October 2013

We started off October super righteously by renting a beach-house with some great friends and hanging out at the beach for conference weekend...it was super fun! And we did watch conference on Sunday, and I have since watched and listened to all the talks a couple times....so I'm good:)

We hit the weather PERFECTLY! For the couple days we were there it was amazing 80 degree weather and sunny and simply amazing! We shared an awesome beach-house condo with the Woolley's and just had a blast! There is something so right about watching and playing with your kids at the beach. They are in heaven, we are in heaven, and everything seems right with the world....

The boys got a bit of boogie-boarding in....nice warm water in October too...

We were in Wildwood, NJ, right by the cool pier and boardwalk with all the shops and rides.

We also saw a bunch of dolphins off the beach a bit...so cool!

And then, mid-October, my gramma Ruthie passed away. She lived such a full and rich and wonderful life. I was so grateful to be able to fly to Utah with James for her funeral, which was actually a celebration of life. It was such a great reunion of all her progeny on this side of the veil, while an even greater and exciting reunion of Ruth and my grandpa Dean was occurring on the other side of the veil. We loved looking at old pictures of her. Ruth is in the middle of this one...

On the left in this one....

 

My grandma Ruthie and grandpa Dean's wedding...

She was such a bright and lively young woman...so beautiful!

She raised 4 boys and one girl, and did it by herself after my grandpa died when my dad (the youngest of the boys) was only 7-years-old.  My dad is the baby in this picture.

Good old family pictures from the '80s...

Here my dad is holding me, in the blue dress, and my mom and sister, Brittani are in front of us.

And one of my favorite family reunions of all time...with the best shirts;) My heart truly does belong to Gramma Ruthie! Ruth Eyre was an amazing woman who left such an amazing legacy and example for all her children, grandchildren and so on, to follow and look to in just about everything!

What I didn't get a pic of, but others did, so I will have to steal their photos when I have time, was ALL of her grandchildren (minus1) singing and performing amazing musical numbers at her funeral. That was pretty cool!

Then we had a fun dinner with my mom and siblings at a little restaurant in SLC after the day was over. Uncle Howie and baby James...they make a great pair eh?

Cute little Anna...wish we lived closer so I could know her better.

My mom with all her kids and some spouses and grand-kids...good looking bunch eh?

Good looking grandma too....James was pretty wide-eyed...

Rennie and Scott let me crash at their house that night, and then took me climbing up Big Cottonwood canyon the next day....it was a little piece of Utah heaven....THANK YOU!!!! MAN, we need to move back to Utah...I MISS those mountains SO MUCH! And I miss family too....

And then I got on a plane and flew back to Philly with James (who was such an angel traveling companion....love that kid!) And continued to enjoy the amazing beauties nature has to offer in this part of the country. I tried to go running on the Wissahickon Trail/Forbidden Drive every Tuesday and Thursday during Joy School at other mom's houses. We had a great time, me and Ben and James....and it was SOOOOOOO beautiful! Fall and Spring are WAY better here than anywhere else I have ever lived!

I sure love these two handsome boys in my life! So much joy:)

And my good friend from high-school and college, Steve Nelson, was kind enough to get Sam and I tickets to their "Piano Guys" concert when they were on tour here, in Glenside, PA. Such a great concert. And so happy for these guys making their mark in the world in such a meaningful and uplifting and unique way! Both Steve Nelson and John Schmidt attended my high school....and now they're famous...and that's my claim to fame:) And James was a perfect little trooper during the concert...

Sunday family walks...an Evans tradition we try to carry on...

And my worst fears have been realized....Samantha and Ben have figured out how to pile furniture on top of each other to reach greater heights....luckily we don't have any cracked skulls yet...

 

And while I took a short little nap on the couch, Samantha found multiple ways to cause havoc...I came up to her room and found her hiding under LucyMae's bed (it's a trundle) with a marker, and a pair of scissors. Luckily nothing had happened with the scissors yet. And luckily the marker wasn't too permanent on any of the surfaces that it made contact with.....which included just about the entire surface of Benjamin's body.... pardon the pictures....but I just had to document it...

And there's marker on the back-side too....

I got to chaperone LucyMae's field-trip to Freddie Hill Farm for the pumpkin patch. So fun to see her with her class-mates....she is gradually coming out of her shell that was created by our move....

The countryside here is simply breath-taking when you can get a good view of it.

Pumpkin heaven! They each got to pick their own pumpkin and carry it around the rest of the time.

We all made our way through the giant maze and then got to finish off with the giant slide and ice-cream cones:)

We also had a great violin recital just before Halloween...but where are my pictures? Hopefully Sam has some on his phone that I can find/steal....I'm going to be so sad if we didn't get any pictures Samantha's first violin recital!

Family pumpkin carving:) I'm so glad my husband gets so into this with the kids, because I just don't really love pumpkin carving that much. I don't hate it, but I'm fine without it. I am really good at cooking the pumpkin up and pureeing it for lots of yummy recipes. I can add pumpkin to just about anything:)

And the masterpiece....pretty good eh?

And this is how James enjoyed the evening:)

These two are the snuggliest kids in the world. I truly believe they are kindred spirits in that way. James will snuggle into Samantha, and let her drape herself all over him in ways that he will NOT tolerate with his other siblings.

LucyMae loved being a cat for Halloween. And while she did have fun at her school parade and party in her classroom, she refused to smile for me. Too many people watching I think....it makes me sad to see things like this be so hard for her...

Joy School kids for their little party...Samantha's face is just so her....

Trick-or-treating could not have been more perfect. The weather was perfect. The neighborhood was perfect. The kids got tired before they got way too much candy, so all-in-all a perfect Halloween:)