Fall Leaves

We attempted to take our own family portraits this year with the beautiful fall foliage. We feel bad for our poor families out in Utah and Wyoming who are dealing with a bunch of snow so we thought we'd take advantage of our 60 degree weather in November and take some pictures. We went out before work one day so it was really bright and we just used our little tripod. We found this spot when Adam and I were walking one morning. It happens to be just across from the park on the road to the dump. We got a few strange looks as people drove past us with their pickups full of trash but we didn't mind.

Transportation Museum with Grandma Julie

We had so much fun when Grandma Julie (or Grandma Nana as Charlie started calling her). We went to the lake, drove her up to the transportation museum in Roanoke-(Charlie LOVEs choo-choos), bought some heirloom tomatoes at a street fair and forced her to ride the crooked road to the Mabry Mill. We made a yummy southern dinner complete with corn pudding, collard greens, grits and the tomatoes we bought. It was pretty good for our first time. We loved having her come visit and can't wait until she can come again. The boys got lots of good guy bad guy playing in and were pretty sad when she had to go home. I'll post more pictures once she posts them on shutterfly ;)

September Birthday Fun

At the last minute, we decided to throw Jack a birthday party with a pirate theme. We passed out some invites Sunday and his B-day was tues.

Lots of our friends from the branch came over and we cooked some kiddie Pizzas and popcorn for snacks. We started out the night decorating bandanas, but they couldn't wear them because silly me- I forgot that the fabric paint takes FOREVER to dry. So they all wore them home instead.

Check out the candy flying through the air...

Charlie was in heaven eating and waiting his turn for the Pinata. He went missing during the pinata part and Adam found him in the house polishing off someone's cake they had left on their plate- what a good little cleaner-upper...

Laura was the brave soul to take on the job of holding the stick while the wee blindfolded ones ran around swinging a big stick.

Almost to the end of the treasure hunt...

laura created the cutest poem for the treasure hunt with each verse leading them to the next clue for their pirate treasure. It was a pretty good poem- second only to her gutter poem from the 4th grade.

Blowing out his candles on his pirate cake.

His pirate party was a success. We hid treasures in the sandbox which we are still finding. I hope it was memorable to him- I think it was, he's already asking when he can have a birthday again.

September is a very busy month. the next week, we had Becky's birthday which thanks to packages from Grandmas got to be extended for several days- Thanks Guys- We absolutely love getting packages and mail from you!! I got what I'm pretty sure was my first ever princess party complete with tiaras for everyone!!! (good thing my boys are still young enough to wear tiarras... maybe the next one should be a girl...)

Thank you Dad for all those fun boating trips!

Today I gained a new appreciation for my Dad's 25 plus years as a scout/ youth leader for church. We just got home from taking our young men and young women out for an end of summer boating day. One of my counselors called last minute to say she couldn't get any of the food we needed, so I had to run buy it all not at Sams. We bought a barbeque and barbequed hot dogs for a cookout. Then we went down to Philpott and tubed and kneeboarded. There wasn't enough room so me and the kids had to play on the shore for an hour or two which was totally o.k. with them because they love the beach. I think everyone had a good time. At the end of the night we had one popped tube, one ripped tube (brand new- we bought it for this outing) a broken flag, a broken boat floor, and a rock chip in our van (from a rock someone accidentaly threw). The kids and I rode back to the dock on the popped tube and I can say that I think I now know what an enima feels like- yuck! Then we loaded up to head home, and after what I consider to be a significant sacrifice of time, $, and resources only one youth thought to say thank you as he drove off.

I always thought that my Dad just loved the youth and felt like a kid when he got the privaledge of taking them out on the boat. Yea, his scouts broke stuff occassionally, (like the several vans we went through when I was a kid) and they sometimes did dumn stuff like throw rocks for no good reason, but he loved them like they were his own. I don't think that I ever thanked him enough for taking me out on the boat as a teenager either. I'm starting to think that it might have been more of a sacrifice than I realized at the time- either that or my Dad is a little more Christ-like than I am. Probably both.

What's the going rate for the toothfairy?

My first baby boy lost his first tooth last weekend. He has told us that his tooth was wiggly for a few weeks now but we told him no it couldn't be, "You're only four and you're not supposed to lose your teeth until you are like six or seven." Last Saturday we were eating all you can eat sushi/ seafood and Jack set his corn down and smiled at me like this:

He lost his first tooth and probably swallowed it because we were not able to find it among all the sushi roll rice on the floor. We explained to him about the tooth fairy and he was very excited. We weren't so sure what the going rate was for the toothfairy but we figured since Jack loves money he wouldn't be too picky. When I was little the toothfairy gave us a quarter I think, but with inflation she now pays $1.50. One down, 19 more to go... He sure looks cute with his toothless smile.

The Evans Family Farm

As practice for having children, we bought 5 fish all but one promptly died within a few months. Suckerly Duckerly lived until we moved to Minnesota and he now resides with Julie and Scott Bradbury. Since having children we have not felt any need to have pets. When Aunt Laura moved in to our house she brought our first pet Fluffy the superstar turtle (click on the left for the story of Fluffy's trip accross the country) Fluffy has been upgraded to our front room and Laura bought him a new table and light and filter. He's living in luxury now.

Since we moved to the "country." Technically we live in a city still but since it is not Martinsville, we have different zoning regs. My consollation prize for enduring a cross town move (which incidentally is worse than a cross country) was that Adam agreed to let me get chickens. It took us a while but we finally got them.

They started out so cute and little and cuddley and within a week, they had grown and been transfered to their outdoor cage. Charlie LOVES them and calls them our "cheep cheeps."

baby cheep cheeps in their carrying case.

Laura bought a bunny which we named Madelyn but it was not a nice bunny and it ran away. We were then given a baby bunny. We were supposed to get two bunnys a grey and a white, but then Don figured out that one was a boy and one was a girl bunny and we decided we did not want to have them propogate like rabbits, so we decided to just take one. He is white and grey and very lovable. We had a family vote on his name that had to narrow down from 30 names to 20 names, to 5 names to one. Jack had trouble with the democratic process since he was outvoted. The bunny name is now Spike Jellybean Evans. A very manly name and it goes well with Fluffy the turtle.

Spike Jellybean Luke Skywalker Darthvator Bubble gum the third.

And last but not least the fourth member of our farm is our Beta Fish Shockey Lockey. I rescued him from being flushed following a stake youth dance. He was the centerpiece on one of the tables a few months ago, but he's still alive to. I'd say we are improving on our pet nurturing skills.

So to count them down now we have:

One bunny Spike Jellybean, one fish Shocky Lockey, one Fluffy the turtle, 5 baby chicks (I think their names are Apollo, Clucky, Cheep, White Guy, extra crispy and as of now no partridge in a pear tree, but just give Laura a few weeks and Im sure she'll think of something else. She's already told us she needs an early morning seminary mascot.

Gymnastics Stars

Our favorite Aunt Laura signed the boys up for a fun gymnastics class. They had lots of fun and Jack's favorite part was that he got to hang upside down alot and show off his summersaulting abilities.

This was there favorite. They hang from the zip line and slide down the cord to the foam pit.

His hardest part was learning to listen to the teachers and follow directions. I guess he might take after me.

He had to jump through hoops...

One proud Daddy.

The 6 hour hike...

We were told by my very fun and outdoorsy coworker about a hike up near Blacksburg called Cascade falls or something like that. We looked it up online and it said it was supposed to be 2 miles up to these waterfalls on a paved trail that was a great beginner hike for anybody.

Here we are just starting out. Before anyone had pit stands and while Jack was still walking of his own accord.

Laura taught Jack the art of poo-sticks. We hiked and hiked up these rock steps that were definately not "paved" like the trails in Utah. What we thought would take us an hour took us about three hours to get up. We thought about turning back several times but I kept thinking it must be just around the next bend... We finally made it (carrying Jack on my back the last 1/4 mile) and the Cascades were awesome. The waterfall was so high and the water sooo cold. Not at all like Philpott water.

Charlie boy

Laura looking like she's walking on water... :)

Jack has style!

Huge waterfall.

Kindergarten or Preschool?

Kindergarten or Preschool?- that is the question that shouldn't have ever been a question but has been knawing at us for weeks.

Warning- this is a frustrated soap box post, proceed at own risk.

The past two months have been extremely stressful as we have been preparing to send Adam back to school and find day care for charlie and preschool for Jack.We started applying to preschools 2-3 months ago. The local school district has a great full time preschool program with free bus service, free breakfast and lunch served daily and relatively small class sizes. We were first told that Jack wouldn't qualify because: 1. we were married, 2. we have college education and 3.we are not currently on welfare. "Are you kidding?" I asked, "So you're telling me we would have a better chance of getting into preschool if we were divorced or drug adicts?" "Yes" she said and then added to Adam, "It helps that you're unemployed, but it would be better if you have ever served time."! I couldn't beleve that we were being discriminated against because we are married and trying to take care of our children and make a life for ourselves. We then tried to get Jack into a Headstart program and they told us that we are the wrong race. The preschool grant system is set up so that they receive more money for each hispanic or black student they have so they take all of those children and then take the white children if they have any spaces left. That is crazy! In more than half of this town, we are the minority.

We then wondered if we were being led to put him in Kindergarten because here the deadline is Sept 30 so technically he is able. Utah's cutoff is Sept 1, and Jacks birthday is Sept 14th. I filled out all the papers and tried to register him for kindergarten but then I started hearing more horror stories about how much is demanded of kindergarteners. It is a full day program but the kids need to beable to write their first and last names, recite their adress and telephone number, write all their letters, (some can read already) and do basic math BEFORE going to Kindergarten. I thought that's what they were supposed to learn IN Kindergarten. We attempted to teach Jack to write his name, we bribed him with chocolate cake for each correct letter, but he still hated it and I could tell that he is just too competitive to start out at the back of the class. Not to mention that this is one of my Mom's soap boxes she has preached to everyone since I was a kid. "Boys mature slower than girls so if you have a boy on the fence keep him home an extra year." I beleived that... still do, but when we don't qualify for free preschool like everybody else, the only other option is preschool-daycare at $100/ week. I hate to make decisions for my childrens future based on money, but when you add up 2 kids in daycare, we're looking at $600/ month. (we do get a multiple child discount) That is almost more than our rent out here. Today we had hope for one last preschool option and set up appointments to screen him, show them our taxes, bla bla bla, and she told me that technically Jack is too old for the program by 14 days. I tried to explain our predicament to her, but there was no budging. As I hung up with her, I felt discriminated against again. 14 days!

That reminds me of our other 14 day problem. We are just a few weeks shy of having lived here for a full year and so we have been rejected for instate tuition meaning that one semester will cost us$6,000 instead of $2,000. We asked if there was anything we could do and they said no. If we made less money we could qualify for grants and if Adam had lost a job here, they would pay for all of his schooling. If he were female or a minority, there would be financial aid. There are absolutely no scholarships around here for middle class white males. It is so frustrating to me that thousands of people around here are receiving money, health care, food- (that was the first thing we learned here: NEVER EVER under any circumstances go to Walmart on the first of the month, the checkout lines are terribly long), and childcare assistance that is paid for by the working tax payers (like myself). I know some people genuinly need it, but I have seen so much fraud lately, and people who just think the government owes them for being alive and refuse to work because they are better off recieving government services, and if they get a job they will lose their benefits...

I am grateful for my job and for the opportunity I have of working and planning for a good future for my family. "I'm above the below and below the upper, I'm stuck in the middle where money gets tight but I guess I'm doin alright." As for now we've decided ot keep paying our tithing, try and find Adam a job that will pay for daycare, take less classes so tuition will be a little less, and pray that everything will work out.

Girls Camp

While the kids were gone, Adam and I went to girls camp with the girls in our branch. At the last minute we added 2 investigators who did awesome. They fell right in and made lots of friends and looked like they totally belonged.

Here's me walking across a rope as part of the ropes course. This scared me silly! But since I'm a leader, I had to pretend to be brave and hurry so that we could get back to the campfire. It was so high and the rope so wiggly, all I could do is focus on some branches in the distance and keep telling myself just keep moving, just keep moving...

Climbing a rock wall. My belayer dropped me like 5 or 6 feet and then I lost my trust... I guess I need more practice on this one.

I was in charge of the first year campers and I taught the girls the "All the Mormon Ladies" complete with dance sequence... yea, we are so awesome. The girls braded my hair into about 50 little braids and when the branch president came up, he didn't even recognize me.

Our cute Brittany who was a YC (Youth counselor) who just got baptised last fall.

Alyssa is in our branch and was in my group- the first years. We won the cleanest camper awards, the early to bed award and the first to the flagpole awards. We were called the powder Monkeys. Our camp theme was pirates seeking after hidden treasures.

Macayla and Megan standing in a line to state their title as Daughter of God.

One of our first years, Karly dug herself a whole at the swimming lake. Alyssa and Barry Moxley taking in the view of the hike.

Adam got to be a Mountain Goat and help all the girls climb over the boulders. I fell in love with him back in 2003 when he took me hiking down in Saint George. He is so sweet and helpful. He was a great addition to the girls camp. He had to stay up late giving homesick girls Priesthood blessings. It's a good thing he's so prepared and that he honors his priesthood so well. It rained the first 2 days and the girls had trouble getting their camp-fires started until Adam brought out the blow torch. Then the girls insisted that we roast smores on the blowtorch. Talk about toxins, that can't be healthy...

We learned some new silly songs. The East coast has more organized songs than I ever did and a TON of traditions like mail bar, land of destiny, snipe hunt, ooga booga, skits and more. It was very fun but we both arrived home exhausted and ready for a vacation.