Evan's 2nd Birthday Party

Evan is turning two tomorrow! I can't believe how fast time has flown! We had his party yesterday with family and close friends. Evan loves Elmo so we threw him an Elmo party. He was excited with all the Elmo stuff and even had fun buying it. We went to a few stores to find what we needed and he was a good helper in finding the stuff. He found things that I couldn't even see till he pointed them out. The high light of the decorations for Evan was Elmo's fish Dorthy. If you know Elmo's World you would know Dorthy. This is his first pet. I can't let the fish be in his reach or he'll try and catch her. I wonder how long she'll last :). Another high light was Evan's cake. Matt's co-worker made it for us. She did such an amazing job that Matt and I couldn't bare to stick the number two candle on it. Instead we pocked two smaller candles in it so it wouldn't mess it up. Of course we cut into it afterwards so it really didn't matter but still. Evan loves all the gifts that were given to him. They are all so perfect for him. Last year Evan wouldn't open any of his gifts but this time he got into it after the first few. We had to distract him a few times because of the types of gifts he got but in the end he was an a roll. Here are a few pictures of him opening his presents. I love the look of concentration on his face.
I made a video of us singing Happy Birthday to him. I was deathly afraid of fire growing up. I still am but just not as bad. I'm just glad Evan isn't the type of child that reaches for the flame. I would be histerical.
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Here is Evan enjoying his cake and ice cream.

Happy Birthday Evan! Your family loves you!

Family Pictures 2009

We were lucky enough to have our neighbors sister in law take some pictures for us. She did an amazing job! She got some really good shots of us and some really funny ones.
Here are our favorite ones.








Here are the funny ones but also favorites.
A classic Evan face

Evan's cheese face but distracted with something else.

You can totally tell that Evan is turning two in this one!

We laughed so hard when seeing these.

Thanks Jeannie! We will cherish these always!
Here's her blog if you're interested in getting pictures done by her.
http://jeanniemclaughlinphoto.blogspot.com/

Halloween

Halloween was a lot more fun this year because we took Evan out Trick or Treating. He got the concept after the first house and we didn't expect that. I thougt we would have to help him put the candy in the bucket if they didn't do it for him but he understood it from the get go and ran to the next house. We can't wait for next year! Evan was adorable in his costume. We couldn't find a Cougar so we picked the next closest thing to one. A Lion!

We went to our parents neighborhood to trick or treat so we do it with my sister Abby. She was a cute black cat this year.



Evan helped us a little more this year with our pumpkins. We would take the guts out but he would put them back in and take them out again. He also loved the seeds. He didn't like how they tasted but he loved how slimy they were so he had fun trying to catch them.

Baby Update

We had another Ultra Sound to see how our little bean is doing. He/She has grown so much since the last one that it's so amazing to see. It's always so fun to see them on the screen but of course it's better in real life. We got a really good shot of the baby because he/she was sleeping. It gave me a little scare at first but we saw that the baby had a really strong heart beat. I also got to hear it for the first time. It was only for a second or two because the baby desided to finally move. I'm not sure if it's a girl or a boy yet. My doctor did say it was beating about 160 a min.

This was Evan at 12 weeks. It's fun too look at them both to compare.

Through the Year's

Matt came across some pretty cool pictures of our home through the years on the County's website. It's pretty cool seeing how much the house has changed. I thought you guys might enjoy seeing the many changes.
Our house was built in 1941 and this picture was taken in 1951 or 1952 because the house next door was just being built. It was finished in 1952.

This picture was taken in the year 2000. The tree on the right lawn is now gone and it has different windows.

This is what the house looked liked when we bought the place. It really needed some TLC. The second tree on the left was taken out and the tree in the back is huge! The bushes were also taken out and rock gardens were put in their place.

Since then we really did a lot to the place. This was taken this year in the early spring. We cut down that old Juniper because it was ugly and we brought the lawn back to life during the two and half years we've been here. It's still a working progress. It's amazing that those rose bushes have been here since that first picture on the top. We plan on replacing them next spring/summer if we can get them out. Elizabeth has worked hard to remove some for us already. They have deep roots! We put in brand new windows in June. They have been amazing with keeping the heat in the house this fall. I'm glad we got them!

We're Growing Two Feet!

I'm almost nearing my 1st trimester so I think it's safe to say WE'RE PREGNANT!!!

Yup, baby number two is on his or her way! Our first picture of our little bean isn't the greatest one but there's a baby in there and we saw that he/she has a very strong heart beat. We're very excited to add to our little family in May. Our official due date is May 14, 2010!
It was quite the experience to get this far and some of you already know but most don't. After Evan was born I got an IUD put in. I never had any problems with it till we decided it was time to remove it so we can get pregnant again. On July 7th I went to my OB to get it removed but he couldn't find the string to pull it out. I about died when he told me this but I had a feeling that something like this was going to happen. We were just hoping it fallen out without us knowing but then again we thought "Why aren't we pregnant?". I was scheduled an ultra sound so it was a very long few days till that day. I went to a specialist but he wasn't able to find it. I was getting really worried at this point. The only other option I had was to get an x-ray done. It only took a few mins to get one picture and wait for the picture to come out. It was there plain as day, still inside me. I couldn't wait any longer to get this thing out so I was very grateful that my doctor told me to come see him with the x-ray to talk to me. I wasn't ready to hear what he had to say. I had to have abdominal surgery to get it removed because it embedded itself in my uterine wall. I scheduled surgery with him that day. On July 21st, the day before my birthday, I went into surgery. I was put to sleep so I remember nothing except getting things ready and waiting in the cold pre-op room without Matt. Once I woke up I was pretty out of it. I felt a little sick from the anesthesia(sp?) so I hope I never have to have that stuff again! The surgery was a success obviously :). My Dr. took photo's for me and gave me the IUD as a souvenir lol. I have no idea what I will do with them but its cool he let me have them. Recovery was a little painful for the first two days. I had one incision in my belly button, that hurt the most, and one where my c-section scar is. That one didn't even phase me. I'm just glad it's over and that it didn't leave any damage because I got pregnant less then a month later! We're grateful for all our friends and family that helped us out during that time.
How have I been feeling? I've been feeling really good for the most part. Just really tired. I don't remember ever feeling this tired with Evan but then again it's been almost three years. I could have blocked out that part. I have no other pregnancy symptoms other than the usual but I'm one of the lucky ones that don't experience morning sickness. I only get a little sick if I wait too long to eat but it's nothing like morning sickness. I never had it but I know what nausea feels like.
Right now Matt and I are in different about having a boy or a girl. At first I was hoping to have a girl but there's so many good reasons to have another boy. All we want is a very healthy baby.
Our next Doctor's appointment is set for Oct. 29th with another ultra sound. We will get to see more of a baby instead of a small bean and sac. This appointment we'll also be able to get a better idea of how far a long I am but I'm pretty sure dates wont change.

So Cool!

When I put Evan down for his nap yesterday he was able to climb out of his crib, even on the lowest setting. I only did it to test to see if he could because I have a hard time getting him to nap when he has his freedom. Thank goodness he still took a nap so I didn't have to deal with a cranky toddler the rest of the day. Matt's class was canceled that evening so he came home and the first thing he did was take down his crib to make it a toddler bed. We'll just take advantage of that bed till Evan grows out of it. Evan was in heaven! He loves his bed now, even before when it was just a mattress on the floor. I would find him laying on his bed drinking his milk through out the day, but now he could bounce on it since it's back on a spring. Hopefully that wont last long.
Matt wasn't home for that long because he had a few meetings to attend. Usually I let Evan stay up a little later so they could both see each other before going to bed but I wasn't going to let him stay up past 8:00. I got him ready for bed and let him watch a little TV. It was around 7:30 when he gave me his sippy cup to fill it up with milk. I already brushed his teeth so I didn't want to but since he was staying up a little bit more I filled it half way. I thought he would go back to his show but instead he climbed in his bed, pulled his blanket on top of him and kind of waved to me. I took the hint and said goodnight to him LOL. I was so ready to let him stay up but he had different plans. Evan amazes us everyday and he always makes us laugh. If this happens every night then we should have given him a toddler bed a lot sooner.

Evan's New Trick

Evan realized he could climb out of his crib yesterday. Just the look on his face when he managed it was priceless. He was so proud of himself that he wanted to do it over and over again. Of course I put a stop to that and just let it go hoping he would fall asleep when he got really tired. Of course that time was at 5:15, just 2 hours away from bedtime. When Matt got home from work he lowered the crib all the way to the ground but just for kicks we kept his mattress on the floor just to see how well he'll do. Surprisingly he did very well. We did his normal bedtime routine but the only thing different was he kept getting off his mattress. We turned out the light and said goodnight and hurried out the door. We stood outside his door for about 5 mins. He cried and tried to open his door. It was funny but a little heart breaking to me at the same time but I heard him go back to his bed and he fell asleep. About an hour or two later we went in to check on him. Sure enough he was on his bed fast asleep but his feet were dangling off. It was so cute!

This morning Matt went in to get him so he could see him before he headed to work. Matt tells me he was very happy he didn't need his help to get out of bed. Evan wouldn't leave his room without his blanket and George. Just in the last few weeks he's grown very attatched to them. At least it's not a binky.

Summer Is Over!

That means I have a lot to write about. Summer time is such a busy fun time so I never found time to write about it. I have no pictures of this but we did a lot of swimming! I can't believe I left my camera home each time we went. I took Evan to our community pool during the day and we would go with Matt in the evening. A few times friends joined us. Evan hated it at first during the beginning of the summer because it wasn't blazing hot yet. He's just like me when it comes to water, we get cold easily. Once it really heated up he was really enjoying it. He learned to go under water without coming up coughing because water went down the wrong pipe. He loved it when Matt or I threw him in the air and he went under water.


We got to have fun at the park a lot this summer as well. Evan now goes down the slide all by himself. He loved feeding the ducks. He had more fun chasing them though.

We had a fun Pioneer Day. Matt had the day off so we went to Spanish Fork to see the parade with his Family. Uncle David was in town from California so it was great having him with us. After the parade we walked around the carnival and let Evan ride his first carnival ride. He loves water so I was worried he would fall out of the boat trying to touch it. Luckily he stayed in. He loved it so I'm excited to take him to Lagoon during Frightmares. It's cooler then :).

We went bowling with our great friends Jon and Aubrey. They moved in next door in May and I'm so grateful! We've become great friends. I really enjoy all the fun activities we've done with them and the great conversations we have daily. We took Evan with us so he could experience bowling for the first time. They didn't have anymore of those ramps that help kids bowl so I had to help him. He took my first turn and I finished up. Once we rolled the ball down the lane, Evan would sit down and wait for it. He was being so cut and we made a great team! I really thought Jon would beat all of us but Matt ended up coming first and then him. I guess Evan helped in that lol! He's our little secret weapon. Evan and I came in third and then Aubrey. We had a great time. I wish I got a picture of Jon. I guess we have to do it again :).

We had a lot of game nights with our friends and family. We love playing Celestial Champions with our friends because it's fun getting to know them better.

We went on a lot of morning walks with Amy and Jen. Sometimes we would walk to get free food. That's always fun!

Matt and I took Jon and Aubrey to the Manti Temple. I look forward to our trips up there. It's one of my favorite Temples. The feeling there is just amazing! I also look forward to eating at the Manti House after the session because their food is also amazing! We got a group photo at the Temple but the lady that took the pictures managed to not take a picture with my camera. We heard the click so we thought she got us but all she did was focus. I have yet to get Jon and Aubrey's copy.

Evan had his first taste of Corn on the Cob and loved it. The white stuff is sour cream. Something he also tried for the first time.

We spent a lot of time outside playing in our front yard. Evan also helped water our plants but sometimes he takes it a step further in fun.


Evan aged really fast during the summer :). He's now 22 months so that makes him 2 years old in two months.

On Labor Day we went up into the mountains and had a picnic with Matt's family. We then drove up to Cascade Springs. It was a beautiful place and there's signs of Fall coming. Yay!

Our BYU Cougars had an amazing win against the Oklahoma Sooners.


Evan learned how to do somersaults.


There's nothing better then a nice cold drink of water on a hot summer day.


Our summer was a lot of fun but it left us tired.

We're excited that fall is coming, it's my favorite time of year.

Ahhh!

You all know that Evan's favorite songs are "The Peanut Song" and "If You're Happy and you Know It" from our last post. What we didn't tell you is that it's the only songs he wants to here. If we sing something else, no matter what, he will scream! We got it on video yesterday while visiting our families. During the taping our battery died just when he started to scream on another round of songs. It's too funny to not post. When we take Evan's photo he loves to say cheese so that's what you hear when I first start filming. He thought I was going to take his photo :). We love that kid!!!