d'Evegnee Sleepover

While the older two thirds of the d'Evegnee family went to France for the LDS Temple open house, the younger third spent a week's worth of nights with us.

Though our days were mostly filled with school, homework, and trips back and forth into town, our evenings were full of laughter. For FHE we pulled out the photo booth props and took pictures to put on cards that we wrote to family members. Charlie was such a good trooper to smile and participate after he spent the day coughing and throwing up with a slight fever. His smile gives nothing away.

When the cards were all finished we roasted s'mores for treats. It was wonderful to have our table surrounded with kind words, silliness and sweets. The kids all got along so very well.

Charlie and I spent our mornings with Charlie Dog; reading and relaxing. Charlie chatter on the drive to Kindergarten was entertaining and educational. I kind of wanted to keep him forever. 

They initially acted as if I was dishing out cruel and unusual punishment when I would interrupt their playtime with dinner,  but they would get right back to their games and imagination afterward. Nearly every meal conversation was full of jokes and puns.

Marie spent her birthday with us so we did our best to ward of the homesickness with a happy cake and making banana splits since every one of Marie's conversations somehow led to bananas.  We then went to the Lego Batman Movie where we filled an entire row with popcorn and laughter.

Peter, Marie and Charlie were so patient and a great addition to our family but after almost 2 weeks of being without their family, they were so ready for home. After spending an extra night with us due to flight delays, they woke early on Saturday, packed their own stuff and waited and waited near the front door. When I told Marie that their mom was on her way over I got this candid reaction.

The Paris France LDS Temple

Bruce & Marie Hafen (Sarah's parents), Peter, Eric, Holden, Ethan, Eve, Sarah
This trip was a dream come true for Eric and Sarah who each served their missions in France.

Spring

2008 ~ 2017

All growed up and looking sharp!

After spending a couple of months working from home (and more specifically, a desk in a closet in his basement bedroom at Erika's house), Derek started work at Marketstar/AdRoll in Ogden. He continued living with Bret and Erika for the first month while he did his training and looked for an apartment.

I was so impressed with his enthusiasm for the job, especially considering how nervous he was to start it. It's a big job! He found several bargains on really nice clothes and set his new standards his first day of work in his fancy blazer and a killer watch to boost his confidence a bit. He has kept his own personal dress code since. I am so very proud of him! Six months later the job still scares him and occasionally he has thoughts of finding other work but he moves through the fear and is conquering.

Daymia and Levi provided their 3rd annual Easter Egg Hunt. I didn't realize it was a tradition until just now but for the last 3 years they have made Easter fun for the boys. They are so great to fill plastic eggs, hide them around the yard and then cheer the boys on as they frantically search the yard for sweet treasures. Brock helped in the hunting, Levi helped in the counting, and everyone joined in the eating.

Miss Kailee Jo somehow manages to keep getting cuter! She climbs in and on everything and pals around with her Daddy in the garage or at the skate park. She suddenly looked so much older when her teeth popped through. Her smile brightens the day!

Vivien and Gabor are forever busy with school. They keep us updated through spying pictures that they take of each other and we love it! If I could have a magical wish, it would be to spend a week with these two.

Nathan went back in time and became Theodore Roosevelt for a day. His best friend was Elvis. Fifth grade history came to life as each student reported on their researched person and presented their poster of information. Nathan, Hyrum and I all learned as we worked on the poster together and we now have a desire to go see Mount Rushmore since Theodore Roosevelt is one of the presidents carved into the mountain there. Our favorite fact was that our snuggly "Teddy Bears" are called teddy bears because of Theodore Roosevelt. Nathan was also impressed that a Navy Aircraft has been named after him.

LeRoy's grocery shopping abilities require a stroll down only one isle . . . carbohydrate.

If given the choice of shopping with only one parent, the boys would choose Dad every time!

Nathan's 11th Birthday

Nathan's birthday dinner included his favorite foods: "white noodles", peas, ham and cheese roll-ups, deviled eggs, and to fit in basketball theme we also had Gatorade and Turnovers.

He easily handled the candle lighting and carefully considered his birthday wish. As he blew out the candles he was thrilled to see that they would relight since they were sparklers and had a big cheesy grin on his face when teased that each burning candle represented a girlfriend.

Again, LeRoy was overjoyed to have his youngest sons interested in sports and after Nathan received a football and basketball as gifts, they promptly went outside to use them. Occasionally, Nathan was distracted by the thundering Thor hammer that he also received.

Hyrum's 9th Birthday

After Justin's birthday in February, Hyrum begged me to make the same cake for his birthday, only he didn't want the cake, just the frosting. However, the rest of us really love the whole cake so he got both.

We overdosed on the ooey gooey goodness of the cake . . .

while Hyrum was completely content to lick his way to a frosting sugar high.

LeRoy was thrilled to FINALLY have a sport themed birthday for one of his kids. It only took 25 years but he now has his football and basketball loving boys.

Hyrum felt that being a whopping nine years old  meant he could light his own birthday candles. It took a little skilled suggestion from Justin but he got it done.

Daymia and Levi went straight to his list of favorites and gave him candy and money.

LeRoy and I gave him the much anticipated and hoped for Wolverine claws (which caused a bust of laughter when the two outside fingers collapsed down but the middle finger didn't) and a football that we all signed in metallic silver permanent marker.

Cousin Max was so thoughtful to consider Hyrum's love for building when he sent a set of wood pieces with instructions that he created all on his own. Hyrum was impressed and ready to build.

My favorite part of birthdays is seeing my kids celebrate together and love on one another.

State Cheer Competition

On February 25th Justin's cheer team went to District's and qualified to go to the State Cheer Competition in Boise.

They arrived in Boise on Friday, March 3rd, ready to win.

Their performances were the best they had done all season which paid off in 2nd place in Show, 3rd place in Pom and their combined grades added up for the win of the Academic Champions for 5A schools.

It was a great way for all of the seniors to end their high school cheer career.

Justin was proud of both the Academic Award and the 2nd Place Award because they both represented a huge part of the hard work he put into his senior year.

After the competition the rest of the team loaded up on the bus for the five hour ride home. Justin and I stayed in a hotel that night and took our time wandering home the next day. As we came to Twin Falls we spontaneously decided to stop at Shoshone Falls to see how it compared to the previous year. The abundance of snow that we had experienced during the previous winter filled the rivers and made for some beautiful, raging falls.

We decided not to fight the extremely long line of traffic to get down to the bottom of the canyon and close to the falls but instead we trespassed for an overlook shot. We found the falls to be impressive from any angle (in the canyon in 2016 or at the rim in 2017) and from what we were told by another family that made the very slow drive one mile down the canyon, it saved us nearly two hours.

Kailee Jo's 1st Birthday

This girl is wrapped up in all of our hearts!

She is determined and loving. We love her kisses and snuggles and adore her!

From Erika's post on Face Book:
Kailee Jo is a year old!! I made her a little piggy cake to celebrate and she loved it! She eats everything but chicken breast, loves her Daddy and her uncle Derek, STILL sleeps through the night, is always as happy as can be, and has so much energy! She lights up our world and we couldn't imagine life without her. I love her so much!

From Bret's Instagram account:
Outdoor fun this weekend with our little one year old.

The Lucky Month of March

Lucky to celebrate with vibrant green and the Littles that I love so much!

Lucky to have great friends to do a St. Patrick's Day scavenger hunt with.

Lucky to have such fun friends, a great officer, and the D.A.R.E. program at the Middle School.

Lucky to celebrate my Dad's 70th Birthday with him.

Lucky to have cousins visit and Bear World to provide snuggly twin cubs to hold.

Lucky to have adventurous traditions for a lifetime of childhood memories.

Lucky to stay in contact with Vivien and Gabor and to see her new baby niece.

Lucky to share our family home evening nights with Vivien.

Winting

Winting: the gray, muddy, bland, cold, yucky days that exist between winter and spring.

Each year we go to extreme lengths to survive Winting.

Like ordering pizza online and watching the status of our pizza through the ordering, prepping, baking, and delivering phases as if they were monumental accomplishments.

Like painting toenails and going barefoot to bring a little color to the murky, muddy, brown world that surrounds us.

Like talking about our garden hopes while we chop vegetables for our weekly belly-warming stew.

Like organizing, planning for, and ordering the seeds for our future garden which is, sadly, months away.


And just for kicks and giggles, we all went in for dental cleanings.

Which led us to the orthodontist to fit Hyrum for a retainer to fix his underbite and protect his teeth that were crashing together with every bite. He thought it was a bit fun being picked up by his ears and seeing the skeleton of his face.

Which then led us back to the dentist to have two of Hyrum's baby teeth pulled because they were long overdue and his permanent teeth were coming in through his gums. Those baby roots were not dissolving at all like they were supposed to (much like Levi's baby teeth) and when the dentist got them out we were shocked to see the length of the root was longer that the actual tooth. Unfortunately, this seems be the case for two other teeth but since they are not in as critical of a state as the first two we will wait until next Winting to have them pulled, if necessary.