Endangered Species

Our poor, poor Teddy Bears. :(

Creighton has a thing with finding small holes and making them bigger.  So sad.

26.2 down, more to go

Yesterday, was the Ogden marathon.  My sweet little sister and I have been training together and it was finally the day.  We were so excited to just get it over with.

Lindsey Lou, Mom, and Me

This excitement did not last.

Have you even seen the finish line of a race and see a person almost pass out?  Usually someone goes and grabs them and has to basically carry them out of the way.  Yeah, that was me.  The lady ran right up to me as I crossed, grabbed on to me, and didn't let go.  Hahaha  Very cool.

To summarize the feeling that Lindsey and I both had:  We are so glad it is over.

I am supposed to run the Utah Valley Marathon in 3 weeks and Ragnar in 4 weeks.  Let's just say that after those 4 weeks, I think I am going to be taking a very long break from running.  I started running as my break and it's turned into a chore.  I need to make it enjoyable again, so I am going to pass the baton to Mitch (he says he is running the next one.)

Even though I don't have a lot of positive feelings about yesterday, I was so thankful to have such an awesome running partner and to have my kids and Mitch surprise me at the finish.  I am also thankful for my body and the things it is capable of.  Last year I wasn't able to run this race because of an injury.  I have been very blessed to remain injury-free, even through the race.  I know there are many people that aren't able to run, and I can never take this ability for granted.  It is, truly, a blessing.

Well....on to the next one.  Argh.

Confession

About a week ago, my mom found the following note, along with a $10 bill, under their rug.  It reads:

I once was in your home for a party and took some underwear from a closet. I now am repaying the value of what I took.  It may not mean much to you, but it will clear my conscience.

Parker

Lame blogger won't upload it the right way even though I save it the right way.

Well, Parker.  Whoever you are, where ever you are.  We full-heartedly forgive you.

So funny.  Reminds me of Sixteen Candles.

........None of us can think of a Parker (I have a nephew, but I am 100% positive it's not him).  We're thinking it must be one of Que's friends since they are mission age.  I'm guessing it must have been Lindsey's.....I'm thinking no one my age would be confessing to this now.   And also, my underwear probably isn't anything anyone would want to steal and wave around.  Just guessing.

It's Official

It's official, as of yesterday, Mitchell is officially licensed in the state of Utah to practice law.  So now with Iowa, Nebraska, and now Utah under his belt....we hope he never has to take that evil test again.

Talents

On Sunday, our lesson in Relief Society was about talents.  The teacher passed out a piece of paper with about 50 different positive attributes listed.  She instructed us to circle 5.  I contemplated this for a while and then circled my 5.  One of these happened to be "problem solving."  I think the next day the Lord tried to tell me, "Allie, this is not one of your talents."

The situation that proves this:

Late to pick up Jackson for school, as always, I run out to the garage to get the kids in the car.  I pop open the back of the car to throw some returns in and since I am parked so close to the garage door, the back door can only go up about 1/2 way.   Suddenly, the garage door starts going up.  My sweet Creighton's new thing with the new house is opening the garage door.  He finds it thrilling.  As the garage door goes up, it takes the van door up with it and it's basically grinding it's way into the door until finally the weight of it stops the garage door.  All the while I am screaming.

I try to pull the van door down but I can't.  It is completely stuck on a screw.  I documented just in case I had to send these pictures to someone for help out of my garage --- this makes my stupidity even greater.

Can you see the screw that is preventing it to come down?

At this point in the story, Mitch says to me.  "So, why didn't you just pull the car forward."

YES MITCH.  WHY DIDN'T I JUST PULL THE CAR FORWARD?....Well, honey, it's because I don't have the talent for problem solving.  Instead, I think I have the talent of blowing up the problem to be bigger and then looking for the complicated solution.

The complicated solution: trying to get that screw undone.  It was hard.  I was actually sweating.  I can't explain why it was so difficult, but it was.  I called my mom frantically and asked if she could run and get Jackson since I was stuck in the garage.  Thankfully, she did.  Mitch called during this time and his co-workers could hear my frustration.  My mom called back to see if I was ok.  No, I was not.  I felt doomed.

About 10 minutes later, I got the screw undone.  However, the garage door still wouldn't come down.  I felt defeated.

Suddenly, the light bulb came on.  I turned my car on, pulled it forward a few feet, got out, shut the back door and I was on my way....ashamed of my stupidity.

Yes, it was one of those moments.  The sad thing is, my mom seemed to tell everyone that Creighton did something really bad to the garage and I was stuck inside.  So, rather than telling those people this rather embarrassing story, I told them I wasn't ready to share it quite yet, and I am now sharing it for all to hear.  I still haven't even told my mom what really happened.  I preferred she laugh at me privately and not in front of my face.

So to recap, I am not a problem solver.  It is not a talent of mine. Perhaps I can develop something else because I am not quite sure if you can develop the problem solver skill.  I think you either have it or don't.  Obviously, I don't.

The Whirlwind

The last month (ok, last 2 months) have been a whirl wind.  That's my excuse for the poor updating.  Oh, and it doesn't help when you don't have the internet.

So, to save me time and from having to post many different posts, I will just document the last month with the pictures I happened to capture along the way.

My Birthday card Jack made me

I don't think there is room for any more candles.
Guess I need to just stay 28.

Aren't kids so angelic when they are sleeping....at church.

Crazy kids

Gotta love them.

Couldn't help but snap this picture.
I told him to take his muddy pants off before coming in.
He tried so hard to get them off without taking his shoes off.

Brotherly love.

Shopping for furniture.
Mitch insisted I take this picture.
Sadly, this piece of fine furniture was not for sale.

The kids helped me unpack....the costumes.

I put them away at least a dozen times and hid them only for them to come out with one on.

Some fit and some did not.

The boys got new shoes.
E got Captain Rex (from Star Wars).
They light up.
He insists on wearing them all the time...
that is until Aunt Josie got him Darth Vader Crocs.
Now he'll switch off.
Creighton got Bobba Fett Shoes.
They are the ugliest shoes I have ever seen.
He insists on wearing them all the time.
Thanks mom (and Josie).  The kids love them!

We got a visit from our good friends the Taylor's.
Joe & E
Oh how we miss our old Omaha neighbors. 

The Boys like watching their daddy play basketball.
Mitch joined a team with some high school friends.

Love their smiles.

The kids have a new obsession with band-aids.
For a long time they associated them with shots and hated them.
I think I preferred them hating them.
One more thing I have to hide.

As you can see from the pictures.  Lots of cool and exciting things happened....like they always do here at the Evers'.

Our New Place!

Check out the before and after of my kitchen/family room:

Check out the super high unusable pedestal in the middle and the ugly green tile.
Also, I hated how the carpet went all the way to the bar...that's a no-no when you have kids.

After the remodel:

I know the paint looks green up in the corner, but it's the same dark
brown everywhere else.  Not quite sure what my camera was doing.
If I was a true photographer, I would have edited it.  I am not.

We owe all this to the amazing Stephen.  As you can see, he is truly amazing.  Stephen is my dad's adopted son.  He has worked with my dad for 2 decades (?) and he is a self taught contractor.  When we bought the home, it had an unfinished basement.  To help us the mortgage, we decided to have him finish it for us and make it into a basement apartment.  He saw my kitchen and he could see that this could definitely use some help.  He suggested we start here and then he could head to the basement. He did all of this in 2 weeks!

We were able to use our same cabinets and just paint them.  Then he designed my AWESOME bar and made our family room smaller so that the walkway would be wood and not carpet.  My dad happened to have the "Suspend-it" seating installed in a Party Room at work and was kind enough to let us rip it out and we just had to buy the new chairs to go on them.  (They were bright blue before so we felt it was necessary to do that upgrade.)  Also, since we are finishing our basement to put in a basement apartment for my little sister to live in, we decided to put all the old appliances down there and give me the new ones.  Spoiled, yes.  Also, we weren't going to rip out the fireplace, but....after finding mold when we ripped out the carpet...the fireplace had to be remodeled too, but I am sure glad.  It looks like a whole new house. 

So, there you have it.  Our home.  Couldn't be more happy.

Oh, and thanks to Stephen's wife if you're listening.  Thanks for allowing him to slave at our house to get it finished for us.  We owe you just as much as we owe him.

Cinco De Mayo

We moved in and slept at our house for the first time on May 5, 2011.

I received the following text from Mitchell that day:

Cinco de Mayo - a day that will be forever be celebrated in the Evers household - the day we got our independence!

Don't get us wrong, living at my parents house was a life of luxury.  My mom did a lot of laundry and all the grocery shopping.  We had plenty of space.  And we were just super blessed to have such a great place to live these last 5 months.  However, I am sure my parents were happy to have us out when they came home to this a few days before our exodus.

Oh, and just so you know, dry erase marker does not come out.  It's pure evil.  

My poor parents.  We left their house in shambles and yet they have never said a word.  We were truly blessed to have such a wonderful place to live and such wonderful, patient, loving, and kind parents...and Lindsey....to live with.  Thanks you guys.  I hope you have some good memories to go with the not so good. :)

Creighton's "New Thing"

Here is Creighton's "New Thing:"

He especially enjoys doing his "new thing" while we are in the car going somewhere so when we get there, I am the luckiest mom in the world to walk around with my child in his specially designed pants.

The smallest hole turns into the biggest.  4 pairs have been ruined.  Please let summer come soon.