My Sweet Little Grandma

My wonderful, sweet, incrediable, loving, compassionate, and thoughtful Grandma Evans passed away Wednesday February 18th at around 5:30 a.m. My heart is very sad as I think about the wonderful woman that left our family this week. There will be so many things that I will miss about her.

Grandma is now back again with her "Art" and I am sure they are dancing together at this very moment. I am sure she is hugging all her family that passed on before especially her oldest son. I am sure she is happy, free from all pain and limitations.

These past few days as I have had the time to think, reflect, and ponder about my Grandma my heart overflows with love and wonderful memories that I would like to write down so that I can always remember.

From my Grandma I have learned many things:

I have learned to love. Everyone says their Grandma is loving but there was no one like Grandma Evans. She really had a unique ability to make EVERYONE feel loved and feel loved all the time. Growing us we always felt it. She would always give us gift for birthdays and Christmas, even if it was something small, she was always showing us she loved us even with as many grand kids as she had. I remember writing and mailing letters to her and as soon as should would get it she would call me to tell me how much she loved it! It made me feel so special.She always, always hugged and kissed us. If Grandma can do it so can I!

Grandma really taught me this principle in the last few months. The first was at Grandpa's funeral. Grandma was very saddened about losing Grandpa, you could see it and feel it. As I was trying to comfort her I asked her if she needed a drink of water, and she said yes, and so I walked into the kitchen with her and she got a cup and filled it with water and then she turned gave it to me. So my sweet little grandma, amid her distress , she tried to meet my needs, tried to something for me. Then again I saw my Grandma's inner kindness and love at Thanksgiving. At that time I knew that Grandma didn't remember me as her granddaughter but I am sure she felt that I loved her. One afternoon we were out letting Grandma rock on her swing and it was chilly. I was standing and talking to her and she scooted over and told me to sit. She then took the blanket off of her and covered both of us with it. This shows Grandma's genuine spirit. She was always the first to show love and kindness even during hard times and when she didn't even know the people she was loving. Grandma was the first to love, serve, and make them feel special. If Grandma can do it so can I!

I have learned that home is where the heart is. Her home was so warm and inviting. We looked forward to visiting and being there. Grandma's house was the only place that we wanted to go on vacation. She would let the grand kids destroy her house without ever complaining as we played dress up, house, restaurant, and even made her basement into a fortune teller booth! Even when I would bring friends with me to Parowan they felt just as loved by Grandma as the rest of us because her home radiated the love she had. If Grandma can have a home like that so can I!

I have learned to live the gospel. Grandma has always been example of living righteously. I loved sitting by Grandma during church because she would always have Worthers Originals for us in her purse. She was present when I got baptized and married and even as she got older and it was harder she still attended church. Her and Grandpa were temple workers. And I remember knowing that Grandma loved the gospel through things that she said and most importantly by the feeling you felt when you were with her. It just radiated from her all the time. If Grandma can do it so can I!

I have developed a desire to try to learn how to cook as good as Grandma. Grandma was amazing in the kitchen, and we were always well fed at her house. My favorite, and always will be, is Grandma Evans' homemade chicken noodle soup over potatoes. I love it, and it is her tradition that I pass on to my family. I remember loving to be in the kitchen with her and watch her cook and bake, and her house always smelled wonderfully. She was always making something for someone and always had a treat to share with us. I can try to learn to cook as good as Grandma!

I have learned the importance of taking care of yourself. Grandma was the cutest little lady I have ever seen. Grandma was always physically cute, Grandpa first noticed her legs! She always took the time to look cute! She went and got her hair done every week, and always had on cute outfits with matching shoes. If she can look that cute everyday I should be able to too!

I witnessed a woman who truly lived up to her divine roles of womanhood in every way imaginable. The kind of daughter of God that Grandmas was is an example to all of us. Grandma fulfilled her role as a woman, a wife, a mother, and a grandmother in such a perfect way. Through her example I know what I can achieve and what I can become I just hope to be half the woman that she is. I hope that I can try to be more like Grandma and hope my children will be able to know her through me.

I miss her and love her but am so happy that she can be with Grandpa again! I am going to strive each day to live the way I should so I can be with both of them someday!

Our Valentine's Weekend

We have been celebrating Valentine's Day all weekend long! It actually started last Monday night for Family Home Evening. We made count down to Valentine's day chains with the kids. Ethan loves being able to take one ff every day, and he always remembers each morning. Plus, it is a great way to work on counting and math skills. I also made a cute Valentine's family matching game. I cut out red and purple hearts. On the red hearts I glued on three pictures of each family member, and then on the purple hearts I glued on different activities or things that describe each person. Then we played memory as we matched the correct activity with the right person. The kids loved playing this!

Our Countdown Chains

Our Matching Game

Then on Thursday Ethan had his preschool Valentines party. I am not quite sure but he was so excited to get up and go. I bought him a new red shirt to wear and we made these cute Valentines for his class. I got a little shovel and a bag of candy and then wrote a note " I DIG U" on it. It wasn't my idea but I thought they turned out darling! Ethan made a mail truck to carry home all his Valentines in. I can't even tell you how excited he was over the little pieces of papers (valentines) that he got from his classmates. It made his whole day!

Then Friday night Seth and I went to our Stake's annual sweetheart dance. It was a fun night. It was a Chinese theme, and it was decorated spectacular! I can't not believe the detail that they went into to decorating the church, if you want to see some pictures go here. It was a lot of fun to get dressed up, leave the kids with Casey and Brynn, and be together having dinner and dancing! It was a fun night!

Then Saturday as LOVE Day! Ethan's countdown was all done and he went to bed anticipating Cupid, the Valentine Fairy, to come to our house. I had bought a bunch of valentine table decorations from the dollar store and had decorated the table for when the kids woke up. Then Cupid had put a valentine basket for everyone on the table.

Ethan's Valentine Basket

Seth's Valentine Surprises

Ciara's Valentine Basket

And look at what Cupid left for me!

Cupid brought Ethan real Monster trucks, Monster Mutt and Donkey Kong, he was a thrilled little boy! Cupid brought Ciara a baby doll and she was equally happy! And lots and lots of chocolate for everyone. And my sweetheart bought me very cute running shoes that he picked out by himself and a new new sports bra! I needed one. Also, he signed up both of us to run in a St. Patricks Day 5 K run! He is so sweet to me!

Here are Ethan's and Ciara's Valentine Day Pictures!

My Cute Little Love Bugs!

Then for dinner we stayed home and made our own personal pizzas. The kids loved being able to put whatever they want on theirs. We sure had a lot of fun all together in the kitchen.

Ethan's finished product.

After dinner Seth and Ciara played the matching Diego game. It is the only game Ciara wants to play and we have to play it over and over. She is relentless and will not back down until she plays it. I am not kidding when I say we have played it at least a hundred times! Ethan helped me make a Valentine 's day cake.

Then we all snuggled and watched a Charlie Brown's Valentine on t.v.! It was a wonderful Valentine's day spent with the ones that I love the most. Hopefully we created some really good memories and traditions with each other.

Here is Ciara in her Valentine's dress for church on Sunday!

That Was So Awesome!

That statement was said over and over by a really excited 5 year old boy as he was leaving the Monster Jam. On Saturday we took Ethan to his first ever Monster Truck Rally, and he LOVED it! Ever since he was a baby he has been fascinated with trucks, cars, big tires, anything and everything to do with monster trucks. So we paid the money and went. We had a blast watching Ethan get so excited about it all.

The best monster truck is"Grave Digger", and Ethan even had the toy monster truck so he packed up all his monster trucks in his backpack and they came with us to the rally. Our seats were pretty high up but that actually was great because we were able to see everything that was happening. Ciara thought is was little loud but she just cuddled with her blanket and thought the dinosaur and dog truck was cool!

Not only did we see HUGE trucks jump over and crush little cars but they actually had Transformers! Our little boy was in heaven!!!! They had cars come out and one raised up into a dinosaur that blew out fire and the other raised up into a robot that had guns and shot at the dinosaur.

After it was over we walked down and were able to see Grave Digger and the other monster trucks close up. We all thought they were pretty awesome. As soon as we left Ethan was asking when the next monster truck rally was.

Since Saturday night we have had a monster truck rally in our home. Ethan went through the house and found every monster truck and car he owns, which is a ton, lines them up and reenacts the monster jam. He has named all the trucks, they do jumps, and there is a winner. He even went and found Ciara's chairs for her doll house and his army men so that they could sit and watch.

It was so much fun to experience this through the eyes of an almost five year old, "It was so awesome!"

Here is Ethan and Ciara before the Monster Truck Rally!

Bowling Fun

On Saturday we went bowling as a family. Seth worked a lot last week and so we wanted to do something fun all together. We decided to go bowling since it has been years since we have gone. And it was fun! Ethan thought it was soo cool! Both Ethan and Ciara were enthralled with the neon lights and excitement of the bowling alley, and Ethan was thrilled to have to change into real bowling shoes!

Ethan did really well. He learned how to put his fingers in the right holes and then throw the ball down the lane. He even bowled a spare by himself. I think that he thought he was so big to be able to do it himself. I was impressed that he got the concept so fast. After we finished three games he told me that bowling is the best ever and he wants to do it again!

Ciara rolled the ball once and it stopped in the middle of the lane and we had to go get it. But she was perfectly content after that to sit eating a cup of ice and getting her hair blown up from the ball machine!

Seth and I played three games. He won the first and I won the second. So we had to play one more and, guess what?, I actually won by three points, thanks to the bumpers we had up for Ethan! Yeah! But we had a great time doing something we never do! I loved spending time together and seeing my children have fun!