girls were playing house in the playroom.  I overheard Kenna say to Sage “first Moms & Dads get in the car, then they go to the temple and get married.  Then they come home to their house and it is their own house.  Then they take naps and go to friends’ houses and go to the store and buy stuff…that’s what they do.  Okay Sage?  That’s what they do!”  If only it were that simple!

I also occasionally wonder if maybe they need a few more girl friends.  Most of their friends are boys (and we love them all), but I can definitely tell when they’ve been playing with boys a little too much.  Their favorite games with their buddies are “super heroes,” (Makenna’s power is always running fast), monsters under the blanket and catching bad guys.  When they got out their dress-ups the other day (just Kenna & Sage), I asked if they were princesses & Sage immediately shouted in her best mean voice “I’m a princess bad guy!”

This was the sign we made for the girls to hold when we picked up Grandma from the airport.  They were SO excited! 

 Movie time

 At the bowling alley

 At least at one point we were all tied...then I kind of got creamed (even by the girls!).  And yes, I did name Susan "Granny", and even after much effort, she couldn't figure out how to change it. :)

 Sage loved climbing in the ball returns & pretending she was taking a bath.  Real clean & safe, I know.

IT'S A....

BOY!!!

Nate and I are SO excited to be expecting a third little munchkin into our family next April!  We had the big ultrasound yesterday and are even more excited (& a little nervous) to be having a BOY join our family!  I'm still a little bit in shock because I thought for sure it was another girl, but I couldn't be more thrilled for this new adventure.  I'm pretty sure Nate is on cloud 9 because afterward he said he was too excited to study, so instead we celebrated and went out to dinner! :)  Guess I found the trick to pull him away from finals studying!  It was especially fun because Nate's mom, Susan flew in yesterday just hours before the ultrasound & was able to come with us!  The girls are in heaven having Grandma here and I'm loving having an adult around for the next few days while Nate is buried in books.

So far the pregnancy has been easy and I've been feeling great!  The only downside is how much faster I started showing this time.  I don't know if it's just because it's my third or what, but I'm feeling pretty huge!  To tell Nate that I was expecting, the girls and I colored pictures to hang on the garage door for him to see when he got home.  This was my picture (with some help from the girls):

I had to laugh because of course I didn't tell the girls what we were announcing, they just thought we were coloring pictures for Dad.  Kenna saw mine and said "Look Mom, our family is building a snowman!"  I guess my baby in our family picture wasn't my best artwork. :)  Of course now the girls know about the new addition coming and are so happy!  They pray for the "baby in mommy's tummy" every day and Kenna will rub my belly and say "I'm tickling our baby mom!".  They are going to be the best big sisters.  Before we knew the gender, we would ask the girls what they thought the baby would be.  The first thing Makenna said was "I want it to be a son baby for daddy!".  We were a little confused at first thinking a "sun" baby??, but eventually figured out she wanted a "son" baby...rather than a daughter.  Very thoughtful! 

Anyway, we couldn't be happier for this new adventure - now I just can't wait for the little guy to get here!  It'll sure be a change in our household from all the pink & princess EVERYTHING, but it will be a great one!  We could use a mini Nate around here. :) 

Our handsome little guy...can't wait!!