May Catch-up AND crossing number 7 off my LIST!

Like I said in the post below, I haven't done great at keeping my blog updated so this is my attempt at getting caught up...well...almost...at least after this post I'll be in JUNE! :) About time right, it's June 20th!

So, after my family left It was my birthday and Q took me out to eat at a pizza place.  We tried someplace new and got to eat outside.  It was perfect!

Top left Pic: Flowers all from our backyard. Bottom left: My birthday Ice cream cake my lovely friends Derrick and Thania brought over!

 My friend, Kylee got us tickets to an Oregon Duck's Baseball game on Mother's day!

 I should mention that a few months back my sister-in-law, Kerrie, told me she found this thing on FB with ZoZobugbaby that they were looking for kid models who could be in the Portland Area one day in May.  At first I didn't want to do it but Q thought it would be fun.  Go figure.  He did win a beauty contest when he was a baby! :)  So we sent in pictures and we got an email back saying that they picked Deci to be one of their models.  We were really excited...well, Deci was a little confused about what a model was but when I told her she gets to try of fun clothes and get her picture made she was really excited.  So, one Saturday in May we traveled up to Vancouver, Washington and had her picture made along with a few other girls.  It was so much fun and seriously I LOVE Zozobugbaby.  If you haven't checked out their website you should go now! :)  I've seen the pictures from that day but I'm not allowed to share them until sometime next Spring.  See, the photo shoot was for Spring/Summer 2013.

I promise to share the photo's when I get the okay.

After the morning of taking pictures we took the girls to the Oregon Zoo in Portland, which just so happens to be #7 on my LIST!  I made a List back in January of a few things I would like to do/visit in 2012 and The Oregon Zoo was on that list!

The Zoo was so much fun....and no, I honestly didn't mean to match the girls.  I didn't even notice until someone at the zoo commented on how cute they looked matching! haha!  I'm so not observant!

Last, but not least, baby Williams #3 is growing.  This was a picture from our 8 week appointment and the picture on the left is at about 9 weeks....I think.  I keep forgetting to keep track of when I take these pictures.  I'm trying to get better.  With the girls I never did the belly shot every few weeks and I regret that now so why not start with baby #3?  From what I hear, they have less pictures of themselves anyways so maybe if I start early...who knows...  Plus with family out of town this will be a way of letting them see the progress.  I'm showing a lot more now by the way!  pictures to come soon! :)

Whew, now we're out of May.  I feel better.

Our May Visitors

Yep, you read that right, our MAY visitors.  I know, I know...It's June 19th.  BUT If you don't know, I'm pregnant (in other words, I'm tired, sick, and exhausted.), plus my insane choice of editing (picnik) no longer exist forcing me to find another photo editing program.  If you know me you know I love change but not when it comes to technical stuff. (as if I haven't complained enough about that lately.)  ANYWAYS,  I'm 13...or is it 14...(I've lost count) weeks pregnant and feeling sooo much better! Thank you LORD! So, I'm going to try and play catch-up and do a few catch-up post about the month of May and June.  I know, I know, I really probably should just skip it all together but for my sake (and isn't this why I really blog anyways?? ha!) I'm going to bore some of you to death.  Hang in there with me. :)

Enough rambling...time for some PICTURES!  My Dad, his wife Debbie, and my brother came to visit the week before my birthday!

We decided to hike Spencer's Butte

 We also went to the Coast and they road the Dune Buggies!

My Dad also helped us plant our garden while he was here.  Everything's doing great so far except for the okra which I think is more of a southern vegetable....maybe it doesn't get warm enough here..or something...  Our 86 year old widow neighbor asked us what okra was the other day.  She had no clue.  I hope ours comes in so I we can cook her some fried okra! :)

We took them to 2 of our favorite Winery's.

We also got to spend the evening in Portland for my birthday before they left.  They took me to eat and we got to meet up with my dad's cousin that lives in Vancouver, Washington.  So nice to meet family that lives close by.

Such a fun week!  We really missed these guys after they left!  Come back soon, please!!!

(Are my visitor pictures starting to get repetitive?? haha!  I guess I should start finding new places to take visitors!)

One Last thing:  Today over at The Williams' Post, my most amazing sister-in-law is having a giveaway So go check it out!  I am in love with the new wallets she made.  That's right, she made all of them herself and if you buy one, 100% of the money goes to help her and her husband go on a Mission trip to India!  Go check in out! :)

Happy 60th Birthday, Dad!!

I miss a lot of people in Alabama and one of those I miss the most is my dad and today he turned 60!

I actually can't believe it.  60 seems so old and my dad seems so young.

I dedicate this blog to my dad because, well...60 years is a long time to live and I just so happen to miss him a lot.

I remember being younger and we were camping.  My dad was cutting up wood for the fire and hurt his leg.  He had to go to the hospital and I remember seeing him walk into the camper and I started crying.  I'm not sure how young I was but I remember not wanting him to be hurt.  I've been called a daddy's girl for quite sometime now.

There are 2 things that really stand out about my dad. 1. He LOVES the water!

 

 and 2. He LOVES ALABAMA!  Alabama Football that is... The picture below cracks me up and I didn't realize it until now but I think my dad has the same shirt on in both pictures...  The picture on the left is my dad holding Deci.  The picture on the right is my dad holding Journey. :) Roll Tide!

 I do believe it's the same shirt below also. ;) We don't help the cause any by buying him Alabama shirts for every birthday!

 Below: Mine and Q's wedding day

 My dad has survived a lot.  When I was younger he was in a really bad car accident where he could have died.  My little brother Kyle was in the car with him when it happened.  They were on their way to pick me and Lee up from school.  Also a few years ago the doctors found a spot on my dads head that was cancerous.  They removed it along with a patch of hair from his head that is still gone.  I am so thankful to still have my dad in my life...even if it's 2,800 miles away.

The Evans Family Reunion.  Left to right: My older brother Lee, Younger brother Kyle, Me (pregnant with Deci) and my dad.

 My dad is such a good cook! Especially french toast, chili and hamburgers!

The picture above, Deci was helping my dad make french toast.

 

My dad, his wife, my 2 step sisters and my 2 brothers.

Last night I missed my dads 60th Birthday Party.  This is the hardest part about living in Oregon...I hate missing these huge events.  So, Dad, Sorry I couldn't be there yesterday...and today.  I'm glad to call you my dad!  Happy Birthday, DAD! I love you!

Holleigh's Birthday!

This day didn't start off so well...I still haven't decided if I want to share about what happened.  Q says in all of my transparency I should...but the part of me that worries what others think doesn't want it to be so public.  Okay, so I know you are all wondering now.  Let's just say that Q had to leave for Church early and in the frustration of trying to get the girls ready I had a come apart.  We didn't make it to church but it ended up being just what I needed.  2 hours of doing nothing but playing with my 2 favorite girls.  Just me and them.  ANYWAYS, that's how I started Holleigh's birthday.  But don't worry, my day got better when Nick, Brandi, and Breanna came home with my favorite coffee drink!!  Yeah, because the day IS all about ME, right! Who's birthday was it?? oh yeah, Holleigh's.  So we loaded up and met Holleigh and Alec, along with a ton of other people, at a local Winery, Sweet Cheeks. (By the way I left my camera at home.  I could have kicked myself.  So all the pictures below are taken with my cell phone.  But Brandi took some really GREAT pictures that I'm going to try and post tomorrow.)

This is how Holleigh put's her birthday candles out.

Always Dancing!

 After Sweet Cheeks we drove about 10 miles to King Estates Winery.

 This place is like a castle.

 

We went with a guy that knew someone there so we got the VIP treatment and they drove us to the top of this hill where you can see (kind of) King Estates in the background.  It was beautiful.

 I'm pretty sure Holleigh had a great Birthday.  I know that it was such a fun day for me.  After all this we had everyone over at the house to play board games.  So much fun! :)

Aunt B, Deci and Holleigh

A Year Update. Part 2

June: We started off June with another visit from Q's dad, Rick and his wife Hilde. She is originally from Washington so it works out that they get to come out for a visit more often than most. It just so happens that we found a house about 5 minutes outside Eugene so we moved while they were here. Convenient huh? We loved having the extra help moving! Pictured above is Deci playing on our sidewalk! We've always lived in the country so Deci has never had sidewalk to draw on and she is loving it!

Also in June, Q's best friend from High school, Jason and his wife Brittany came out for Q's birthday. We loved having these guys here. If you can't tell we LOVE having visitors! It makes us less homesick.

July: We took the girls camping for their first time and they loved it, especially Deci. She is such a tomboy for the most part...

Towards the end of July we flew home to sweet home Alabama! One of my best friends from high school was getting married and asked me to be in her wedding. I was so excited and jumped at the opportunity to get to fly home. Q got a new Job at the Eugene Mission this month so he could only stay for one week, but the girls and I stayed two weeks. There were so many pictures I wanted to post for our trip home. We crammed in so much in those two weeks. Deci loved getting to hold her chicken Sarah.

We also played in the water a lot!

It was such a fun trip back for so many reason. We got to see family. We got to celebrate with our friend getting married and saw our high school friends. We had grandparents to babysit so we got to go out on dates with friends to Huntsville and stay up way too late. We visited our home church, Lifepoint and saw our friends who's support and prayers for us are unbelievable. Life would be so much harder here without their support.

August: We flew back home to Oregon August 2nd and Breanna flew back with me and the girls to stay with us! We are so blessed to have her with us. She came out to be a part of our Crash team here but she also is the best babysitter in the world and we are so thankful that she is here to help us. The girls love her so much. Journey calls her "Nana." :)

Journey's had her first birthday August 31st. Here is a picture when she was about a week old. Look at all that DARK hair!! I thought she was going to be the child who would look like me but over the year it has lightened up so much. She is so much fun! Who knew having two kids could be this fun? She is so spunky and dances with her shoulders, which I love. She takes life slow. She LOVES her sister. I can't believe it's been a year!

Q's Mom and her husband Alan got to come out a week for Journey's birthday. We loved having them here to celebrate with us and also for the great Southern food she cooked for us all week! One night she cooked enough for a Thanksgiving meal and we invited the Crash team and our neighbors over.

September: Q's Dad and Hilde got to come back for another visit! Yes again and we LOVE it! (Have I said that we LOVE having visitors!!) They took us to Florence to ride the dune buggies on the sand dunes. This was SO much fun!

We went camping again. This time it was a little bit colder, but most of our Crash team got to come out. We celebrated Derrick's birthday.

October: Deci turned 4 this month! I honestly can't believe I have a 4-year-old. This girl keeps me going...honestly she never slows down. I love her so much and she has taught me so much about being a mom. She is little miss independent. She is so much like her dad it's not even funny. God has truly blessed us with her!

Halloween!

November: I think November passed without me realizing it...I'm not sure much happened in this month. I guess we rested most of this month. Of course we spent many Saturday's watching football.

We had a few pretty days and we took a walk to the park.

And we spent Thanksgiving with some friends here. My wonderful husband made the chicken and dressing which neither one of us realized how much his mom did to make....seriously, homemade biscuits, corn bread, toast and all sorts of goodness.... we are slowly learning to appreciate how much our family (mostly moms) did to make the holidays happen!

Whew, that was long...That pretty much gets you caught up to December.