Photos stolen from google

K, so none of the photos in this post are my own. Sorry. But there have been three cool events in the Evans family as of late. First we took a Family Home Evening stroll down candy cane lane in our town of Torrance. It's famous for being one of the biggest Christmas lights display in LA, and it's so close it's in our ward boundaries too!

Second of all, we went to Journey to Bethlehem in Manhattan Beach. It's an outdoor town with people dressed like and acting like people from Bethlehem. You can pet a camel and goats and sheep and do some of the activities that were down back in the day of Christ's birth like make bricks, eat pita, dip candles, and make yarn. There are also Roman guards, tax collectors and King Herod policing the town. Everyone is very in character and you're even given shekels to spend. It was fun... the line to get in was SO LONG, by the time we got in, the kids were just about done. Lesson learned for next year.

The last crazy adventure was our flight to Boise today. The kids and I flew out of Burbank, switched planes in Vegas and finally landed in Boise. We're going to be here until January 3rd, Jon is joining us here on Christmas Eve. The coolest part of our day was meeting this guy.

Yup, I saw him walk past us in the Burbank airport, recognized him but kept about my business. Moments later I noticed that he was about 10 people ahead of me to go through security. Just to give you a visual, he had a full beard and wore a flannel shirt, work pants and work boots, and sunglasses like these but cooler.

When it was my turn to show my ID and stuff to the security guy he then told me to go through a different metal detector line, one that had less traffic and would be easier considering I had two babies to hold as well as a million bags, a bunch of liquids, and a huge stroller to handle. And low and behold, I was now right behind Jake. So after walking through the detector the kids and I sat on a bench, next to you know who, to put our shoes on and wait for all our stuff to get scanned and tested. Both kids were really antsy at this point and starting to cry and I had one in each arm. Jake made eye contact with me and smiled a "I feel for ya, sista" smile. I smiled back and muster out two words, "Merry Christmas", said in a "it's that crazy time of year" tone. He then laughed. He laughed at my joke! I'm awesome! Well, no, I'm not. I mean, it was a super lame joke but at least he humored me. So that was my experience with a movie star in LA, I knew it would happen some day, I just didn't picture my kids screaming and pulling my arms out of their sockets while it happened. MERRY CHRISTMAS!

The storm before the storm

 I've completed my first painting since having children. I can't believe it's been 2 years since I've painted, oh how I've missed it. It's still a struggle to feel comfortable enough to create, it takes up my kitchen and makes my house smell of turpentine for weeks. Oh, to have a studio... one day.

Tis the season of yummy food. I made Jon's mum's butternut squash soup for a party. Speaking of parties, I've attend them seems like every other day this week. The kids and I are leaving for Boise on Wednesday, there's so much to do in preparation.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was great. I think it was first time we celebrated a major holiday without some other family with us. We ate our thanksgiving feast with out dear friends the Klemetson's. They have one sweet little girl, Eliza, who is right between Ethan and Corryn age-wise which means she's their best friend. They've also got another little girl on the way. :) Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of all of us together with our feast, which I am now regretting.

I made half our feast including the turkey breast, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, and Jon's mum's waldorf salad. It was my first time cooking turkey and I decided to brine it. Such a good choice. I also whipped up two pumpkin pies from scratch for Jon, it's his favorite.

Thanksgiving morning we packed the kids up, still in their pj's, and went to our ward's Turkey Bowl. It's tradition for the young men to play the "old" men. Old meaning 25 or over. The young men always win, always, and this year was no exception. Our side of the team included a former BYU football player and BYU track star... but we still lost. It was super fun to watch though. Have to say, my husband looked pretty hot catching the football in that jersey and cleats.

The day after thanksgiving we started a new Evans family tradition, Movie Night! We rented Shrek, pulled all the pillows and blankets into the living room, made popcorn, and ate licorice. The kids had a BLAST! Ethan sat through almost the whole movie, I was so impressed. Soon I'll have to take him to the movie theatre for a mommy-son date.

While I'm not looking...

Ethan has gotten into some trouble lately. Some cute trouble... and not so cute trouble.

 CUTE

not so cute... he's picked out all the sprouts in my small garden multiple times

 not so cute... while I was in the shower he got into my flour and sugar canisters

SUPER CUTE... while on a trip to the grocery store with mom he snuck away and I found him here, sitting in the doorway of a karate class, watching the kids practice. It was so cute, he sat there for a good 15 minutes.

Flashback- Nov 14th

This day in history:

2006- Jon and I celebrating our one year dating anniversary at Temple Square.

2007- This picture was taken while we were out on a date. This is what my face looked like before babies... I miss this face.

2008- The day I found out I was pregnant with Ethan! I feel like I've been a mom for forever... what? I lived a life without babies?

2009- Can you believe this is what Ethan looked like?

Crazy Crazy Crazy Kids

 I think this is my favorite picture of Corryn to date.

 Helping mom do dishes.

 I think this is my favorite picture of Ethan to date.

 Ever wonder what lunch is like with 2 toddlers?

 It's raining mom!

 One of those odd wonders of nature, a sunset during a rain storm.

 The product of Ethan's haircut.

Corryn's first haircut!! :)

Halloween!

This year we were the Apple Family. Jon- Steve Jobs, scary resemblance really. Tara- iPad. Ethan- iTouch. Corryn- Shuffle, complete with headphones. Yes, I made the costumes and yes, I drew everything. People wouldn't believe that I did not print these. Afterall, I did go to four years of university just for projects like this.... tee hee hee. :)

Post #2... Jon's birthday

 Jon turned 28! He requested his mom's lumberjack cake, which was DELICIOUS!

That night we went to Jon's favorite restaurant (they serve Canadian food) and was surprised with a big plate of poutine with a candle in it. (I called in before hand, sneaky sneaky me.)

 On Saturday night we took a Mommy/Daddy date to Disneyland. It was the last time we could use our annual passes. Sad.

 Jon's birthday was a blast... can't wait for another birthday celebration!

Tuesdays and Fridays are special days

 It's garbage truck day!! Over our year of living in this apartment we've come to know our garbage man, Juan. Ethan watches him from the window right above the alley and Juan honks and waves to him every time.

 Every once in a while (if I'm dressed) we'll run down and stand in the alley for a better view. The last couple of times Juan has stopped the truck and let Ethan sit in the seat. We brought him a big slice of Jon's birthday cake as a thank-you. Juan rocks!

 Ethan was in heaven, he still talks about it everyday.

 We love garbage trucks!!

Our visit to Boise

Sorry this post isn't very witty or funny, I'm just trying to spit it out fast. We've been sick lately. ;( Bleh.
The flights there and back were.... torturous. But I don't want to blog about that. I want to blog about what great adventures we had in my home town.

 We visited my Grandma Sharon (my mom's mom) TWICE. She gave us suckers and played us songs on my great grandma's piano. We sure do love Gma Sharon.

 We also went to the park a couple of times. What?!?! Ethan's old enough to climb on scary things all by himself??!?! Ah, where did my baby go?

 We also strolled the Women's Fitness Celebration with my mom and cousin Amanda and her baby girl (4 days older than Corryn) Charlotte.

 There was a lot of playing in our backyard, eating popsicles and flirting with the sprinkler. Ethan kept trying to blow it out like it was a candle or something.

 When we weren't out and about, we were hanging out around the house.

So this is post 1 of 3. Next is Corryn and Charlotte's birthday party and then all the fun we had at my Dad's.