The Many Faces of Evan

Evan has such an expressive face. We are always laughing at the funny faces he makes! So, I caught a few of them on camera. The only one I haven't ever been able to capture on film is his "pouty lip" face. When he's sad, he curls his bottom lip and pouts like you wouldn't believe. It just melts your heart!

Left Photo: It looks like Evan is thinking,"Hmm, what should I get into next?" And he is also raising one eyebrow, which he does often.
Right Photo: Just another "wide eyed" look. And he was also trying to clap his hands!

Many times Evan will curl his top lip over his bottom lip and smile. We think it's so funny and cute!

Right Photo: Very happy.
Left Photo: Very mad.

Just your basic cute photo of Evan being very happy.

Evan Cont...

My favorite face expression is when Evan sticks his tongue out! He does it when he is trying so hard to get somewhere or something. It's so cute!

Here is another pic. of Evan working really hard at something and sticking out his tongue. And most importantly, this is the first time Evan pulled to standing all by my himself! As you can see, he is very proud of himself!

I have been trying to think of something to post about for a few days now. I finally started searching random websites trying to find SOMETHING to write about. And I came across Mad Libs! Ever since I can remember, I have always loved Mad Libs! If you don't know what those are... you have missed out on life! I remember filling them out when I was little and laughing so hard I would cry. Or I remember laughing so hard that you couldn't even finish reading the rest of the story! So, here is a Mad Lib that Tom and I filled out. And here is the link to the website I used... (www.brainofbrian.com/madlibs) it has some pretty good Mad Libs. Or just do a search for Mad Libs. Fill one out and if it's funny, post it in the comments! Enjoy!

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Love To Organize

For the past week and a half, I have been going through our apartment, room by room, and organizing! I do one room every day (if I have time) and I spend about an hour or two on each room cleaning, organizing, and throwing old stuff away. Luckily, we live in an apartment, so we don't have THAT much stuff. It feels really good to have a pile of stuff we haven't used in forever and take it out to the trash or to Goodwill.
I have been saving our bedroom and the kid's bedroom for last, because they are the WORST! Does anyone else hate having to go through your children's clothes over and over again, weeding out the stuff they have outgrown?? It seeems like I just did it yesterday! and I am sure I will be doing it again very soon. And speaking of their room, I still haven't got to it yet. (It seems like one of them is always sleeping in there!) Once I clean their room, the whole apartment will be done!
So, yesterday I did our bedroom and I was dreading having to organize the desk area. So here is a look at the before and after! And there is a lot of papers and junk that I cleaned that you can't see in the picture. Now I love walking into the room and seeing such a clean and organized desk! I hope it stays clean for a little while...

Before

After

Billings Trip

On Christmas day, we left Tom's family and drove to Billings. We got there just in time to talk to my little bro. Todd on the phone. He's been on his mission in NYC for four months now. All of us had a ton of questions for him and I think we got a better picture of what his mission is like. It sounds like he is starting to adjust and doing very well!
All of my brothers and sisters, except Joel and his wife Maria (we missed you guys!), were able to come. Everyone is spread out... from Kansas, to Utah, to Washington, so it's always great when most of us can get to Billings. We are trying to talk everyone into moving closer together. It will be interesting to see where everyone ends up in the future... hopefully a little closer! After being together for a few days, you really miss your family when it's time to leave! When I got home, I realized that I would have to start cooking our meals again! I think we get very spoiled on vacation.
We also did a nativity play with the kids. Eli wrote and directed the play... it was so cute. I took video of it, but not any photos. Evan was baby Jesus and Jordyn was an angel.

"The Cousins" - Left to right: Jordyn, Evan, Nathan, Katherine, Liam, Eli, and Elizabeth.

Jordyn opening a Christmas present. She got so many cute clothes. I think she is the most stylin' little girl ever!

Evan and Rex. Evan was quite fascinated with Rex and I think Rex was starting to warm up to Evan too.

This picture goes along with the post below. See what happens when you let your kids hang around with those cowboy folk? Ha, just kidding... it's plastic if ya didn't know.

 

Wyoming Trip

We spent the week before Christmas in Buffalo, WY with Tom's family. Actually, I should say "Frank's" family. Growing up, Tom's family and friends called him Frank (his middle name), because his dad's name is Tom. When Tom, I mean Frank, moved to Billings to go to school, he decided to make a change and have everyone call him Tom. So when we are in Buffalo, I make an attempt to call him Frank, to avoid confusion. (and during this Wyoming "post" I will call him Frank!) It seems like it would be wierd, but for some reason it's not too strange! Then when we go to Billings I have to go back to calling him Tom!
I feel like I am so lucky to have such opposite in-laws from my side of the family. I know, sounds wierd, but I love that they have such different lifestyles. In Wyoming, my in-laws live on a ranch 30 min. from town. Ranch work has been a big part of all of their lives, even in Frank's siblings lives. The guys always go hunting or fishing most of the time we are there. And if it's nice enough, the kids can go fishing or 4-wheeling too. This year they even cut down a Christmas tree with all of the little kids. When we go to Wyoming I feel like it's my time to be outdoorsy and enjoy the beautiful scenery and animals. And one of the things I love the most is going outside and night and being able to see the stars so well! And if you stop and listen, you hear nothing! No cars, or police sirens, no neighbors, or ... anything. Pure silence!
Then we go to Billings and I feel like I get to be a "city girl". (even though Billings isn't THAT big of a city) We do a lot of shopping and always go to at least one movie (it used to always be the newest Lord of the Rings, but this year it was The Pursuit of Happiness). We always sit and visit with my siblings or my parents and play a lot of board games too. If it's nice outside, we'll take the kids to the zoo or go to the park. And everytime we are there we go on a drive to look at all the huge new houses that are being built around town.
Doesn't it sound so perfect? I really do have the best of both worlds! I love it that way. I think it fits me so well because I love being a combination of outdoorsy/sporty and then sometimes being a real "girly girl" and getting all primped up. It can't get any better than that!

Our 3rd annual Live Nativity Scene. Left to Right: Clay, Evan, Jordyn, Cole, Caleb, Joseph, and Ryan. Oh, and two dad's hiding in the background.

Ninny (Frank's mom, Glenda) with the six boy grandkids. Jordyn is the only girl grandchild on the Bybee side of the family!

Cole, dressed up in Pa's (Franks's dad) cowboy boots.

Clay, dressed in his cowboy gear and ready to rope calves (their favorite pretend game). I loved that Clay decided several times to inform us of what Jordyn was saying to him.
"Jordyn said that I am her daddy!"
"Jordyn said that she wants to play hide and seek with me, but that no one can cheat."
"Jordyn smiles at me everytime I come by her.. she likes me."

Sooo cute!

 

Well, we are now home from our 2 week Christmas vacation! We had a great time visiting our families and we already miss them. I will post photos of our trip very soon.

At the very last minute, we decided to take a "family photo" to include with our Christmas letter. Sometimes it can be very hard to take a good photo of Jordyn with someone else or with a group, so we had taken photos of the kids seperately and together to see what we could come up with. And surprisingly, we got some good ones of the kids. But, then we decided to take a family photo and use that instead. I thought the pictures of Evan and Jordyn were so cute that I needed to show them off!