Seriously so Cute

I don't want to spoil Evan's 1 year birthday pics, but I just have to post a sneak peek of our handsome boy. I have been going over and over the 200+ pics Grandma Shuppy took of Evan and I just can't choose. Thank you Grandma for taking the pics and helping us make Birthday card mess on your kitchen table for one week. I completely monopolize every second of her spare time. Now that we live here I don't know how I lived without my BFF for so long.

Beware! He bites. Especially when he is very happy. He also ate everything he was quick enough to get in his mouth while we tried to take pictures.

Ello Gubna! (Allen's contribution to this post)

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ALLEN DEAR

I can't believe you are 30! I have just spent the last half hour looking through all our pictures from the last 6 years and each picture just made me think of all the happiness that you bring to my life. I can't list 30 great things about you because I will inevitably forget all the best things and the 30 things just wouldn't cover it. So, instead, I tried to pick some pictures that are "just so Allen" and you wouldn't be mad at me for. (This was difficult... and they are in no apparent order.) I truly wish you Happiness all year and the best Birthday ever! I love you luva!

Best Daddy Ever

All dressed up as Dwight

Such a hard worker


My favorite Dr

Golf Junkie

Perfect Son

Super Uncle

Birthday Boy

Christmas Elf

Super Duper Uncle

Aah the early years... enduring my cooking

Such a HOTTIE

Oh man I love you Birthday Boy. I can't wait for the next 30 years!

Highlight

It's my turn to update since Allen did it last. Just a few highlights about the highlight in our life.


Evan crawls, stands up next to everything, and my favorite, sits on his little knees when he finds something to play with. However, along with his new found mobility, he has starting throwing tantrums about everything he doesn't want to do... only to me!! He reserves his worst behavior for his mom and even bawls his head off when Allen is around and I try to hold him in public. I narrowly escaped having my front teeth knocked out last week during one of his tantrums.



He gives all kinds of kisses. That is a complete lie. This kid is not a snuggler. In very rare cases, he might give us a little pat. Kisses are only achieved by eating salty chips so he wants to eat any remaining salt off our lips. And yes, he is trying to bite my lips in the picture below.

Evan reading his first Valentine from his mommy and daddy.

Evan is such a little biter. Mostly he likes to eat any kind of book or paper, but he also likes to chow down on socks and shoes, the couch, remotes, and his dad's fingers. I've included the pics below so you could see how enthusiastic he is about taking his socks off and eating them.

I love how happy this kid is. (When he is doing what he wants.) I 'm sorry some of these pics are blurry, but those little teethies make me smile.

Trapped in a Box

Patrice told me that if I didn't update our blog, she was taking it down. I thought I would just skip the Valentine's Day background and go straight to St. Patrick's Day. I'm not sure why, but this apparently erased all of our blog links, so who knows when we will get those back up.

Here are some pictures that Patrice took of Evan playing inside his diaper box.

And here he is enjoying some yummy food...looks maybe like toast?

I just heard him wake up from him nap. Guess this will be a short post.

Our neglected Pet

I'm so sick of seeing that last post on my own blog that I just had to change it. I'm sorry, this is not a real post. It's a shout out to my husband. If you don't keep this blog updated we are going to get rid of it. It's just like pets. If you don't take care of them you can't have them. And everyone knows with your hair/germ phobia this is as close to a pet as we may ever get.

So much to blog about

As a general rule, blogging is last on my list of things to do behind things like, oh, brushing my teeth, showering, cleaning my house and doing laundry. Unfortunately it seems like my daily list is never finished and therefore, I never update the blog. **Warning: This is going to be world's most boring post. Allen is asleep on the floor and I don't know how to download recent pics. I will be including completely unrelated but cute pics of Evan.

Here is what we have been up to the past month:

1. We moved to Utah. And yes. We were THOSE people that you have all heard Allen complain about. People showed up at our house to help us move and we were not ready. I'm sure people went home and told their wives how we had stuff all over the house that wasn't in boxes. Not to be dramatic, but it was the worst two days of our entire lives so far. We both agreed and decided on the 6 hour drive home that we will be seriously dejunking before the next move. Also a big thank you to Grandpa Earl who came down to help. He didn't even say one word about how unprepared we were. We love you and thank you! Also thank you to everyone who unloaded in Utah.

2. We realized that we didn't have a washer and dryer. YIKES!!! I think I wash as many loads of laundry as Billie Jo. (Just kidding, not possible!) But I wash every day and loading all that laundry with my baby up and down my new stairs is my least favorite thing ever. However, thank you mom and dad for letting me use yours. Thank goodness my new washer and dryer will be here soon.

3. We tried to unpack. Every time I see Tess and Ellie they ask me if I have unpacked, organized and cleaned my house. NOPE. (See #2. This process takes up entire days.) I'm sure they just can't fathom the snail like speed I am getting my house put together. It particularly bothers Tess. I'm sorry Tess girl, I'm not amazing like your mom and dad. :(

4. We ate Zach's amazing wings. YUM! And my Utes beat BYU.... what more could a girl ask for?





5. We cried at Wal-Mart. (Ok I cried at Wal-Mart.) Everyone has been telling me that my 6 month old should probably be eating rice cereal, which may be true, but I just can't believe my little baby is growing up so fast. (I don't even think we have mentioned that Evan has teeth! 2 to be exact. And they are adorable.) So I went to Wal-Mart to buy rice cereal and baby spoons and stood there and cried because I can see that he is growing way too fast and before I know it he will be graduating from high school.


(Thank you Addy for emailing me this picture.)

6. We ate a delicious and wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with my family. Thank you everyone in the entire family who contributed! It was excellent. We were just missing our Sassie. I can't think of anything I'm more thankful for than my family. We also got to see Chelsea and Jack and have Thanksgiving 2 today. Have we mentioned how happy we are to be so close to both of our families?

7. We saw Twilight. I'm not going to be weird about this. But I loved it. That's all.

I can think of a lot more that we've done, but I better save something for later. Please note all the pics of Evan where from Las Vegas when I should have been packing. (See #1.)

Just for Billie Jo...

First things first: HAPPY BIRTHDAY BILLIE JO & ELLIE! We love you both so much and we hope it was a great day.

Ever since Evan was born I've been looking for the perfect opportunity to give a much deserved thank you to world's greatest Billie Jo. I can't think of a better day than today.

I think everyone knows Allen and I are both horrible procrastinators. So, when Evan decided to come one month early we were really not ready. On May 24th we had Evan boy by 7:30am and since Cassie was having her farewell the next day, no one in my family was able to come and Allen's family was out of the country. Billie Jo was our first visitor by 4:00pm. She managed to find sitters for her 3 small children, pack, get a flight, stop at the store to buy preemie baby clothes and show up in my hospital room by around 4pm to be our first visitor. (That list didn't even include the 8 loads of laundry she inevitably did!) She picked up a rental car and arrived with her lists and gifts and all the while looking fabulous.

In the few short days she was here, she did the following:

• Cleaned my entire house from top to bottom. (This would take a normal person about a week.)
• Grocery shopped.
• Filled my entire freezer with several weeks worth of gourmet freezer meals.
• Took inventory of my baby stuff and went to the store and picked up the remainder of the necessities.
• Brought me everything that should have been in my overnight bag and an outfit to come home in.

When you see this list you might think I never saw Billie Jo the entire time she was here. But not true. She spent most of the day sitting in the hospital with me and visiting our baby in the NICU. She was so protective of me and watched my nurses and Dr.'s like a hawk. Then she went back to my house and did the above list in the middle of the night, making it all look effortless. To top it all off, she drove our Passat back to the dealership in Utah so Allen didn't have to leave the baby and I.

So many people came and were so wonderful, but Billie Jo came when no one else could, despite the fact that she has quite a handful at her own house. (Thank you TIM for being so supportive and understanding and taking care of everything at home!!) I know we always tease that Billie Jo is amazing, but the truth is, she absolutely, positively is. When we come home for a visit she always calls us every couple hours to see where we are and she's always excited to see us when we finally get there. She stays up for us to party and continues working even after we go to bed. She gets up early and makes amazing breakfasts and all kinds of treats and food, all while taking care of her own family.

She just has so many talents and she uses them all to serve everyone around her. So Billie Jo, thank you from the bottom of my heart. I love you just like my own sister and I will never be able to express to you how much this all meant to me and how much I look up to you. Happy Birthday!