Evan Starts Preschool!

Evan at his Preschool Open House

a few days before the first day of school.

Evan's opening his treat bag. After seeing another little girl's gift bag

he decided he had to have the grab bag for the girls instead of the boy grab bag.

Evan "paying attention"

Evan learning to stand in line while he waits for
something to play with during activity time. He is standing
next to his friend Cassie.


Sorting animals. Evan put each kind of animal in a separate compartment.
That is way more his style than counting out the number of animals that was supposed
to go in each compartment.

Evan sitting on his teacher Heather's lap during story time

Evan coming out of his preschool after his first day.

He loves it!!!! So does Mommy!!!!!

Family Pictures

We got some family pictures taken at the beginning of May. Although Evan was his active self we still got some great pictures. Some of these pictures are not my absolute favorites but you get the idea. Evelyn Nelson of Freckles Photography was kind enough to give me some electronic versions of the pics to share. She did a great job and managed to get a picture of Evan that wasn't the back of his head or his profile-that is something we rarely manage on our own. Enjoy!

Evan's New Big Boy Room

We finally moved Evan from his crib to a regular bed a month or so ago. He transitioned amazingly well. He loves aquatic animals so we made his room ocean themed. He is always excited to sleep in his "fishy bed". Before we got the side rails he had a few spills out of bed in the middle of the night. One night I came to check on him. I was leaning over the bed and he started to wake up so I dove next to the side of the bed so he wouldn't see me. I looked up and all of a sudden I saw his head flip over the edge of the bed and then he did a back flip off of the bed! I caught him mid-fall. I was shocked! I guess I was in the right place at the right time!

Here is Evan's dresser complete with his Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle TV (thanks Grandpa). Evan likes to watch a little TV before falling asleep :) As any of you parents out there with small kids know it is sometimes a test of creativity to think of new ways to help your kids fall asleep. We finally figured out that Evan's tv has a sleep timer on it so the tv turns off by itself and Evan doesn't get so mad at us when we come in to turn it off so he can go to sleep. It is a life saver.

Evan's ship. He begs us to get it down for him and he plays pirates and treasure.

I created this collage of picture frames by cutting up a huge book of ocean animals (Dain was pretty shocked that I actually did it but Evan loves to look at the pictures and it is pretty hard to do when the book is bigger than him)

Evan's first time bowling

Craig and I thought we would be brave and take Evan bowling for the first time. Craig was talking to my Dad and he asked my Dad if he has ever taken my little half brother who is Evan's age bowling. My Dad just laughed which unnerved us a little. In this picture you can see Evan's "chicken arm". Whenever Evan feels big or confident he puts his little arm up like a chicken wing. I don't know if it is an impression of me putting my hand on my hip but it always makes me laugh.

The bowling alley didn't have any of the ramps for Evan to use to bowl so we had to help him throw it down the lane. It stalled once in the middle of the lane but we got the hang of it eventually. Notice Evan's cute bowling shoes? Adorable! Also notice Craig's arm muscles-hello!


Evan's first bowl.

Here I am trying to help Evan bowl. My arm muscles are not nearly as impressive.

Here we are taking a little nap while we wait for the ball to reach the pins. Evan is probably the only person in the world who bowls slower than me. Evan soon got bored. He thought the arcade was far more entertaining. Keeping him entertained and making sure he was safe meant that Craig and I took over two hours to bowl 2 games. Towards the end Evan was playing in a little alcove behind our lane. Craig and I would take turns standing by him while the other person bowled. I came in to the little room and saw Evan smearing poo on the foosball game. I hurried and walked him into the bathroom and Craig grabbed his diaper bag. By the time I changed Evan's clothes and cleaned up the foosball game we were almost late for Craig's volleyball practice again. You should have seen that kid book it into the gym when we finally go there. Never a dull moment.

Reid Park Zoo, Tucson Arizona

Evan chasing birds. Who cares if there are zebras or rhinos around when there are birds to chase?

I went down to Tucson for my brother, Craig's spring break. We went to the Reid Park Zoo. It is a great little zoo. Evan can choose which animal he wants to see and we can walk to it and then let him choose the next animal.

This is Rena, Craig's new girlfriend. Isn't she adorable? Sweet and smart too. He definately chose a good one.

Evan was so excited to buy some duck food and feed the ducks. Unfortunately there were no ducks. Craig did fish Rena's chapstick out of the water which was pretty exciting.

Evan dragged Craig into the water area. They had a blast trying to avoid the spraying fountains. I can't believe it was warm enough to play in the water in March! Especially when we just came from all of the snow in Utah.

Before Evan climbed on the elephant he was yelling at the peacocks. Apparently, he thinks the peacocks are called peakcocks because that is the sound they make. He was yelling at the top of his lungs "PEACOCK" in a raspy voice. It was pretty funny. Evan LOVES birds. They are usually his favorite part of any activity. He spent most of his time chasing the birds.

We attempted to get a picture of me and Evan. It seems like every time I make the effort to get one of us he fights it. He did like sitting on these big rocks though so that made it a littel bit easier.

The blanket-our constant companion. He must be getting molars or something because he chews on his blanket all of the time.

We were in charge of the Christmas Party for our church. It turned out

pretty well and it wasn't even that stressful! Everyone helped out with the food,

the kids sang a song and the teens put on a nativity. We had a special visitor-

Santa! You will never guess who Santa's "helper" was! Any guesses? Evan

thought Santa resembled his Dad for some reason. Hmmmm.... My cousin Mark

helped us out by watching Evan while we were busy with the party.

It would have been impossible without him!

We went to Breakfast with Santa at Thanksgiving Point on December 6th.

They had a yummy breakfast, crafts, games and fun Christmas characters

did a presentation and visited afterwards. Evan liked all the characters except

for Santa! Maybe he was worried about whether Santa

had heard about some of his "naughty"

episodes over the past year.

Who wouldn't love a friend made of candy?

Evan really loved the polar bear. He followed it everywhere.

We were his official entourage.

Evan with Mrs. Claus. She handed out candy and fun
cookie recipes.

Evan giving the polar bear a hug.

Evan liked the Grinch a lot too. He just saw the movie but

apparently it did not faze him. Evan won a Hershey kiss

playing a game. He ran down the stairs to find the Grinch. He handed

the kiss to the Grinch and didn't even ask for it back. I agree with Evan-

chocolate makes everyone happy!

Evan also thought the fairy was pretty darn cute.

While I was holding our place in line to see Santa, Dain said

Evan was playing with his plastic dinosaurs with the fairy.

Evan was pretty bashful when he first saw her.

Evan watching the presentation.

My handsome boy!

We helped Evan make his first gingerbread creation.

Of course the candy was the first main draw.

He wanted me to help him open all of the packages.

When Evan wants help he says "Help You?' instead of "Help Me?"

We think it is pretty cute.
Evan even liked the peppermints.

He is our eating machine with

a very diversified sense of taste.

Dain was in charge of the structural portion of the build.
He is very careful and has great attention to detail.


I got to help with the decorating. Some of the candy was half eaten before it
was put on the train but that is okay. After all, no one was going
to be eating it but Evan! Evan liked to fill the train with candy.


The proud boys. Evan is still eating candy of course.

At least Daddy knows how to smile for the camera!