March

Shelley, Leah and I planned a Udall girl cousin weekend in Scottsdale! Hillary hooked us up with cheaper rooms at the JW Marriot because her mother in law works for Marriot. 

We started the night with dinner at The White Chocolate Grill. Almost everyone came and even Adelle flew down from Idaho for it!

We had some fun back at the hotel, staying up late playing games and binging on treats. I can't even remember why Shelley came out in this. She forgot pajama bottoms?! Who knows, but we were all busting a gut.

The next day we just planned to lounge poolside and soak up the sun! We started out with sunny skies, but sadly, they blew away and we had clouds and even RAIN for a while! Boooo! 

The hot tub kept us warm!

We were literally the only people out at the pool and I think the staff was bored and felt sorry for us, so a guy came out with free macarons! Yes, please! Everyone started trickling away, but Marcie, Shelley, Sarah, Hillary and I stayed til the bitter end. Then we got Masa sushi for dinner and finally headed home after the kids were in bed. There was a little bit of drama with a certain cousin who tried to bail on the weekend, so if I'm being honest, it wasn't as much fun as I thought it would be. Which is a bummer, because I had been looking forward to this for weeks. Sometimes, I think my heart is a tad too sensitive. 

Mr. Collin turned 10! Double digits! He chose Red Robin for his birthday lunch. Since his actual birthday falls on spring break, and the last Friday of school was a 1/2 day, I took him out the Thursday before. 

Tanner had fry sauce alllll over him, alllll over me and pretty much allll over the universe. It's fine. I needed to wash my hair anyway.

Alrighty... a little about Collin at 10.

*He is going to be the best husband. He is so considerate of my feelings. He clues in really fast when I'm cranky or short with the kids and will put his arm around me and genuinely say, "I'm sorry you're having a hard day." He notices when the other kids are fighting or frustrating me and tries to intervene to help.

*He has a low pain threshold. He stresses about shots, the idea of surgery, cancer or anything medically related. If he gets hurt and thinks he might need stitches, he goes from 0-10 in two seconds. Think, big baby, drama king, panic attack. 

*He is a man that needs a plan. He wants to know what the schedule for the day is and the week and the month. But mostly what fun thing he can look forward to. If nothing really exciting is happening, he'll take the next best thing. Like, he'll talk about how pumped he is for the school lunch or that it's Friday in three days, haha. 

*He is a TALKER! Always, always talking. If I'm outside watching the kids play, it's Collin who is back to me every 1-2 min. updating me on the thing he just did. I would say his love languages are quality time and verbal affirmations. Oh wait, maybe gifts instead. He loves presents! And he's so fun to give to because he flips out when he opens a gift. He is GREAT at being expressive!

*He is a questioner! He does not take life at face value, he wants to know WHY things happen. 

*He is our funny man. Very proud of his "class clown" status. He seems happiest when he's making people laugh. 

*He has great self-esteem and confidence. In his mind, he is the best at everything! I'm so glad too. That's one quality I've always wanted for my children. 

*He is so grateful. If he were one of the ten lepers, he'd be the one who came back to say thank you. He will often, out of the blue, say something like, "Mom, thank you so much for all you do for us. You make all the food and clean the house and drive us everywhere. You must be so tired. We're so lucky we have you."

I think he probably learned it from his father. :) 

*His favorite foods are chicken wings, bean dip, bacon, orange chicken, popcorn and CHIPS. Ohhh that kids loves his chips! He is not a fan of Mexican food, Malt-o-meal or oatmeal. He doesn't want ketchup or mustard on his hot dog or mayo on his sandwiches. No dressing on his salad or veggies either. So I guess he likes dry food! 

*He loves watching Liv and Maddie, The Thundermans, Good Luck Charlie and Jessie. 

He has matured so much these past couple of years and is really a pretty easy kid now. He's fun to be around and has such a great personality! I love him so much!

What happens when you're making dinner and Tanner is roaming your feet. Random packet of fruit snacks got dropped into my rolled up pants.

Time to reupholster the kitchen chairs again. Didn't I just do that? I'm done with fabric. Vinyl is the name of the game.

I created a book nook in the upstairs toy loft. I've always wanted one. Doesn't it look so cozy? Doesn't it look so inviting?! I worked really hard on finding the quotes on the wall and I even "designed" (I use that word loosely) the Harry Potter one so that I didn't have to pay $15 on Etsy for it. Reading was my very happiest {place} growing up. I don't know if any of my kids have the reading bug like I did, but if they ever consider it, there's a bean bag chair with their name on it.

Cousin sleepover to kick off spring break! Complete with Belgian waffles and homemade buttermilk syrup.

He had just got a diaper change and was supposed to be heading up the stairs to the bath, but instead I found him snuggling the stairs. Silly kid.

For his actual birthday he chose chicken alfredo spaghetti!

He has no idea how to play, but you'd think by this picture he was a serious, 2 year old, gamer.

He's so cute getting under the covers and pulling them up to his chin. 

The Kings were in town for spring break so we met them at Joe's Farm Grill then they came to see our new house! I absolutely loved seeing them and was so glad they took the time to visit us!! Love this family and miss them so much!

Oh.my.HECK. why is it so cold?!! Collin was begging to go to the skate park on his birthday so I took everyone and it was more like Alaska than Arizona! That we lasted as long as we did is pure insanity.

Headed to the Arizona Grand for a little staycation! Grandma's treat! We are so lucky! 
We had two adjoining rooms and it was as chaotic as you'd imagine. Got pizza for the kids and Thai food for the grown ups for dinner. Hit up the pool and hot tubs right outside our room at night. Grandma paid $20 for the kids to watch the new Spiderman cartoon movie in the room. Tried to get some sleep. Unsuccessful. Tanner woke up all night long and was in and out of my bed. Everyone went to the waterpark in the morning, but I hung back so Tanner could at least get in a morning nap. Thankfully, he was awesome at the pool! Not fussy and didn't try to dive in while I wasn't looking. We ordered nachos and drinks galore and while the weather wasn't exactly HOT, it was a good amount of warm. Collin even scored his first bad sunburn of the year. The night was hell, but the day made up for it!

Dipping an oreo in my cheese when I wasn't looking... come on, Tanner!

Near the end of the day, Olive put a towel over her head and got very still. She fell asleep! Sawing logs. Sitting straight up. 

Ouch. I guess she got a bit burned too.

Travis came to the pool after work and picked up the boys to drive to Flagstaff so they could snowboard tomorrow. He took ZERO pictures. Hrmpf. I told him, "You've been married to me for how long and you took NO pictures??!" He did send me one video. They did the ski school in the morning and actually seemed to be picking things up! Weston skied and Collin snowboarded. 

It was some anniversary thing for Let's Play Music at Organ Stop Pizza, so I invited Shelley and the kids loved it. Tanner was completely fascinated by all the lights and music and Olive was dancing in her seat!

Getting a cupcake while walking out the door was NOT my favorite. And just like a rookie, I actually let Tanner have it in his carseat!! Whaaaaat was I thinking?!!! The picture doesn't do the mashed and crumbled mess justice.

Saturday bike ride and picnic at the park! 

The Harris'invited us to a St. Patrick's Day party! We ate corned beef and played a white elephant game. It was really fun getting to know some of the other couples better! I even found out I used to go to elementary school with one of the girls... Stefanie Albright! Small world!

Celebrating at Grandma's house!

In 4th grade at Neely, the field trip is exciting business because they get to go to the Sonora Desert Museum in Tuscon! I guess they always have lots of parents volunteer so they have to do a lottery and lookie who won?! It took quite a bit of planning to have Tanner watched and after school activities figured out, but I made it happen. We had to be at the school at 6:45am and didn't get back until 5pm so it was a long day. Collin seemed really excited that I was there so I was happy I could do it with him! The kids were pretty squirrely on the bus ride over, but I went to my zen place and things got much better once we arrived.

The kids had little booklets to fill out as we walked around the grounds. It kept them on task and occupied. I only had 4 kids in my group which was perfect. 

Near the end of the day we discovered an indoors play place (hallelujah! It was HOT outside!) that you had to make reservations for and could only play for 45 min. We went twice, haha! I got myself a Diet Pepsi and read a little out of a book I brought while they played. It was my saving grace. On the bus ride home, I shared my earphones with Collin and we watched "The Man Who Knew Too Little". I had to explain a lot. ;)

Collin is such a happy kid and so grateful. It's one of his best characteristics. He is genuinely so thankful when I do things for him and this was no exception. I'm really glad I was able to share this experience with him!

My mom was awesome and picked these two up from the bus stop and took them to Craig's tennis match after school! I think Paula had Tanner all day. Bless her!

Look at my boys all full of illuminating character!!

Tanner likes to dress the part at the batting cages.

It was finally time to have Collin's party! I can't remember the last time he got to have a big birthday party. He was due! So we mortgaged our house and paid for a KTR package deal. It was tricky finding a date we didn't already have scheduled with other activities and I wondered if it would conflict with other kids' busy schedules too. Luckily, EVERY kid he invited was able to come! It was great! He seems to be well liked at school. Once, I was teasing him and said something along the lines of "Oh, you're just sooo popular!" and he replied confidently, "I know! I am!" And then he got really serious and said again like he needed me to know, "No, Mom, really. I AM popular at school. Like, I'm one of the most popular kids at school!" It made me laugh! I have no idea if he is or isn't, but it wouldn't surprise me! He has a big personality, loves to make people laugh and is just fun to be around!

We ordered pizza and drinks through KTR but was able to bring our own cake. He tells me that he's known as The Big Dorito at school so I surprised him by putting that on the cake!

We got this whole suite to ourselves, complete with a TV, foosball and table shuffleboard.

It was such a smorgasbord of kids! He had friends from this ward, our last ward, school and cousins. 

We had a talk with Collin about making sure all his guests felt included and like they were getting attention from him and he was really good to make sure that happened. I was proud of him!

Back row: Lincoln Monahan, Nathan Gawley, Colton Devold, Weston Saunders

Middle row: Kate Christensen, Rusty, Weston, Collin, Howie Grimsley, Casey Thomasson, Crew West, Lane

Front: Bryson Higgins

Legos, Nerf guns and games! He made out with a lot of fun stuff. Three of this particular Iron Man set, haha! 

The night was a success! They played until they were sweaty, ate lots of pizza and all seemed to have a great time! 

They've been practicing for several weeks, but now it's time to play! Opening day was March 22. 

Saturdays we were at the fields most of the day! Olive and Lindi's games were always at 8am. Sigh. No rest for the weary over here! She struck out a lot of times. Possibly, MOST times, but whenever she did get a hit, we cheered our heads off! 

Pinewood Derby 2019!

The past two years haven't been great for Collin, poor guy. I guess making fast derby cars isn't in the cards for Trav. Oh well! Someone has to lose, right? We wondered what it would be like with both boys racing. We were shocked when Weston's car won his first race! Collin's face was PRICELESS! Ohhhh if I could have gotten it on video! Completely slack jaw. Like he was thinking, "what the heck?! Dad's cars always lose! It's a conspiracy against me!" Luckily, Collin's car did alright too. It wasn't really fast, but it wasn't coming in last either. We'll take average!

58 & 57 I think! 

Life with a toddler, Exhibit Q:

Vacuuming and then having tiny pebbles thrown all over the floor.

All of the water jugs rearranged in the living room... spilling left over water on the ground as he went.

Such a busy little beaver.

He is almost always surrounded by doting cousins when we're at the Evans. Being the youngest grandchild has it's benefits!

Collin submitted some art work of a missionary greeting someone to The Friend magazine and impatiently waited until the next edition came out, hoping to find his drawing in it. I tried to tell him it was probably a long shot, but his enthusiasm couldn't be tamed. A few weeks later, I got an email informing us that it was displayed on their web page! I don't think it was quite what he was hoping for, but I thought it was cool!

I was asked to help put on the Relief Society birthday activity and we chose a Mad Hatter theme. It all turned out so cute! And Oreganos catered so that was a win!

 Some of our friends from Buffalo came into town for a dental conference... Marianne and Josh Twiss and their two girls, Harper and Finn. Marianne invited me to come swimming at their hotel pool the first two days so Tanner and I got to enjoy Hotel Adeline on Thursday and I let Olive skip school and come to the JW Marriott on Friday!

Shelley was so nice to watch Tanner for me on Friday so I didn't have to stress about a drowning 1 year old while we visited!

Their nachos weren't good at all, if you couldn't tell. ;)

Olive and Harper are two, sweet & girly peas in a pod!

Boy howdy, this was a Saturday for the record books! 

The Twiss' stayed with us Friday night so we stayed up late talking. 

I felt bad leaving them in the morning, but there was so much to do!

Olive had a baseball game at 8am.

Then we stopped by to wish Grandma a happy birthday.

Rushed home to get Olive dressed and ready for a dance performance at the Tempe Arts Festival.

Ugh. City festivals are awful! So much traffic, blocked roads and no parking! And it was melt your flip flops hot. It was so stressful getting her there and we were late! She was so cute performing though! I love watching her dance!

Stopped for gas, an ice cream cone anddd what the heck. A delicious pretzel and cheese! It was 3pm and I hadn't eaten lunch!

Josh had invited his mom, BJ, who lives in Casa Grande, over to visit so she was at our house when we got back. We knew her from Buffalo too so it was fun to see her! I felt so bad I only had an hour to visit and get ready though before I had to leave and go meet Jefferson for our date! I had bought an "exotic car experience" for him for Christmas and this was the only weekend the company was in town until November! Marcie had bought one for Austin too, so we were there at the same time. Jefferson seemed to really get a kick out of driving it. Bummer that it was only 3 laps though!

Jefferson and I went to Grimaldi's for dinner afterward and had a great time catching up on life! I love that boy and wish we were closer. I'm so grateful he trusts me enough to open up when we are together though. As I was driving home, I realized I had missed some calls from Marcie. She and Austin had gone to the hospital after the car thing to have Marcie checked because she hadn't been feeling right since the car accident she'd been in a couple days ago. I guess when they hooked her up to the monitors, they didn't feel like there was enough movement by the baby, so they were keeping her longer for observation. I couldn't get a hold of her so I called my mom and she caught me up on the situation. I got home and changed and finally had time to visit with Marianne and Josh. I felt so bad for ditching them the whole day!! It's just our lives right now. About an hour later I got another call from Marcie. The doctors were worried about the baby so they were inducing her. She was scared and crying and I immediately ran for the door to get to the hospital to be with her. Since Josh and Marianne were there, Travis came too and he was able to help give her a blessing with Austin and my dad. They wouldn't let very many people back in the room, but I did get a little bit of time to be with her and try to help comfort her. At that point, they didn't have any open delivery rooms, so we all went home around 1 or 2am to get some sleep. At 8am the next morning she text that if I wanted to come back and be apart of the delivery I could! I think I squealed with excitement! Absolutely I wanted to go! My mom and Shelley came too. Marcie decided to not get an epidural because of her curved spine and the problems they've had in the past with putting the needle in. I think she was also afraid of getting a spinal headache like I did. Well, she made the right decision! She was a CHAMP. She kept her earphones in with soothing music and stayed totally relaxed during contractions. It was amazing to watch. She is a pro-baby-birther! When it was time to push she hardly cried out at all. I had one leg and Austin had the other one and my mom was off to the side videotaping. She did seem to panic a little at the very end, but no one was talking to her, so I started coaching her. Oh my gosh, it was amazing to watch it all happen!! With Landon, I was off to the side and not really able to see much, but this time I got to watch the whole process and it was just incredible! Such a beautiful moment! I had tears in my eyes when Madeline came out and started crying! Then I grabbed my camera and tried to catch a few pictures. So, so happy for Marcie and Austin! And so grateful that everything worked out well after such a scary start last night. Madeline looks the part! Definitely a Figureoa.