Travis & Stephanie Evans Family: September

Allergy shots! Both Weston and Tanner have horrible, nearly debilitating seasonal allergies. We decided to take the long term plunge of allergy shots, which should gradually teach their body to not react to those allergens anymore. Weekly shots for about 5 months, then every other week for a couple months and finally once a month for a couple years. If it will help them for the rest of their lives, this is worth it!

Life is so strange these days. Weekends roll around and some or most of the kids will be gone with friends or various activities. This particular night, Collin and Tanner were around so decided to invite them on our date night for sushi and trying out Scoopwell's Dough Bar!

Labor Day weekend we went to the river with the Evans' in the morning and swimming at Grandma Lindblom's in the afternoon!

On actual Labor Day we drove up to Payson to do the Waterwheel hike. It really wasn't a hike at all though. Just a day of playing in the water! Way too cold for me but the kids were brave. And with all that cliff jumping I was just glad no one got hurt. Also, Weston caught a fish in his bare hands. Not surprised.

Can't go through Payson without stopping at the fancy milkshake place!

Time to part with the dollhouse. Tear. We rearranged Olive's room which was the unforeseen cause of many anxious nights for her. Finally got adjusted.

Just living that thug life.

I volunteer in Tanner's classroom on Thursday mornings! I drive the kids to school and stay for the first hour, helping the kids with their seatwork. Tanner relies on me a little too much. Trying to wean him off me. I like getting to see his teacher in action and get to know the kids. It's a really good class and his teacher is seasoned and has great classroom management.

I got to watch Nora one morning, but she was not pleased with the situation. About an hour of crying and not wanting me to go anywhere near her. I tried everything. Eventually, with the help of Winnie (she loves dogs) I got her to trust me.

It was Grandparent's Day at Greenfield but grandma and grandpa were in Tahiti so mom went instead!

For Posey's birthday gift, we gave her an experience! Splatter painting at a place on Gilbert and Southern. It turned into a fun, mom/daughter date.

Weston's last year of Little League baseball. His team was full of his friends. We carpooled with Mason Payne and Elijah Lawerence.

He went to a Highland football game and met this guy. No idea who he is. Someone famous I guess.

Camilla asked if Austin wouldn't mind coming to talk at Kids for Kindness since their theme was focused on first responders. He did great! It was fun listening to him. Not an easy profession to be in.

Someone finally got her birthday donuts!

Olive was BEYOND thrilled when we got to church and her old teacher, Mr. Scanlan, was coming out of the ward before us. He was there for a missionary talk.

Dropping off a treat for the Porters and spending some time on the temple grounds with the kids on a Sunday night. Travis was on a paddleboarding trip with Gary.

So sweet, snuggled up to dad!

This next experience really deserves a long explanation but I'm going to try and keep it brief. While Travis was out of town on his paddleboarding trip, I got a call from Josie. She was worried because her sister, Jessi, was missing. Jessi had been depressed for a long time and recently moved back in with her parents. She had said she was going camping with friends and would be home over the weekend but never showed up. After she called me, her parents called police and filed a missing person's report. The next day, they asked if there was anything Austin could do, so that's when he got involved. I spent a lot of time texting back and forth between them all. Austin had found a picture from an intersection camera of her car that felt like a clue for a second. Then the next day I went over to the Thompson's to bring Lisa and Jerry lunch and sat with Lisa to talk about things. They felt that she had passed on, but without knowing where her body was, there was no closure. My heart ached for them. The police called while I was sitting there and Lisa put in on speaker phone so I could hear. My stomach lurched, not knowing if this was the moment they were going to tell her they found Jessi. It wasn't. And actually, it showed me how little the police were doing. I can't blame them, there are hundreds of missing people. It made me realize what an asset Austin was. Later that night, they got a lead that she might be in the mountains near Globe so her parents and a friend and aunt and uncle headed there to search. I went to their house to be with Josie while she waited for news. We were sure they would find her. The hours dragged on until they called to say they couldn't find her. They were absolutely crushed. I went to bed that night determined to do something. I decided I would fast the next day. But that didn't feel like enough. I wanted to go search. It was Wednesday. I got the kids off to school and drove straight to the Thompsons. A neighbor was over, helping search records on their computer. Jessi's friend and given them Jessi's ipad and they were getting info from that. When I walked in, Lisa was on the phone with Austin. I sat next to their neighbor and tried to help where I could. We were waiting on the cell phone company to give us information from her phone which had been shut off the Friday before. Then we went into the living room and I had her Ipad now and was looking through search history, pictures and her notes app. Looking for anything that could be a clue. Everything I found was heart wrenching. I felt like time stood still as I read her suicide notes. There were exact coordinates listed in her notes app. That had to be where she was. Then everything happened so fast. Their bishop had come over and we were splitting up into cars, heading to Globe. I called Shelley to see if I could borrow some shoes because I was wearing sandals and there was a possibility that Jessi had hiked into the woods and we'd be hiking, trying to find her. Lisa, Jerry and their daughter, Jordan rode together in their car. I followed behind them. Their bishop and neighbor went together but they ended up being about 20 min. behind us. I couldn't believe what was happening. I talked to Austin on and off on the drive but then service cut out. He had alerted the police in Globe so they could go check out the coordinates.

Travis was still out of town and not even in cell phone range so I couldn't talk to him at all. We drove to Globe and then pulled off on a very narrow, windy, dirt, mountain road. I wondered if we were on the right road. We took a wrong turn at one point and had to turn around. On we drove. We were getting close. Just about 15-20 more minutes till we'd get there. Suddenly, I had service. I got a text from Austin. They had found her body. She was dead. They wanted me to stop her parents from going any further and coming up on the scene.

I don't know how I did it.

I called Lisa and asked her if she wouldn't mind pulling over for a minute. She seemed surprised but replied, "sure, of course!"

We both pulled over and I got out of my car and started walking towards hers, trying to keep my face composed. She was driving and opened her door and looked back at me, confused. Then, realization reflected on her face and she said, "Do you have news? Have they found her???" Right as I got to her she said as her voice broke, "Is she dead???!" I nodded my head and whispered, "I'm so sorry, Lisa" She collapsed into my arms sobbing. The whole weight of her body in my arms, heaving with grief as she sobbed. I held her and cried too. I could see Jerry and Jordan breaking down. It was a moment I will remember for the rest of my life. I don't know that I've ever felt such a crushing weight of sadness. This poor family. This poor mother. And me, the deliverer of this devastating, life altering news. How was this happening? I was award of a car pulling up behind us on the road and a woman getting out and cautiously approaching us. She had on a sweatshirt. I looked over and said, "we just got some terrible news". She nodded and explained that she was the sheriff and was heading to the scene. When she understood that Lisa and Jerry were the parents she was so very compassionate and tried to answer all their questions. She begged them to not go any further and let them handle the situation. Then the bishop and neighbor drove up and everyone was crying and hugging. They were worried about how to tell Josie, who was waiting back at home. I said that I could drive back and be with her when they called to tell her. They liked that idea so I got back in my car and drove the two hours back to Mesa. Jerry has a sister in Globe so they had decided to wait at her house until the bishop could get Jessi's car. She hadn't done it in her car so the car was usable. When I got to the Thompson's house, I text Lisa that I was there. I walked into Josie's room. She was in bed. She looked up and saw me and asked, "Did they find her?" Right then, her phone started ringing. I told her to answer the phone and sat down next to her while her mom talked. Then I held her while she sobbed. I spent the next 4 hours with her while she cried and asked questions and tried to process everything. Kenzi, who is a dear, trusted friend, walked in around 5pm, so I was able to leave at that point. Marcie was incredible and came over before the kids got out of school and was with them all afternoon until I could show up. When I got home, her and my mom were there to help get kids where they needed to be. I was so so grateful. I don't know what I would have done without Marcie. I needed to get Collin to dive so my mom left with Weston for baseball and I dropped Collin off. Marcie stayed until I got back. I felt numb. I hadn't eaten all day. It was such a weird feeling to have gone through something so traumatic and I couldn't even talk to Travis.

I back over to the Thompsons the next morning for a while to see how I could help with the funeral. I offered to be the photographer if they wanted, which they did. Then I visited with Josie for a couple hours. I went early to the viewing so I could take some pictures of the family before people showed up. The funeral was the next morning and I came early to that as well to take more family pictures. After the funeral we went to the cemetery and then back to the church for the luncheon. I just took pictures and video but didn't stay to eat. It was a very somber weekend. I felt such a depth of sadness for them all. My heart was very heavy.

I put the boys in charge of the mango salsa for dinner while I was driving kids around. Thank goodness they didn't blend!! I had to explain, this was a different kind of salsa haha. Only a gentle mix of the already diced ingredients.

Introducing Travis to my favorite food ever!!!

Last minute meet up at the park one Friday night, for pizza and cousin time!

These swim meets are a long process!

Just some random, chewed gum stashed behind a plant.

Even though my teaching certificate had expired, a new provision was made (I think they are desperate for teachers) that allowed me to renew my teaching license without taking any new classes! Wohoo! It turned into a hassle of requesting a name change (why did it still have Lindblom?), getting an ASU username, paying fees and filling out paperwork. But after a few weeks of jumping through hoops, I got it! First step in becoming a substitute teacher!

The usual block party in May, got postponed to September. So glad it still happened!

Tanner threw his paper airplane and it landed under Grace's car, haha!

We auditioned for the Easter pageant!! I have wanted to do this for years! We auditioned the year before the temple closed for renovations but didn't get in. It's all online now. You fill out the paperwork then send in a video. Everyone auditioning says their name and age and then takes 30 seconds to say why they want to be in the pageant. Our lives are so busy. We literally had a one hour window one Sunday to get this done. The kids were less than enthused. They blandly said things like, "I want to be in the pageant because it would be cool." I tried to coach them or suggest things but it was a disaster. I wanted to bawl. I actually don't know how I kept the tears from spilling out. I had to tell myself that it was the best we could do and if it was meant to be, we'd get chosen.

Well, follow up. A couple days later I was in the shower thinking about the audition video and an idea came to me. Why not have each child get dressed up in whatever they would normally be doing at Easter pageant time. Like, Olive would wear her leotard and do a few seconds of dancing then explain that she dances 17 hours a week but had asked special permission from her studio to be in the Easter pageant and they had said yes. And even though she loves dancing, she would give that up to have this experience in the pageant. Then she shared a part of the pageant she loved from last year. Tanner wore his soccer uniform and kicked a soccer ball before saying that he'd normally be playing soccer but he'd rather walk with Jesus in the pageant. Weston put on his baseball uniform and caught a ball before talking. I filmed Collin after a football game so he was standing under the field lights with his football for his video. He said he didn't initially love the idea of being in the pageant but knows it would mean a lot to his mom and since she thinks it would be a good experience before his mission, she's "usually right about these kinds of things". Haha.

I was so excited about the idea!! And this way I could videotape everyone separately and edit the clips into one video so it didn't matter that we weren't all together. I know this idea didn't come from my own head. Heavenly Father threw my non-creative brain a bone!

Ok, back to the original video. Afterward, we were frantically getting ready to leave for Grandma's house for dinner when there was a knock at the door. It was Elder Christensen and his mom and brother!! I guess I should say Justin, now that he's not a missionary anymore! It was a total surprise. We were thrilled. He lives in Utah but had brought them down to show them his mission. We invited them in and talked for 30-40 minutes. We sent the kids next door to see if Allie was available to come and she was! Justin was such a good missionary. I was really glad he stopped by.

Her poor, future husband haha!

Parents were invited to the school to see a little preview of what the kids have learned in orchestra so far.

The kids see all these short, cooking ideas online so we decided to try one out for FHE. You take a pickle spear, a string cheese and chicken tenderloin and wrap with bacon then air fry it. Not too shabby!