Deer Hunt Weekend

I have been a hunting widow this weekend.  However, I had Super Saturday yesterday (I was helping with all the vinyl for it) and we practiced for the primary program today, so there was no way I could go south with Justin.  So, instead, I invited Jackie (Evie’s cousin) to stay with us for the weekend.  It’s been a lot of fun to have her around and a little less lonely. 

Today, we went to dinner at my parents and my sister had mustache cookies for us to frost!  The girls loved it.

We went to Chick-fil-a, and the park a couple times, and played with play dough, painted, colored, cars, the ipad, and lots of other things!  It’s been a fun weekend. 

Evelyn is 4 years old!!

Evelyn's day finally arrived after a month-long countdown!

 So fun to celebrate with cousins! 

 Super big monkey is now always snuggled next to her in bed every. single. night.  In the morning when she comes into our room from her's, she brings it dragging along. 

Legos from her cousins & goin' fishin' from her aunts.  What a great birthday!

 All she wanted for her birthday cake were cupcakes and a candle that was a "4".  So cute!  I'm glad she said so because I wouldn't have found one for her.  What. a. doll. 

last day of Preschool & teacher appreciation

Today was Evie’s last day of pre-preschool.  What a difference a year makes!  I am so proud of her.  She is so sweet. 

Here are  a few teacher appreciation gifts I put together this year.  Hope they help as you thank your teacher for a great year!

First of all, mothers.  I’m a little behind in posting this picture.  These were the blocks I did this year for my mother’s day boutique.  I think they are so adorable!  It’s even a photo holder!

These 10 blocks spell about 15 different words about teaching. I found them from here.   We gave these to her preschool teacher.

This is a fun one that is a roll of paper towels, and to-go clorex wipes.  What teachers doesn’t need cleaning supplies!!?

Warm before the storm

Last weekend we went to St. George while Justin has some meetings.  Evie and I had a nice time during a beautiful day!  We went to the St. George Temple grounds and, of course, the pizza factory for dinner.  It was a fun getaway! 

After seeing and playing on the stairs, we have to make stairs on our blocks/Legos temple now.  every time.

The week we came home, it stormed a few times.  We were able to make some snowmen.  (er, women/girl).   One night, this is what Justin and Evie made.  It’s a little Evie snowgirl! 

 

Natural History Museum

We had such a good time at the Natural History Museum.  Evie was still a little young, but it’s always good to get her familiar with museums.  If anything, she and Justin were adorable next to the dinosaurs! 

While there, Evie got to go for a dinosaur dig.  Maybe we have a Paleontologist on our hands!

Make-your-own-monster

Evie’s cousin Jackie spent the night.  We went swimming and watched a movie and they made their own paper plate monster.  They really had a lot of fun with this and lasted longer then I thought a 3 & 4 year old would doing this project. 

I placed bowls of items from my pantry and craft cupboard on the table, gave each girl a paint brush and a small bowl of mod podge and off they went!  Some plates turned out to be more monster-like than another, but overall, they loved creating their own art!

We had dry noodles, chow mein noodles, nibs, nilla wafers, m&M’s, chipboard pieces, marshmallows.  I just pulled from what I had on hand. 

Evie had so much fun creating her pictures, that when she ran out of paper plates, she picked up one of our dinner/salad plates (stoneware!) and started creating on that.  She had no idea that you don’t do that.  (hilarious) & I didn’t realize what she had done until she was this far along:  (I did find her more paper plates after that!)

Our Family Adventure

It was a beautiful weekend and we decided to take a family adventure on the local transportation called TRAX.  We parked at the nearest stop by our house, and rode the train into downtown Salt Lake.  Evie loved every minute!   It was actually pretty fun.  You meet all sorts of people riding the train!  We got off at the Temple Square stop and wandered around the new city creek development.  It sure is beautiful.  What a fun activity!

Organizing the craft room

We spent the day organizing my craft room.  This room also doubles as Evie’s bedroom.  From the before picture, you can only imagine why she has trouble sleeping!!  She is surrounded by chaos!  I just started to pile, and pile, and pile!  Does anyone else do this or is it just me?!?!  How embarrassing to even show this!

However, I am proud to show the AFTER!  What this also does not show is the entire expanse of floor space and play area for Evie now!  It is a true bedroom for her. 

Santa’s Workshop

Christmas was busy in Santa’s Workshop this year.  Evie received a barbie house!  Thank goodness Santa knows how to build one of those!  Plus, Grandma & Grandpa must have an “in” with Santa because they helped stock the house with more furniture besides what Santa brought!  I’ve seen only the back of Evelyn’s head since Christmas morning!   (Long nights working {indoors because it’s too cold to paint outside!})

On Christmas Eve, we went to our traditional breakfast as a family, and then we went to the Grand America Hotel where they have window displays inside the Hotel.  They have a little treasure hunt to look for certain things in the windows.  When you complete the cycle, you end up at the bakery, and they give you a cookie.  It was a lot of fun, and I was very surprised with how well Evelyn enjoyed it.  Merry Christmas!

Meeting with Santa…

We had our ward party this weekend.  We gathered for a nice soup/salad dinner on a cold winter night.  It is so wonderful to meet together with neighbors we love so much.  Our santa is fantastic!  After a very nice program (my sisters were wonderful enough to come and sing with me for a couple numbers…), he arrived, much to the delight of the children!  Evelyn was really excited and went right to him; not timid at all!  What a doll she is!

‘Tis the season to be jolly…..

Halloween Fun!

We had a fun Halloween.  Evelyn was the chick-fil-a cow and so we had to visit there for dinner before going trick-or-treating.  She was a hit and loved the attention.  They let her ring the cow bell!  Also, customers in the store were taking her picture.  So funny. 

This is her 3rd Halloween, and so really, the first Halloween that she could really enjoy.  It’s amazing how quickly kids pick up going house to house! We had a fun time visiting neighbors as we went around.  By the time we made it back to our house, I only had about 5 groups come by our house.  With all the homes being taken down around us for the highway, no kids made their way over here.  Lots of leftover candy.

Justin took her around dressed up as a cowboy – complete with his horse!  I made the sign by painting some chipboard, and printing the vinyl on my cutter.  Then, tied it onto her with twine. 

The Farm in Minersville

This weekend was the start of the deer hunt.  Evie and I drove to Minersville with Justin and he took off to their camp in the mountain.  On Saturday night he came back down to spend Sunday with us.  We had a really nice time visiting and staying with Grandpa Great and Grandma Kathy was there too.  We took a drive on Sunday out to the Dairy Farm.  The cows are so adorable, and the first time we saw them, I realized I had forgotten my camera.  So…we drove back to grandpa’s, got the camera and returned.  Needless to say, the shots were not so “candid” the second time around…but they capture the idea of it. 

Evie walked right up to the stalls at the first.  This baby cow had knocked its bucket out and so she helped by putting it back. 

Here is just one row of the baby cows.  so cute!