Happy Birthday to Jonathon!!

My Jonathon's birthday was on Thursday. It makes me feel young knowing that even though I'm in my 30's, my husband is still in his twenties. :)

I can remember the very first time that I saw Jonathon. We were both missionaries in Houston. Both of us were training a new missionary so we happened to be at the mission office at the same time. I remember looking across the parking lot and seeing an elder wearing black cargo pants (with his shirt and tie) and doing some kind of skateboarding trick. Huh, that's pretty cool, I thought. I had no idea just how cool he really was.

Boy was I lucky to get to find out.

So here are some things that impress and fascinate me about that cargo pant wearing Elder:

-His brain is CHOCK full of facts. He can EASILY answer questions like, What are the names Jesse's twins boys on the show "Full House"? or Who are the original members of the band "No Doubt"? or How many yards penalty is given for a personal foul in football?

-He's extremely polite.

-He is the fastest reader I have EVER known. I'm not kidding. We were watching a show and at the end there was a paragraph to read concerning the future of the main character. I literally JUST finished the first sentence and he was done with the paragraph. I didn't believe him at first so I quizzed him on what he just read and sure enough, he'd read it. amazing. Every time he speed reads through something I'm still a little dumbfounded.

-He has so much care and compassion for the people he loves. (And even those he doesn't.)

-His determination is mind blowing.

-He thrives on people telling him he "can't" do it.

-He remembers every date and detail of our relationship. (Wish I could say the same for me.)

-He can figure out how to master any game out there. Board game, card game, sport, video game...you name it...give him just a couple rounds and then he will have the game or opponent beat. I'm not gonna lie, it's a tad bit annoying but totally awesome when we play on the same team.

-He's right 95% of the time. No, I'm not kidding. This is a little annoying too but I've just come to accept it and thrive on it.

-I'm still in awe over this one...His first and foremost priority is little old me. It's true. It's taken me a while to even believe that it was true but in fact, it is. If Katie ain't happy, Jonny ain't happy. So he literally does everything in his power to make my life amazing. See, I told you I was lucky.

-He is an amazing Dad. He loves Maddie and Lyndon so much. He so sweet to them. He's a good teacher for them. And an incredible example to them. They're blessed to have him for a Dad.

I made him his favorite breakfast... full of non-breakfast foods. Any nothing says "Jonathon" more than a skull or two. Happy to oblige.

Happy Birthday sweetheart. I love you.

The two musketeers

Maddie had all of her toys (but she calls it her "junk") lined up on the couch. Out of no where here comes Lyndon jumping up on the couch destroying her perfectly situated treasures. Disgustingly she said to him, "Lyndon, you're really kind of ruining my life right now." His reply? "Sawree, Mawee."

Last night as we were all sitting in the living room, out of no where, Lyndon looked at us and happily announced, "I kick. I kick wall." And then proceeded to do just that. He ran full speed ahead and kicked the wall. And repeating the action at least 5 more times. No idea. none whatsoever.

During lunch Maddie asks me, "Mom, do you know how you can tell if a cloud is sad? It rains." Clever, I thought. But her words of wisdom didn't end there. "Do you know who you can tell that a cloud is angry? It has thunder." And probably my favorite of all, "Do you know how you can tell if a cloud is happy? It doesn't rain or have thunder." She's very wise.

Much to our relief, Lyndon is finally gravitating toward more masculine things. But he still likes to keep one foot in girly stuff. As evidenced by his impersonation of a robot. But not just any robot. A BUTTERFLY robot. That's our boy.

Maddie is 100% sold by commercials. I'll be cooking and she'll start screaming, "MOM!! MOM!!! Come here. Hurry, Hurry. I WANT that. PLEASE!? PLEASE!!?? It's usually for a Barbie, bend-a-roos, my little ponies you know the normal stuff. But lately she has been going gaga (and even knows the catchy songs) for products such as these: The "touch-n-brush (which is a tooth brush dispenser that attaches to your wall. big. ugly.), Shoes Under (a box that is designed to store and easily fit in the unused space under your bed.) and wonder hangers (which are hangers designed to maximize and organize closet space). She knows all the catch phrases and begs me to buy them for her. If she only knew all the useless infomercials that are on late night TV. She'd be in heaven.

While I was doing the dishes Maddie comes up to me. "Mom, do you want me to show you how to play the "Nothing" game?" I agreed. Then she proceeded to just stand there very still and stare at me. Seriously. Does she think of this stuff on her own?

This is Lyndon's "scary" face. The more scared I act, the happier he is.

I noticed Jonathon reading a story to Lyndon and had to take a picture...

The two hooligans using up the last of their energy before bedtime. (yeah, right. the energy source is never dry.) Ben, (our new brother-in-law) bought this cool, but kind of creepy, monkey for Lyndon at the zoo while we were in Omaha.

We did a little craft project. I like walking through Micheal's and letting them pick out something they want to do. Maddie's tastes usually leans toward the more expensive do-it-yourself projects but I can gently nudge her in a new direction pretty easily. And Lyndon just likes to do whatever Maddie is doing. This time they each picked out a box and a piece of paper and decoupaged the paper on the box. Easy and fun.

Are you curious as to what the heck Maddie is doing to her doll? I was. I asked. "Mom, I'm blowing up her water wings." duh. It's so obvious now.

Again with the scary faces...

sucks.

The Kirby vacuum guy came around today. I just about puked when he vacuumed our mattress and out came a grossly ridiculous amount of dead skin, bed bugs and bed bug feces (as he pointed out). No wonder they don't spend any money on marketing. They're brilliant, they come into your home, show you what kind of filth you're living in (and sleeping in) then vacuum it all up with their miracle machine. Who needs fancy commercials or giant billboards? Not kirby. genius.

p.s. I want a kirby. bad.

Happy days.

It has looked this this for the past 3 days. (cloudy, rainy and not 100 degrees.) I'm so happy.

This morning at the gym I had a rush of endorphines and I thought to myself...I LOVE working out, I could do this all day only to be smacked back to reality 10 minutes later with the over-whelming feeling of wanting to throw-up. Silly body.

Let's hear it for Omaha!

It's been awhile...phew. For some reason it takes me a good week to get back in the swing of life after we return from a trip. Who knows why. But I'm finally back. (I know you've all been on the edge of your seats.)


I've got the the kids occupied with a new movie from Target...Barbie and the Pegasus. I know, it's like I WANT Lyndon to like Barbies. But honestly, he LIKES those movies and I need a few minutes to myself, so there.

Here's an over view of the trip...we'll start with Rachel's wedding. Ahhh, the wedding. It turned out absolutely perfect. Beautiful weather and all. There are more pics on my photo blog if you'd like to see others.

Much to Maddie's satisfaction, she got to be a flower girl. My Mom very graciously made the dress. Cute, huh?



The whole crew. Minus Lyndon. He fell a asleep and we didn't want to wake the beast.

You might be thinking...Humm, funny it's seems like Maddie is NEVER looking at the camera... You are CORRECT. Much to MY dismay she very rarely will look at the camera when I try to take her picture. Ugh. Not one of my favorite things.

Their reception was held at a mansion. No really, it was. It's even called, "The Mansion". It had really cool architecture and a cool vibe. Very fun for a photographer.

Keely, Jonathon's aunt, was very wise (and still is) and remembered to bring activities to occupy the kids throughout the evening. Good thing because they would've entertained themselves by going from table to table swiping the m&m's (meant for the guests). Okay, they did that a little but it really would've been out of control had Keely not come prepared.

Unfortunately this was the only decent (decent as in he was at least looking at me) shot I got of Lyndon. the entire day. just this one. nothin' else. You can't tell by this picture but he had a great time...read on...

On to the dancing...Lyndon's favorite part. At least in the beginning. After he danced with all the girls he could he spent the rest of the night trying to break out of the mansion. Again Keely to the rescue and followed him in and out in and out in and out...you get the picture.

His first dance was with Keely. And Maddie danced with Jonathon.

Then Lyndon moved on to Rylee.

...and then tried to chase her down for more dancing.

...but couldn't catch her so he moved on to the other Riley.

And the night wouldn't be complete if he didn't get a chance to dance with the bride...

After the wedding the party was not over. Is it ever over at the Evan's house? The day after we all got together for dinner, games and hanging out. So fun. The kids were in love with the trampoline AND the 70 degree weather. They spent a good amount of time out here.

(See the barn in the back? Lyndon calls it "the farm".)

part of the crew.

It was such a relaxing trip. Kind of hard to come home. Maybe that's why it's taken me a week to get going...