New pics of the boys

I finally uploaded my pictures today so I thought I would hurry and put some on the blog while I was on the computer. In this first picture, notice the tatoo's on the boys arms. My sister was putting the little sticker tatoo's on her boys and I had never done them before so we decided to do one on each of my boys too. My sister and I both did a little tatoo on our ankles, she did a rose and I did a fairy. The funny part is a few days later I was walking out the door to go to church at the rest home (luckily it wasn't my ward) and my sister pointed out to me that I still had the tatoo on my ankle. I didn't have enough time to go take my nylons off, scrub it off, and get out the door and still be on time, so I just had to go with it on and then take it off after that church before I went to our real ward. I felt so rebelious to have a tatoo on at church, even if it was just a little fake one. :-)

Here is TJ and Cooper in the dryer. TJ always loves to climb in the dryer when I am switching the clothes over and then it's always a little tricky getting him out when there's a ton of clothes piled on him, but if it's making a fun memory, why not? This time Cooper joined him in there before I put the clothes in and they were having a really fun time.

This is just a random shot of TJ today. I wanted to make sure the flash was working so I shot a quick picture of him, but I thought it was cute so I stuck it on here.

Another random picture of Cooper. Whenever I got to put pictures on the blog I realize that I really need to take more pictures of Cooper by himself. I have quite a few of the boys together, but not a ton of him by himself. Already suffering from the second child syndrome. :-) Cooper has really taken off with his walking the past few days and walks most of the time. It's fun to see him really taking off like this. Last night I dreampt that he was running around the house and I'm sure it won't be long before he is.

Elder Evans

Today we took Matt's youngest brother Wesley to the MTC (Missionary Training Center). He has been called to serve as a missionary in the Salt Lake City, UT mission, speaking Spanish and will serve for 2 years. He flew in last night and Matt picked him up and took him to dinner. Then they stopped to see some aunts/uncle on the way home and had a good visit with family. They got home about 10:00p.m. and after changing out of his suit, Wesley and Matt played a mean game of HORSE (basketball) and Matt barely beat Wesley. They said the loser had to go on a mission so I'm glad Matt won or I would have really missed him. :-) This morning Wes got up at 6:30 since he is already set apart as a missionary, but I know that was really hard for him since the past year at college his average bedtime was between 1:00-3:00am. Guess he better get used to the "early to bed, early to rise", huh? We went and saw his grandpa's grave which is in Spanish Fork, and then he had to report to the MTC at 12:00pm. We took TJ with us but luckily we were able to leave Cooper here. It was great to be there and to feel the spirit of all those missionaries and their excitment to share the gospel. After we dropped Wes off we went to Zupa's for lunch and just enjoyed the afternoon together. We'll miss Wesley while he's gone but we know that he will be a wonderful servant of the Lord, and we are glad our boys have such great examples in their uncles.

Finally........

Well, I'm guilty as charged. I have been a total slacker when it comes to my blog recently. I have actually started updates multiple times but have never finished them. I just don't really feel like there is a ton going on in my life, but I guess I will write at least a bit.

We have been in Utah for 2 months now, and things are going well. There hasn't been any action on our condo in Chicago, but besides that, things are great. We are living with my sister and her family in their basement and it's actually been really fun so far. TJ has really enjoyed having a constant playmate with Seth, and Cooper is doing great. It's been really fun for me to have someone to talk to during the day, and my sister and I both LOVE being able to leave our kids home when we go places (store, errands, etc). Matthew has started playing on a softball league with our other brother-in-law here in Spanish Fork, and he has totally loved that. It's been nice that I can put the kids to bed and then go watch his games. We will really miss having a live-in babysitter whenever we move out.

Cooper is growing up and has finally decided that he's interested in walking. He still crawls sometimes, but he is walking a lot on his own, and he can stand there and pick up big toys/balls so he's pretty steady on his feet. He has 4 teeth on the top and 2 on the bottom, so he's still a bit behind where TJ was as far as teeth, but that doesn't hold him back from eating. I think that kid eats as much as any adult at the table and I'm not even kidding. He definitely out eats the other kids (probably combined). What a chunker - I love it!

We planted our garden this past week, so that's been fun. I was able to bring my garden boxes with me from Chicago (thanks to a LOT of muscles getting it down the stairs full of soil) so we just put them on the side of my sister's house and didn't have to actually dig in their yard to plant. Hopefully we will have lots of yummy veggies this summer/fall. I planted 3 zucchini so hopefully that will be enough for me - I LOVE zucchini. We also have squash, tomatoes, snow peas, beans, peppers, beets, lettuce, and cucumbers. I LOVE veggies right from the garden.

Let's see, what else is new? I have a lot more time now that my shows are over. I have been enjoying American Idol the past few months. I didn't get to watch as much of it the first part of the season since I had mutual every Tuesday and couldn't record it, but I haven't missed it since being here in Utah, and it played out pretty much like I wanted it to. Kris and Danny have been my favorites since the beginning, and I think Adam is extremely talented and I always enjoyed watching him perform, although I didn't care for his screaming part of the songs, but he does have a great voice. So last night I was excited and SHOCKED that Kris won, and I LOVED his duet with Keith Urban. But I am also excited that the shows are over and I have my evenings free again until January when it starts up again. :-)

Right now things are a bit crazy cause my sister and brother-in-law left this morning for a 6 day trip on their own (how FUN!) so I am watching their 2 boys while they are gone. So I have 4 boys ages 4,3,2, and 1. I also babysat another boy today for a few hours, and then had 2 other kids over after he left, and fed them all lunch, so I am getting a feel for what it would be like to have a LOT of kids under the age of 4. No thanks. :-) Not that I don't love them all, but thank heaven they come one at a time, and hopefully a few years apart.

Matt is doing great and loves his job. The commute kinda stinks sometimes, but he would prefer the commute and having us here in Utah with him, so whatdya do? He is doing really well and they really like him there, so hopefully he will be fine with his job in this crazy economic time.

Well, that's about it for us. Hopefully I will post some pics soon, and another update before 2 more months go by.