Over The Weeks

It's been a while since I last posted! We've been pretty busy here in the Evans' house! Football has started for Cory, Caiti is in Gymnastics, school has started for our 2nd grader and our 6th grader and we are all over town with our busy schedule yet again!

Cory started the 6th grade and is off to a great start! He has had no problems getting into the new schedule and really likes his new teacher! He is also in his 4th year of football. He is playing with the San Luis Rey Trojans. It is a team in Oceanside, right outside of base.  He has many positions again and plays them all to the best of his ability! Him and his team actually won their first game!!!! 

Caiti entered the 2nd grade with a smile! She was very eager to meet her new teacher and couldn't wait to make new friends! She is so excited about everything she is going to be learning this year! She has started gymnastics at a local gym here and she loves it! Her friend, Avril, introduced her to it.  I am really glad because Caiti is taking to it very well!! 

Jay and I are wonderful! Busy busy parents! Jay is an Asst. Coach on Cory's football team so he stays very busy between work and coaching.  I am super busy and super happy just doing my mommy thing! Life is wonderful! We found a new church to plant our feet! It's called New Song Community Church and we love it! We are looking forward to growing there thru the years!

Not much else, just wanted to do a quick update! I did do the kids school pictures and I will also be doing their activity pictures. I will get those sent out hopefully by Friday!

MUCH LOVE AND MANY BLESSINGS!!

Visit to Minnesota

The kids and I used to take a trip to MN at least once a year and would spend roughly a month there. Well with Jason being non-deployable, visits like that just don't happen. So it's been about 4 years since we went to Minnesota and we finally got to spend some time up there. It was a 9 day visit and we enjoyed every minute of it!  Again, there were a lot of pictures taken so I'm only going to share one from each day spent there. The main purpose for our visit was because my Mom was getting remarried. She wanted me to be her photographer so she made this trip possible for me and the kids.

Our trip started out immediately with wedding stuff. The day after we arrived, we had the wedding rehearsal and dinner. I was very impressed with the location of the wedding, it was beautiful! We had the rehearsal dinner at Don Pablos.

Saturday the 21st was the big day! The Hensel wedding was beautiful! I really enjoyed taking pictures for Mom and Al. Wedding photography is very tricky and I learned that it's only something I will do for family, ha ha ha!

The day after the wedding we went to Como Zoo with Al's family. They had to head back to Wisconsin so the day was short. After they left, we headed over to Como Town so Cory & Caiti could ride some rides and play. We learned Cory can not go on the Teacups and that Caiti can ride a Level 5 rollercoaster but NOT a little kiddie rollercoaster! ha ha ha!

On Monday, Al took all of us on a 2 hour cruise. It was on a ferry boat down the Mississippi River. It was very relaxing and a lot of fun! The kids spent most of the time inside the boat where the a/c was and of course I was out on the deck taking as many pictures as I could! It was a guided tour so we learned about a few things along the River.  After that we went to an art sculpture park and saw some pretty interesting sculptures. Then we finished off the day with some ice cream!

Thursday we took the kids back to the Mall of America so we could walk around some more and let them finish off their ride tickets.  They spent all their time on the swings...it was so fun to watch them! We enjoyed some time in the arcade, had lunch, shopped a bit and then headed down to the Aquarium that is located underneath the mall.  It was really cool!

On Friday we started off the day by heading over to Minnehaha Falls. Took some pictures by the waterfall and then rented bikes and rode around the park.  Cory wanted his own and Mom, Caiti and I went in a cruiser together.  Then we went and grabbed some lunch and ended up heading over to the Verizon store to get me a new phone because mine had lost it's Android mind! Once we finished up there the kids & I headed over to see Grandad and Kathy. The kids went swimming, we ordered pizza and then celebrated my Dads birthday early.  It was so nice seeing them!

Saturday morning Al had a Motorcycle Rally to attend at the Children Hospital. Mom asked if I could take some pictures so we headed over there. It was really cool watching all the bikes pull up in front of the hospital. All I could think about was what the kids up in the rooms were thinking when they heard all that rumbling! Sure wish they could have come out and seen it! We took a tour in the hospital and the guide was telling us all about what they do. It touched my heart just being there. We got some bracelets that the patients made...I will always remember those kids when I wear my bracelet.

Here is a picture of all of us before we headed to the airport. Thank you Mom & Al for letting us stay and for trusting me enough to take your wedding pictures! We enjoyed our trip!

Here, There & Everywhere

So it's been almost a month since I posted anything...I'll try and catch you all up on what's been going on here with our family! I'd love to share the pictures of everything but we have been all over the place over the last 3 1/2 weeks so there are many, many pictures! So I'll just post a few from all the fun things we've been doing.

On July 7th, my dear friend Erica and her husband, Chris came to visit us for 9 days! We started off the visit by going to Old Town and Seaport Village and Point Loma. Enjoyed a delicious mexican lunch, shopped at the cute stores and took many pictures!

The next day we headed up to LA to see Hollywood, Beverly Hills and have lunch at The Ivy (a hot spot for celebrities). We walked amongst the stars on Hollywood Blvd., made our own tour of the celebrity homes...found Halle Barry's home, CeeLo Greenes home that he just sold and drove right alongside the Playboy Mansion (even spoke to Heffs security guard, haha).

 

We spent the next day visiting the Point Loma Lighthouse, riding bikes at Belmont Park and enjoying the most beautiful beach in San Diego...La Jolla Coves.

We went down to the Embarcadaro and visited the Maritime Museum. Saw a bunch of old ships & submarines and took a 45 minute cruise on the San Diego Bay.

Jay was gone majority of the time Erica & Chris were here but made it home in time to spend the day at the San Diego Zoo with us. We walked around for a bit then took the guided tour around the zoo. The kids loved the skyway that took us high up above the zoo! They just thought that was so cool!

           

Our last day together, Erica and I took some time alone. We headed down to where we first met...our high school! We asked the front office if we could walk around and take some pictures, it was pretty awesome being back there! We had a lot of fun trying to take some pictures of ourselves!! We reminsced on things we did and pointed out all the spots where we hung out, remember certain things happening and recalled many places we took pictures! After we visited the school, we went to get some friendship tattoos done.

Erica & I have been friends for 20 years. She is more like a sister to me. My mom even says how she basically 'adopted' Erica! She is a very special person in my life and I am so thankful we got to spend all this time together!

A Little Touch up

I had to do some pruning out front and decided to add a few other touches. I took a lot of my Americana decor down in the living room and brought it outdoors. The Americana-ness now blends from the front yard into my sitting area and then right as you walk in my front door...and stops there! :) I really like it much better outside!

A Simple 4th

Some people might think we are weird for staying home and having a quiet 4th of July. For most it's a day to get together with many of their friends and family to BBQ and do whatever the day may bring. And yes, we love doing that too but this year we decided that no matter who shot out an invite we were going to respectfully decline their offer and just spend this day together as a family. Now...the kids were outside most of the day and we were okay with that because no matter what I don't think the kids should be cooped up inside as long as the weather is good and their behavior has been as well. So most of the day it was just Jay and I, hanging out. We did a couple things around the house, watched some TV, picked on eachother and then made dinner together. That was my favorite part of the day! I even dabbled in grilling! I grilled some sliced potatoes and for those who know me....I DO NOT LIKE FIRE therefore I DO NOT GRILL!  We got everything ready and then had the kids come home. It was great! We hoped to have been able to see fireworks from our home but unfortunately we could not see any. It really didn't make a difference on our day...it was still a day well spent!

Vrooooom Vrooooom

Jay took Cory out for a quick ride on his motorcycle. It was so cute to see Cory get so excited! He really enjoyed it and Jay said he did really well!

GRASS!

My wish for beatiful, lush, green grass has finally come true! I am one happy lady! Thank you Lawn Doctor for coming and saving our yard! I have been doing my job of watering twice a day and it has paid off. Our backyard looks great! We do have a couple of weeds here and there but nowhere in my wish did I state that I needed PERFECTION! LOL!!  It's beautiful and I can walk barefoot on it...very pleased!