Vacation

The kids and I took on the long journey up to Montana for our summer vacation, they were rockstar travelers for the whole 2300 miles. Here are some pictures~

Easter fun

I didn't even get a picture of them in their cute Easter attire, I'll make them wear it next week and take on then!

We had a great Easter even though it was blustery cold and snowy outside!

Wrestling is fun, who knew?

Our neighbor is a High School wrestling coach, and he has mentioned that Drew and Tyler would be great wrestlers, and that they should do this wrestling clinic he puts on. I thought that would be fun for them to do, nothing major, not a lot of commitment, just a couple of months of getting to know about the sport. Well then came the tournaments, and it was a whole different feeling! The boys wanted to do it so bad, so we took them and when we walked in the gym we saw all these boys in their singlets and headgear and special shoes, they all looked like they had been born and bread for this sport and nothing else. Then there was Drew and Tyler and a few other boys that were in their group "The Stingers", with their long shorts and T-shirts and tennis shoes, and I felt a little like the mother of Nacho Libre! So we wait for a couple hours for the thing to even start and the boys are just sitting there watching all of these "professionals" practice and I know their nerves were going crazy! Once the tournament started, Andrew did great on his first go round, he didn't win, but he felt so much more confident after he had one under his belt. Tyler kinda froze and forgot all the moves he had been learning, so he was just trying to stay off his back the whole time. Andrew did so much better the second time, but lost by two points. Tyler, after a little coaching in between rounds, ended up taking second place in his weight group. I ended up really getting into it, but wow were we all physically and mentally exhausted by the time we got home!

Tyler on the winners stand! He said next time he will be on top!!!

Sprng Break Skiing~ BRRRR

Going skiing during Spring Break is supposed to be sunny and warm, no such luck for us! We had a great time, but as you can see I didn't get any pictures of us actually on the Mountain, my camera would have frozen to my fingers or blown away in the crazy wind! So we spent time in the lodge sipping hot chocolate and dreaming of sunnier days!

Finally, a picture of Tyler in his new glasses. He always has to be silly!

I have a great recipe for rolls, it makes so much dough I can get 3 dozen rolls, plus 2 1/2 dozen cinnamon rolls! It only takes about an hour to make the dough, and wahllaa~!!

Friday morning after the snow storm, we really need this moisture, but man is it frigid outside! Andrew and Rick were supposed to go on their scout campout tonight, thankfully they cancelled it!

What I love most about Spring!

I hope you all have a great weekend. We are going up to the ski hill on Monday, I am keeping my fingers crossed for some sunshine! The kids have one more week of Spring break, I am trying to find cheap, fun things to do, but those two words often don't go hand in hand!

Andrew had his GI doctor appt. yesterday, he will go in for blood work, and get an ultrasound and a test that looks at his upper GI as liquid is going down. I will let you know what the results are after his follow up appt. in April.

So today I am cleansing.

I have been doing Isagenix for a little over a month now, I have lost about 8 pounds, but to truely get the effects of the program, you should cleanse at least every 9 days. Well I have only done it 2 times. It is so hard to find a day that works for me, the first time I did the cleanse I was so set on doing it 100% that I took a really long walk (Bad Idea) to get my mind off the task at hand! Well needless to say, I am staying home this time, I have a headache, my stomach is growling, and I have no motivation to do the 50 things I should be doing around the house. Sounds like fun, right!? Well I guess when I wake up tomorrow morning and step on the scale, I will feel triumph over my hunger pains! I just hope tomorrow comes soon!

Well back to my online shopping~ I have to admit this does make me feel better! When the packages start coming, I will truely be able to tell Rick I was not in my right mind when I was purchasing these adorable sandals!

My long Hiatus!

So I have been away for awhile, but I haven't been doing anything that merits a grand posting on my blog!

So I'll just let you all know that we are still alive, we have just been going about our daily lives.

Tyler has some news, he recently added glasses to his charm and good looks! He loves them, and has adjusted well, he has to also sport a patch for a few hours a day. I haven't downloaded my picture of his new look yet, but hopefully soon!

Madelynn has been working really hard at school, she joined choir, and is as social as ever! What else can I say about my little sweetheart, she is easy and fun to have around!

Andrew has been enjoying the down time he has had since basketball is over. He is going to run the Bolder Boulder with Rick and I in May, so he is getting psyched up to start training for that. He gets to sport new braces this summer, so hopefully acne won't follow! (as a mom, I vow never to let the "awkward stage"of adolescents get the best of my children)

As for Rick, he has been the GM as well as the Superintendent for 7 months now, and is doing an amazing job of cutting costs way down and proving to the owner that the course is still worth his investment! I complain about the never ending work, but he reminds me that at least he is fortunate to still have a great job! So I am anxiously awaiting summer, at least when we are golfing, and swimming, we will be that much closer to dad! (if anyone needs a place to swim this summer, memberships are at an all time low)

I am chugging along with my daily duties. I have been reading the Fablehaven books, I have been exercising 5 days a week to get in shape for the summer and be able to keep up with my son in the 10K, I have been helping Tyler learn to read, I have been painting and redecorating my house.

That is just a quick update, sorry no pictures!

Merry Christmas/ Happy New Year~

Wow, does time fly when your having fun!

It seems like we have been going non stop since school let out on the 18th of December
(Kids in their Christmas jammies, yes I did make the bottoms, and yes two of them have ripped holes in the bum already!)

We had a fabulous Christmas at home, complete with lots of food, lots of presents, and lots of fun! Grandma and Grandpa came and took us to the movie Marley

and Me (cute show, made me not ever want a dog)! Then we traveled up to their house in Denver for a fun night of riding the train downtown to go to dinner (we would have done shopping, but the frigid cold put a halt to that idea).Saturday we spent the day skiing, it was a cold day, but after Tyler and Madelynn got the hang of snowplowing again, there was no stopping us!

This last week of vacation has been full of play dates, sleepovers, more movies, lots more food, and cleaning up the Christmas decor (I love it)!!

New Years day was spent with dad at the golf course. Now that Rick is the main man out there, he has way too much responsibility (he loves it though)! We helped him pick the driving range, we were there just long enough to get some golfers out on the course and make a few bucks for the big man! Then we were off to see Bedtime Stories at the theater.

New Years Eve we played lots of games, our new one is called Sorry Sliders!

This is one of my new rugs that I got for Christmas, next comes paint and accessories! I'll do before and after pics!

I hope everyone had a great Holiday, and I hope you all have a very prosperous 2009~ good luck with all your resolutions, as soon as all the chocolate is gone in the house, I should be well on my way with one of mine!

That's the One!!!

Look at those.......BRAnches!! (what did you think I was going to say)

Well here it is in all the glory of the forest, before we chopped it to the ground! Our 5th annual tree cutting trip was successful again, we did have a few more tears and whiney children this year, but I am choosing to forget that part so that I will want to do it again next year.

We were on a mission to find a soft Douglas Fir, mainly because of the neverending pokes and scratches from our last years tree as we were trying to decorate it without drawing blood!

The kids found this cute little cabin to play around in!

We all loved spending time, we had lots of laughs, a few tears, and every year wouldn't be the same without this tradition!

Random pictures!

Here are some pictures of Thanksgiving day with cousin Jack, Madelynn and Bett, me and Mr. Evelo, Mr. Evelo putting up the lights, and our covering of the coffee table to make it into a foot stool.

We went to Drew and Madelynn's bball games today, but I forgot the camera, so that will be next time. They both won their games and played awesome! Rick is helping to cater a dinner at the club house tonight, he is quite the jack of all trades these days, he goes from snow plowing to serving dinner for the members holiday parties! We are going up to cut down the Evelo family tree tomorrow, pictures to come!

Birthday

My Andrew turned 12 on Thanksgiving this year, along with his Grandma Mary (who turned 60)

They have a special bond since their birthday is on the same day and she was in the delivery room with us when Andrew made his entry into this world!

All day I just kept looking at him and wondering where the last 12 years have gone. He is an amazing person, very kind hearted and fun loving! If you are not smiling, he will find a way to make it happen. We are so blessed to have him in our lives, and are lucky to live close to Grandma Mary to share their day!

I was reminded by me sweet mom that I didn't post any Haloween pics of the kids,

so sorry!

Drew is a bag of Jelly Belly's

Madelynn is a witch

Tyler is a Wardog

Rick is goofy in the background!!

"you need sugar to be healthy" Tyler Evelo

So last week before the flu hit my happy, healthy home, Tyler decides to join me while I'm doing Pilates. He is so funny, and coordinated I might add, he asks me to pause the DVD, so I did. When he returns he has a hand full of candy. I ask him why he has so much candy at 8:30 in the morning, to which he matter of factly replies< "because you need sugar to be healthy". Well ok then, apparently his older siblings have told him that sugar gives you energy, and so before Tyler exercises, he needs to have a healthy dose of SUGAR!

Time passes too quickly

Well here is what has been going down in the Evelo house.

Nov. 3rd
Rick's 35th birthday! We celebrated with dinner, we had a busy night of running kids to and from activities, so the birthday celebration was on the short side. Rick did get some yummy pistacios and some new tennis shoes.

Nov. 8
Andrew's playoff game against a Houston team. They lost the game, but still were awarded a State Champs trophy. They had a write up in the paper about Pop Warner football and how good the War Dogs did this season. Andrew really liked it for the most part, he loved being the kicker and punter for the team.

Now Madelynn and Drew are busy with basketball practices, yea an indoor sport!

Okay so that doesn't seem like much, but in between the weekends the days just seem to fly by. We are getting ready for the Holidays now, and can't wait for the snow to fly to use all of our new snowboard/ski wear.

Finally, a party for mom and dad! (that is what Tyler said)

I didn't get the group picture with everyone, (technical difficulties) but here are a few of my friends that were there (everyone looked amazing)!
Rick and I went to a Haloween party as Mr. and Mrs. Jack Sparrow (or pirates). We had a blast, the Bullocks always put on a great party, food, games, and lots of laughs!
Rick actually grew his facial hair for two weeks just to have some authentic stubble for his costume, we had to color it in, but it looked great!

Disney Pictures

Well I guess my captions didn't get saved to my pictures, so I had better explain the slideshow on the previous post!

Yes it is of our trip to Disneyland!

We had a great time from the minute we hit the airport to the minute Grandpa and Grandma picked us up.

Our week was non-stop fun with two days at Disneyland and California Adventures. A day trip to Universal Studios. Two days spent with friends from college, shopping, the beach and lastly a day at Sea World!

We were definately not ready to come home, but we were so exhausted at the same time!

Our little family made some big memories and are looking forward to the next time we can get away from our normal lives to have some fun!