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.