Mothering

So having two kids has made me a better mother, and I think a personal overall. I think that when you have two kids, you realize that you don't have any time to do anything, so when you do have time, you use it wisely. I no longer take naps on the weekends like I used, instead I use that time, to pick up the house, fold laundry, prepare dinner, etc. Speaking of Dinner, I have even started cooking dinner every night. I know crazy right, but it's true. I even cook dinner on the weekends, infact its sunday, and I have cooked lunch and have a Roast in the crock pot for dinner!

I have to thank my kiddos for making me a better person, the person I always knew I could be, but never had the motivation to become. So thanks to my wonderful Family for getting my butt in gear!

Family Pictures

Family Pictures

Pictures from the UW Game

Here are some pictures from the weekend. Madison was all dressed up from church and she was so proud of her dress, so we got some pictures.

Madison and I

Little Conner in the cutest outfit ever!

Bailey and Madison at the UW game, couldn't they just be sisters!

Cousins

Last weekend the girls got to spend a lot of time together, Robbie and my brother-in-law spent a lot of time working on their basement. We snapped this photo of them snuggled all together for a nap, while watching Princess and the frog! Aren't they just too adorable!

This weekend we are all going over to Laramie to watch the UW vs USAFA game. I've already got Madison yelling Go POKES!!!

Sunset

So last week the Hitching Post burnt down, it was a sad day and apparently it was arson. First off I can't believe that someone would do that! Anyway, it started burning at 6:30 in the morning, and burned through the day and through the night. Well that evening I was watering my plants outside and the sunset was absolutely gorgeous because of the smoke. So I grabbed my camera and got a few pictures, here they are.

Unsupervised 2 year old

This is what happens when you leave a 2 year old unsupervised for 2 minutes!!!

The other night Madison snuck up to my bathroom and got into my mascara, this was the results afterwards. Thank god it wasn't waterproof!

busy, busy, busy!

Well in the past couple of weeks we have been super busy. Since we found out that we are moving in January to California we are really trying to clean up, clean out, and organize to make it easier. We came back from a mini vacation back home and have been doing so much, here is a little bit of what we've done.

• Cleaned out our storage unit and moved all that stuff to our garage. We decided it would be easier to do this now during the nice weather, rather than trying to do it during the freezing weather. Unfortunately now I can't park in the garage, but it's only a few months.
  
• Deep cleaned the kitchen and pantry. By deep clean, I mean deep clean, I cleaned everything from head to do, the refridgerator, over, microwave, cabinets, countertops, and sink are sparkling. I also threw about 4 bags of expired food away! What a waste I know, but we can't take it with us either.
  
• Packed up all my clothes that don't fit! Which sadly enough is a lot. I know I just had a kid and all, but it is still depressing how many clothes don't fit. However I don't believe in throwing them out, someday I will fit back into them. When I did this, I cleaned out all the closets, dressers and such too. It feels so good to clean, purge, and give stuff away that we aren't using.
  
• Cleaned out the bathrooms. Do you realize how much you acquire in a bathroom, different products and such, it was crazy. But feels good to have them cleaned though.

I only have a few things left to really clean, like the desk area, which I am procrastinating on, but I have to get it done before I go back to work in a week. It does feel so good to have it all done before I go back to work though!

I also finally got all of my thank you notes written for after Conner was born. I know what a slacker, but we had a ton going on after he was born, and now it's finally done, wahoo!

Attached are a couple of pictures of my beautiful boy, couldn't resist taking some pictures of his smiling face!

Happy 4th!

Well its true, we made it through 4 wonderful years of marriage, with 2 beautiful kiddos, and 3 spoiled dogs to show for it!

Happy Anniversary Baby, hope we have at least 40 more!

Delicious Dinner

So I love Chicken Tortilla Soup, but in the Summer I cannot bring myself to make or eat soup, it's just too hot. But today I was craving it, so instead I decided to make Chicken Tortilla Soup into a casserole. Here's the recipe I hope you enjoy it!


4 Tbls Oil
4 Bell Peppers Chopped ( 1 of each color)
2 Jalapeno Peppers Finely chopped
1 Onion Chopped
4 Cloves of Garlic Chopped
3 tsp of Ground Cumin
1 tsp of ground Coriander
3 tsp Salt
3 Tbls Tomato Paste
2 Large Cooked Chicken breasts cubed
2 cups frozen corn
1 can Cream of chicken soup
1 can Cheddar Soup
2 cups Chicken stock
3 Cups instant rice
2 cups shredded cheese of your choice ( I used Colby)
1/4 cup chopped Cilantro

Heat the oil in a pan on medium high heat, add all the vegetables, garlic,cumin, coriander, and salt, let it cook for 5 minutes stirring occasionally. Add Tomato paste and heat for 5 minutes stirring occasionally. In a separate bowl mix chicken, 1/2 of the chicken stock, and both soups. Then add the vegetables. In a 9 X 13 glass baking dish coat the bottom with rice, then add the other half ofthe chicken stock to the rice just to help it cook a bit. Layer the vegetable and chicken mix on top of the rice. Top that off with the cheese and Cilantro, then bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

This was super easy and incredibly good, tasted just like the recipe I have for the soup. Hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

The Power of Goals

It's always a good thing to set goals for yourself, it's even better to put them down in writing an then that way you are held accountable. Thus being said, I am writing my blogging goals down on here, so that maybe you all can hold me accountable, because apparently I just suck at this blog thing. So here are my blogging goals:

1. Post more often - At least once a week! This really is more relevant. We just found out that we are moving to California in January, so I will no longer be living in the same town as my sisters, and much, much farther away from the rest of my family, therefore it's a good time to start a habit of posting more regularly, so that all my friends and family can see what we've been up to.
   
2. Take more pictures: I am horrible at taking pictures. With Madison I had taken 200 pictures by the time she was 2 weeks I haven't taken that many and Conner is already 8 weeks, I feel like such a slacker.
   
3. Link my new posts to Facebook etc. Especially when I am posting about good recipes, great deals, etc.
   
   Ok so these are my goals, please hold me accountable!

It's been way too long

Ok So I know it has been way too long since I last posted. There has been a lot going on since the last time I posted, so here we go.

My sister Sara and her husband Shane and their second baby girl on March 19th, she was 7 lbs, 14 oz., 21.25 inches long. She is a healthy baby girl, and Bailey is adjusting well. Here are some cute pictures. of the them.



When we first took Bailey up to see Mom, Dad, and new sister Sydney, we were only there for about 15 minutes, when Bailey looked at me and said "Aunt Jenna, I'm done with baby, let's go, come on, let's go" She then proceeded to drag me out of the hospital, which is very uncharacteristic for Bailey because she is attached to Mom and Dad. It was so funny, I still laugh about it. Bailey has really adjusted well, and mom and baby are both doing great, just relaxing and spending time getting to know one another.

In the meantime, we have found out what we are having! Yup we are having a boy! Everyone who sees me says they can tell, just by how i am carrying him, apparently, he is all out front. I am already huge, and still have a little under 13 weeks left, so looks to be a big pregnancy again! However the baby is doing great and growing well. We still haven't picked out a name for the baby yet, but hopefully soon we will decide on something, thank god we still have time. The middle name will be Chapman, after his daddy, but if you have any suggestions for the first name, please feel free to leave them, we're open to just about anything.

Now that I am approaching the last leg of this pregnancy, we are really trying to spend quality time with Miss Madison and really enjoy this one on one time that we do have together. She has grown to be such a cute little girl, and I honestly couldn't imagine a day going by with out hearing her loud and constant voice, along with her beautiful laugh. Attached are a couple of pictures of Madison, one is of her in her new swimsuit, we took her and Bailey swimming not long ago and this is the attitude we got from her. She just loves to put her hands on her hips and show off. The other is Easter Morning, we got the cutest dress for her, and she just loved being a little girl! Hope you all enjoy. I have a ton of other pictures to download, and maybe someday I will get those posted, but it could be a while.

Madison's Potty

I couldn't resist including this awesome picture. Madison is semi-potty training and this was taken this morning on her potty chair. I was folding laundry and she grabbed a pair of her underwear and put them on her head, then she ran for the potty. Usually she just wants to sit on it because she doesn't like her diaper, but right after I snapped this photo she actually piddled in the potty, I was so proud of my little goofball!

Madison's New Room

In preparation for the new baby, we moved Madison into what used to be the guest room. We spent the weekend painting, buying furniture and decorating. By we, I mean well Robbie did most of it, at least all of the painting since I am prego. Anyway, Madison was a huge help, she helped move her toys, and helped pull up all of the tape from the painting. She is getting to be such a big girl. She was super excited about her "big girl" bed, and she jumped on it all morning. Anyway, here is a sneak peek of what her room looks like now.

Madison by her bed.
Madison's bed, and her nightstand.

Maddie's corner dresser and the bean bag she just had to have as we were shopping for furniture, she drug it all the way around the store.

And last but not least her big dresser.

We are loving the room and couldn't ask for anything better, she loves it too, which is even better!

Naptime

This is the result of a 21 month old naptime. About a month ago we switched her to the toddler bed, and at night she does great, during naptime, not so much, she would much rather play, then sleep, and this is the result. She pulled out every article of clothing in her dresser, as well as every book, toy and stuffed animal she could reach. And you can also tell that she took off her pants and her diaper, isn't she just a doll!!!

Christmas Pictures

Here are the Christmas pictures. This one is of the girls together, Madison full of it as ever!

And here is the family photo!

Just in case I missed a few of you this year (and I apologize, but hey it happens!), here is our christmas letter. I will have to add the picture later, Blogger is being silly and won't let me add it correctly. But this is better than nothing! Hope you all enjoy!

“Top 10 Reasons why Christmas will be different for the Evans’ Family this year”

10. Rob will for sure be home for Christmas since he got the new job as Wing Executive in June.

9. Madison will get to enjoy all the lights, music, presents, and of course Santa.

8. The three dogs, Maggie, Brodie, and Daisy, will get to spend lots of cuddle time with Jenna since she has a nice long winter break.

7. The whole family has a lot to be thankful for this Christmas, Jenna and Rob both have good, stable jobs, we got to do lots of fun stuff this year, like ride Horses at Aunt Gayle’s in Virginia, Jenna got to tour Washington DC, and we will be surrounded by great food and wonderful family.

6. The family will be thinking about all the soldiers overseas, especially one, Rob’s Brother John. We will be praying for safety to all those overseas and safe returns for all of them.

5. Jenna and Rob have made lots of great new friends this year, thanks to sorority, church, and their jobs. They have lots of friends to surround themselves with all year long, let alone on Christmas.

4. Aunt Carrie’s Kitchen remodel is finally done!!! It was a lot of work, and a lot of time, but it was all well worth it! Now Madison gets the chance to make a mess of her kitchen too!

3. Cousin Bailey and Madison go to Daycare everyday together, and their parents are so thankful for the loving caring support that we get at daycare, and of course for all the fun and friends we have.

2. Madison is walking, and running, and terrorizing everything, which means that come Christmas, there will be so many pieces of paper to play with, and string from one of the house to the other, let alone the great picture opportunities that will make.

1. The number one reason Christmas will be different in the Evans’ Household this year, because this is Madison’s last Christmas as an only child, next year she will have a younger brother or sister, since Jenna is due in July!!! (Not to mention the younger cousin she will also have, since Jenna’s sister, Sara is due in March!)




Merry Christmas from the Evans’ Household.
Hope you all have a wonderful and safe Holiday season!

Organized Garage

So this weekend turned out to be pretty good even though it started out really crappy. We were planning on going home to Basin, but we got over 20 inches of snow this week, and all roads in and out were closed until late Friday. So instead we decided to get busy, and by busy I mean we cleaned! Today we organized, de-cluttered and down-right cleaned out garage. Most of the time our garage is an absolute disaster, usually I can't even park in it, let alone try to get something done in it. So today we rearranged, reorganized, and even decluttered the house! And it feels amazing! I wish I had taken before pictures, but I didn't so instead, you only get to see the end result.

This is Robbie's wall, he got these flags a long time ago and just can't seem to part with them, so in the garage they go.
Here are the new cabinets, one is designated solely to my crafting supplies, another is solely golf, and the third is a lot of everything. The little one is truly a lifesaver, up until today one whole large shelf in my pantry was designated to liquor ( I know we're a bunch of lushes) however now that one is locked up and is now the liquor cabinet, so I got more room in my pantry. I am so excited!

Here is the other wall. I know three trash cans is a bit ridiculous, but one is for recycling, one is trash, and the other is compost! The box is my sisters dishwasher. When she gets her new kitchen cabinets in, we will be doing a complete renovation of her kitchen, watch for more info on that, as I am sure it will be interesting and so exciting!

Hope everyone had a great weekend. We sure did even though it wasn't exactly what we had planned. It sure was productive!

Look what I did!!

So this weekend I got to do a little bit of crafting, which was great. However at one point I was ironing and I looked over and look what my little girl was doing. I think I just might have a future sewer in my house!Here she is playing with the thread!

Here is my baby playing with the scraps of fabric that she pulled off the table.

And here it is, look what I did! This is a christmas card holder, and it is so easy to make, and just cute as can be. I am making some for family, and can't wait for them all to use them come Christmas time.

Trick-or-Treat

Well here is Madison and a co-workers kids. We all showed up at another co-workers house at the same time, so it only seemed appropriate to take a picture of them all together.

Here is Miss Madison right after I got her dressed and her hair done, isn't she so adorable.

Here she is again. Thanks to my mom for making the costume for me. I had good intentions of doing it myself, but time just got away from me, and I just didn't get it done. So thanks grandma, it looks great!

Hugs all around

The other day we had the joy of watching Cousin Bailey while her mom and dad went to work for a bit! We had a great time, the girls always have a good time together, even if they are both just stealing each other's stuff the whole time! Anyway we were making them lunch and they both wanted to be in the kitchen, so i was trying to entertain them away from the action and this is the video that we got. They are both so dang cute!

Enjoy!!