Our special visitors and our first ride on a train!

A few weeks ago my Mom, Aunt, and my Grandad (Daddy Jack) came to visit us for a few days.  This was such a special trip.  My grandad is 83 years old.  I haven't seen him since I went home last year in July.  They flew into Portland which is a 2 hour drive and got tickets to ride the train into Eugene.  I had some money someone had given me for my birthday that I was trying to decide what to use it on and decided that Deci and I would take the train up to Portland and ride back with them.

 This was mine and Deci's first time riding a train and it was SOOO much fun!  Deci did great and it was only 30 minutes longer than driving.

My Aunt Mary Ann and Deci

Of course we had to take them to the Oregon coast...

My mom (Dee) and the girls.

We're trying to decide whats wrong with this child...she likes eating sand and chalk! Silly girl!

After my Mom, Aunt and Grandad left they took a plane to California to my cousins house and met up with 2 of my moms other sisters just in time for fathers day with their dad.

Thanks for coming to see us!

To read another post about my grandad click HERE. :)

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! :)

Last Week, Visitors, and The Coast...

Last week Q's mom, her husband Alan, and Q's grandmother came out for a visit and we LOVED every minute of it.  I didn't feel so well this week and didn't take a lot of pictures (I could just kick myself now!) but here are a few:

 Maw Maw and Paw Paw bought Deci a kite...well, I should rephrase...I bought Deci a kite at a thrift store for .50cents and after I told Deci to leave it alone she ripped it open and broke part of it.  Good thing the grandparents were here...she got another kite right away.  So we took it to the coast.

 You know how I LOVE the Oregon coast!  We took a girls only trip.  Q had to work and Q's grandmother had never been to the Oregon coast so we loaded up and went.  Alan decided to play golf. Granny stayed in the van for this stop.  Too bad it was so cold and windy...

 This is one of my favorite places to stop at the coast.  You can walk 1/2 a mile up the hill to the light house and take a tour for free and I love all the rocks at our feet.

 These girls love their grandparents so much.  Deci told me this morning that she wanted to be like Maw Maw and let her fingernails grow out. haha!  Maybe this will help her stop biting her fingernails.

 Funny story:  As we were getting ready to go to the coast I picked out clothes for Deci to wear and told her to take them to Granny or Maw Maw to help her put them on.  A minute goes by and Deci come running to get me out of my bedroom and tells me to look at Journey.  Journey was dressed from head to toe in Deci's clothes! Deci tricked them and told them that I wanted them to dress Journey instead of Deci.  ha! :)  We fixed that problem but when we got out at the coast, I told Maw Maw to grab Journeys coat before she got her out of the van.  I didn't realize until later that she put Deci's coat on Journey. :)

 I love these pictures and If I wasn't so mad at picnik for making me switch to another photo editing company, I would have put these two in a collage.  I just can't figure out how to on PhotoBucket! I know it can happen...

 Deci, of course, had to put her feet in the water.

Paw Paw Crow and Deci.  We had such a fun week with them here!  We got to eat lots and lots of Southern cooking and these girls were spoiled all week. :)

These girls sure do love having family in town.  Good thing they won't be without family for long!  My dad, his wife Debbie and my younger brother Kyle will be here on Saturday for my birthday week!

Crossing off Number 6! Bend, Oregon (part 1)

  I made a list (Here) of places and things I wanted to do in Oregon in 2012.

We are slowly, oh so slowly crossing them off our list.  Currently we've only crossed off 2.  Some of these things are expensive...mainly expensive to drive to some of them and frankly we just don't have the time or money BUT we were blessed this past weekend to be able to spend time in Bend, Oregon.

See, I don't know all the details (I wish I did) but there is a guy...(or a family) out there that built a house in Bend for pastors and their family to go to get away for FREE!  Crazy, I know! We found out about it because of the pastor at the Shift in Albany.  (Thanks Brad and Naomi!!)

On the road.

 The house we stayed in was BEAUTIFUL!  And the BEST part to me was how kid friendly it was.  The first thing I noticed when I walked in was the playroom.  Then they had a baby room with a baby bed! If you're a mom you know how hectic it can be going on vacation when you still have a baby sleeping in a baby bed.

 This isn't even half of it! 5 bedrooms.  The house was huge and we had it all to ourselves.  Oh and no internet or T.V.!  I just so happened to love that.  It was much needed family time.

We woke up to a little bit of snow on the ground the next morning and decided to drive out towards Mount Bachelor.

Look how blue that sky is!  Q told me on the way over that it's sunny in Bend 320 days out of the year! What? And why aren't we living in Bend?? haha...no seriously... 

We decided to stop on the way to play in the snow...but my feet kept sinking a foot into the snow...Deci was the only one who could walk on the snow without caving in so we decided to get a picture of me and the girls and get out of there...

It didn't work so well.  The sun was SO bright.  We're not so use to the sun where we're from.  Plus Deci just wanted to play and Journey was screaming.  Good times.

(I found deci's boots at a thrift store for $3.00! I love them...but not so good for hiking...more about that in part 2)

Next we went to the High Desert Museum.

Journey loved the turtles.

Watching the Otter.

Can I just tell you about this awesome stroller we just so happen to find at a yard sale this weekend in Bend???  Deci's friend's mom has one of these strollers and I was so envious of it.  It's like a double stroller but not as bulky.  Deci can either stand or sit.  It's such a perfect stroller for our girls age.  We forgot our stroller at home.  (we currently don't have a double stroller) We passed a yard sale sign.  Pulled in and found this stroller for $50! I think they sell at Target for $125 and this one is in perfect condition so I would say we got a really great deal!

And Deci loves it.  We used it all weekend.  Can you tell I'm proud of this find? ha! :)

Ok, well that's it for part 1.  I'll try to post part 2 tomorrow.

 

Wednesday's...I hate em'

 So...the post below I wrote on Wednesday:

Wow, where do I start...  Today's been hectic.  I can not tell you very much productive stuff that's gone on in this house today.  I hate Wednesdays.  There I said it.  I actually say it a lot but there, I've made it public to you bloggers.  Wednesday's start whenever the girls feel like waking up but this morning I woke up at 7:30 and heard silence so I decided to sit in the den and read.  Low and behold Q woke up, then Journey, then Deci...all within 5minutes after I got up so I didn't get to read.  We ate breakfast and took showers then Q leaves for work at 10. So, we get 2 hours with him on Wednesdays. (ok, don't feel too sorry for me.  He has a long day also.) My friend, Kylee came by this morning, which I am SO grateful for.  She is such a blessing to me.  She's one of those friends who just wants to be around you to help and learn.  She doesn't judge me and there is freedom in this (me) over insecure girl. So, we had coffee and tried to have a conversation while Journey pitched a HUGE fit.  She's just now learning this and it's actually HILARIOUS! Just a few days ago Q and I sat laughing at her while she jumped up and down screaming because she didn't want to wear a shirt! HILARIOUS, I tell you.  So Journey was screaming and Deci was just wanting attention as always, bless her.  She can never get enough attention.  I might add that she is telling Kylee the story about how I got pulled over by a policeman on the way to Portland a few months ago! That girl has a great memory.  Kylee leaves at 12:30 and I am so grateful for our time because that means 2 hours less that I'm in this house alone with 2 mini me's. We talk about how it's hard having kids, especially living 2,800 miles away from family.  Kylee is married but they don't have kids yet.  She's from Ohio so she understands this life, living away from family.  She encourages me to blog more about this life away from family and life with kids.  She wants to learn...she wants to soak it up like a sponge. I love this and I wish before I had kids I would have spent more time with moms with kids.  Maybe I would know more about what in the world you do with kids everyday! ha!

  Anyways, so I laid Journey down.  Played Barbie's with Deci for seriously 5 minutes.  I honestly hate playing barbies.   Then it's ME time and Deci gets to watch T.V.  1/2 way through working on a blog post the internet goes out which means so does netflix that Deci is watching. :( So, Deci once again is begging me to play with her.  (seriously, people, I promise I play with the girl).  Today, I just didn't feel like playing with her.  I just wanted to sit and watch T.V. all day...I wanted to read.  To take a nap.  This is all a sign that I need a break because honestly, I'm not the perfect mom but I do play with them, I do usually clean something everyday,and I'm not always a couch potato.  Q and I had a conversation not too long ago about how I need a break at least once a week.  Gah, I know.  How selfish can I be?? I know that may seem like a lot but I just need me time.  So, today, I let the house go.  I let the kids go WILD.  I didn't clean...ok, maybe I did load the dishwasher and load the washing machine...but that's it.  I didn't "cook" food.  I just warmed up left overs for every meal.  I didn't play with my kids much today (eeeek, they played by their self?? What?).  I let them watch too much T.V.  (Even with netflix out we watched a DVD).  I feel like a horrible mom but it's ok.  I know I'm not "horrible" and I think one day like this every now and then will be okay... I think... :/

So, my internet is still out.  I'm currently typing this on a notepad on the computer and I will later copy and paste onto the blog.  I have been reading the 7 book (that I talked about before) today A LOT.  The funny thing is I'm currently reading the part where she gives up media for a month...she checks her email and a few things but not FB, Twitter, or her blogs. She's not watching T.V. etc..  It's funny
because it's killing me that I'm sitting home along and all I want to is blog or get on FaceBook!!!  AHHHH!  I guess I've become too attached.  I really should be reading, knitting, cleaning...(the kids are asleep)  But I'm learning so much through this 7 book.  It's exactly the book I needed right now.  I miss home, especially this past week when our close friends, Neal and April moved back to Alabama for their baby Knox. To be around long time friends and family for help as the prepare for the next surgery. I was actually working on a post about them when the internet went out. So, I'm here... being transparent...trying not to complain too much because I have SOOOOO much to be grateful for and so much God is doing in our lives.  He's changing us here.  I've heard it said before, but when you meet the homeless, when you put a name with a face...it becomes real.  I want to make a difference.  I have this one life.  I'm so afraid I'm not living up to my potential.

Lord, keep changing me.  Keep making me more like you.  Don't let me become complacent in this world.  -A

Our Snow Day in March

 I've been WAY behind on blogging lately and I can not find time to catch up! So, today I neglected the dirty house and sat down to edit pictures and post at least this blog.  March 21st we had 4 to 6 inches of snow here! Welcome Spring!

 Of course the girls loved it...

 

 and Q loved it...

 and I loved taking pictures!

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!