January

 

Weston either has genetically bad teeth or he takes bad care of them. Seems he's in the dental chair more than anyone else!

Landon playdates are Tanner's very favorite! The Figs have the most idyllic backyard.

Collin's first time getting a haircut NOT from me. We lasted nearly 15 years! The hairstylist was very amused by his mullet choice. It turned out good! She even tried to give me some tips so I could do it myself. Update: It's October and he hasn't requested a return visit. I guess mom will do.  

Speaking of hair. I want to document this carefully. A good friend who struggles with depression, had not been able to get out of bed for some time and had not washed or brushed her hair in even longer. It was snarled so badly, it was completely matted against her scalp, with none hanging down. I was at a loss. I had never seen anything like it. I had brought detangling spray and picks but could not imagine any way that this was going to end without having to just cut it all off. We started googling wigs. She was worried about the cost but I told her I could pay for it. She actually wasn't against the "cut it all off" option as it would relieve her of the burden of caring for her hair. Good wigs turned out to be incredibly expensive so I said a prayer and started to pick at one part of her hair. It was very slow going. I continued to say prayers as I carefully combed and separated the snarls. Her hair is THICK. The thickest hair I've ever seen. She has easily 4x as much hair as I do. I'm not sure how long I worked. Many hours for sure. I truly couldn't believe it when I smoothed out the last section. And surprisingly, there really wasn't a ton of hair loss in the process. I had just watched a miracle occur. 

Each Sunday, for Come Follow Me, we watch videos created by Dave Bowman. He calls his program, Drawn In. Well, Shelley's stake primary had invited him to teach the kids at a Saturday activity. She invited us and we were so excited to see him in action! He taught a lesson and then guided the kids in drawing their own characters! 

That next week he had asked families to send in a picture of them holding their Book of Mormon so he could spotlight people in his following video. We did so, and as I was emailing to him, I felt prompted to share an experience with him. Here is the email:

Hi Bro. Bowman!

We came to see you at the Kimball East Stake primary activity on Saturday and LOVED getting to see you in real life! We don't belong to that stake, but my sister does and invited us because she knew how much we loved you. You are a celebrity in our family! We have been watching your videos every Sunday for a couple of years and as a parent, I can't thank you enough for what you're doing. Even I am entertained, edified and learn so much from each of your lessons. You are a gifted teacher and have provided many opportunities for us, as a family, to have gospel discussions and better learn from the scriptures. 

I wanted to share a special experience I had with my 6 year old son, Tanner, after seeing you on Saturday. I was extremely tired Saturday night as I was putting him to bed but he begged to read a book. We have your Who's Your Hero books, so I grabbed one and he asked if we could read the story about "holding onto that rod thing". We read that story and he paid such close attention and asked questions about many of the things in Lehi's dream. We sang Book of Mormon stories and he begged for more but I needed him to go to bed. I knew we should say prayers, but I am embarrassed to admit, I dismissed the thought because I was so tired and just wanted him to go to sleep. However, HE asked if we could say prayers so I said yes and asked him if he would say them. Normally he says rather short, simple prayers. Generally the main point he emphasizes is to ask to not have bad dreams. Well, this time, he said the sweetest, most thoughtful prayer I'd ever heard him utter. Without any prompting, He specifically said, "Thank you that Bro. Bowman could come and teach us about Jesus and.. " he whispered to me, "who was that other guy?" I reminded him, "Nephi". He continued, "... that he could teach us about Jesus and Nephi". After he finished it I said softly,"Tanner, that was the most beautiful prayer I've ever heard you say. I could tell you really thought about what you said." Then he started crying in a way I've never heard him cry. Kind of quiet sobs as he leaned into my shoulder. I wasn't sure what was going on. I asked him, "Are your feeling sad or happy?" He barely got out, "happy" and continued to cry. My heart melted. I thought about what we had just read and told him he was feeling the Spirit. He was feeling the same way Lehi and his family who ate the fruit felt! The love of God. He held onto me tighter and cried for several minutes. I told him I knew God was blessing him with a special experience because he had chosen to read the scriptures and pray. Now the Spirit was testifying of the truthfulness of what he read and letting him feel the love of God. He is so young! Six! And yet at age 6 he can feel and recognize the Spirit.

I just wanted you to know that what you are doing is making a difference. He loved being able to see you in person and draw Jesus and Nephi with you! I watched you and noticed how hard it is to command a crowd of 150 children. It's noisy and chaotic and maybe you wondered if anything landed. Well, it did. These kids are learning and you are doing a great work! Thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to do these in-person presentations. We love and appreciate you!!

Love, the Evans family

Travis, Stephanie, Collin, Weston, Olive and Tanner

(You can see in the picture, even our ornery teenager joins us for Drawn In, haha)

He was so sweet, thanking me for my email, then a few weeks later her reached out again and asked if he could share my story in one of his videos! So cool! I said yes and we were so excited to watch the episode. He drew Tanner and I as he shared the story! We felt like celebrities! Such a tender experience!!

Our Relief Society gets together for "lunch bunch" once a month. It's usually women around my age, but Grace, our resident "elder sister" comes too and she's so fun! I laughed seeing her approach this older group of women and start a conversation. I think she was proud to belong to us young'ins!

Is there anything more infuriating?!! What the heck is going on with my pans?! I didn't forget to grease them! In fact, they've been sticky lately so I greased them really well. Every loaf was like this. Grrrrrr!!! I threw out the pans and bought new ones. 

We didn't get to this activity in December but no worries! Good thing we talk about Christ year round! This candle holder has a different name of Christ at each candle hole. I had each child choose their favorite name and explain why they like it, then find it somewhere in the scriptures. Then they got to light their candle. Afterward, they used their candle to light all the others. With them all lit, it was a beautiful display of light! Next year, I think it would be fun to do it before Sunday dinner, then eat by candlelight. 

Isn't this the strangest thing? Tanner somehow got an infection in his finger. Probably because he bites his nails and picks at the skin around his nails and often has little sores. It took two rounds of antibiotics to get it better, poor guy.

I feel like flowers rarely bloom big like this. The white on white was so gorgeous.

Great Wolf Lodge time! 

This was the grandkids' Christmas gift from Grandma and Grandpa.

We got there Friday, mid-afternoon, and checked in. The kids decided to stay inside and do the mini-golf, rock climbing wall, ropes course, bowling, mirror maze, etc. We got dinner and hung out while the kids had a great time! Marcie also announced that she's pregnant!! Woohoo! Due next August. On Saturday, they did some crafts, filled up their candy cups and then we played at the pool all day! Enzo had a nude-y moment in the hot tubs, but other than that, I think all went smoothly! It was fun that Christopher's family could come!

Travis chaperoned this Skateland field trip with Olive's class. Three cheers for dad!

For this FHE activity, we blind tested our knowledge of various root beer brands! It was harder than I thought!

Helping out in Tanner's class, I giggled when I saw one boy's paper and a word he rhymes with corn!

I never thought I'd get my teenage son asking me to take him shopping, but Goodwill is their favorite!

At the FAO Schwartz store, I bought these "snow" pellets that you add water to and it fluffs up instantly in your hand. It was a big hit. Problem was, the worker said to just leave it out and it will dry up to it's original size. Well, true, but it takes WEEKS for that to happen. Ugh. Don't know how eager I'll be to pull this out again.

For Landon's birthday, Tanner and Della got to sleep over and have a day of fun! Luckiest kids!

Olive was invited to go with Emily to her special birthday dinner at a teppanyaki grill. Emily lives in our neighborhood and is an only child. Her mom owns the nail salon by Bashas. 

Deacon's trip to the temple.

Jane Gibb's birthday party!

All December I wanted to get this done. Nope. Just couldn't find the time. The older boys have been complaining about their "little kid" stockings. I wasn't super fond of mine either. I made these back when we lived in Buffalo then just made one for Olive and Tanner when they were born. So I made one for me that says, "Jesus loves me, this I know, because the bible tell me so". Collin chose a Buffalo Bills fabric and Weston got a dog fabric! Very fitting. 

This time, I went in to help with a STEM project the class was doing.

We are starting a book club in our ward and I chose The Nightingale by Kristin Hanna. I've heard about this book for forever and everyone raves about it. It's a fictional story about WWII. I hated it. It was so gratuitously tragic and depressing. That's hard to do when you're talking about WWII! It's also crazy long. Ugh. What a waste of time.

Wearing his new suit to church! Awww he's so handsome!

Weston's Sunday School teacher, Bro. Boone, goes so above and beyond!

Being a sicky meant we got to watch While You Were Sleeping together. 

We had a "Lehi's dream" FHE that was fun! I got the idea from Tasha. The body pillow of Travis was a nice touch, I thought, haha. I used real Travis to help me be a distraction as the kids tried to make it to the tree. They started downstairs and used the stair rail as the iron rod. I used a water bottle to spray "mists of darkness" and Travis tried to use his phone to distract them. If they made it to the tree they got the fruit... chocolate covered strawberries! 3/4 made it. I think Collin felt too old for this and sat down next to Travis to look at his phone with him. Teenagers!

Someone finally got to open his own savings/checking account!

Time to switch out the general conference quotes. This was one of my favorites by Pres. Nelson.

Tried a season with Mesa Youth Sports in the winter since we wouldn't be able to do spring baseball because of the Easter pageant. Most games were at Brimhall. Practices were at Countryside Park on Southern and 32nd St. which was not convenient as I tried to get Collin to his dive practices at Kino. LOTS of driving going on. Tanner loved playing baseball.

My mom, sisters and I met at Merchant Square for the holiday boutique and to get some lunch!

Bentley had a birthday party at Elevate! It was a fun, family affair!

We did an early birthday date for Camilla since she was supposed to have surgery right around her birthday. We did a guided meditation type session with Kenzi Fackerell that was really cool. It just went long so we missed our dinner reservations and settled for Barrio Queen. I love every moment I get with Camilla!