Current Evans Events—February 2015

I am writing this in August, so I guess these February events aren’t too current.  In fact, I don’t remember too much of the little things of February.  I shouldn’t get so behind! 

It was so fun to hear Isaac and Grace reading books.  They both are reading well.  Scenes like these make me so happy!

Grace read a book that inspired her to make laser eye glasses.  Goofy girl!

One day in February I drove past a garbage can full of dead geese.  Yes, dead geese.  I was shocked and wasn’t sure if I saw it correctly.  Later that same day I drove past that house again and they were still there!  I had to take a picture this time so my family would believe me.  I wonder what the story is behind those geese.  Gross and sad.

Like I said in an earlier post, we had some pretty spectacular weather in February.  We found ourselves outside a lot.

Our neighbor moved and gave us his basketball hoop.  The kids were thrilled, especially Isaac.

Lee is a good dad.  Even when he tickles and wrestles the kids.  Emma loves it.

He is such a good example.  Watching my boys walk into church one morning tugged at my heart strings.  I love them!

I started running again in the morning with friends in February.  Those mornings were cold, but I love the early morning hours!  The moon and the sunrise would give us quite the show at times.

Grace had a tooth that was just hanging there.  She insisted that her teacher, Mrs. Schmidt, needed to pull it out.  I kept telling her that Mrs. Schmidt didn’t want to pull out her tooth.  Well, I was wrong.  Come to find out Mrs. Schmidt LOVES to pull out teeth. So when that tooth was really ready to come out, Mrs. Schmidt did the honors. 

Grace was so excited to get a tooth necklace for her tooth!  Oh the simple joys of kindergarten!

This is a blurry picture, but it reminds me of something I want to remember.  Isaac and Grace loved it when they had time to play outside the swim center when we had to pick up Emma.  It got to the point where I would go a little early so they could play, and I would sit in the car and read a book.  Any way to get some reading time in!  They were happy and so was I.  :)

I love when the tree in our front yard starts blooming!  We had an early spring.

Grace is the artist in our family.  But about this time Isaac started drawing, a lot.  He also started writing.  He loved to write stories and captions to his illustrations.  Even his teacher commented on it.  Here are a few drawings I took pictures of in February.

I loved his glossary of wings.

One of the worst parts of Lee working swing shift was that he missed Family Home Evening.  We missed him.  We tried to send pictures of what we were doing every Monday night.  FHE isn’t the same without him!

Grace made the cutest friend in kindergarten this year.  Whenever they had a play date they would plan their outfits so they would match.  Cute girls!

Isaac and Grace celebrated the 100th day of school.  Where did the school year go??

The month ended with Emma and some friends filming another Studio C skit for the ward talent show.  They chose the peanut butter and jelly skit this time.  Spencer joined the cast, and Djeryd filmed as usual.  Lee even made a cameo appearance this year.  They are a good group of kids. It was pretty fun to have them at our house all day.

Canby High School Swimming

February marked the end of the high school swimming season.  Emma loved being on the swim team.

It was senior night at a home meet at the beginning of February.  Emma was Leif’s escort.

She really enjoyed being a part of the team and made new friends. 

They had team dinners a few times during the season.  I liked helping at those dinners and since Isaac and Grace had to tag along, they liked endearing themselves to Emma’s teammates.

Emma had a great swimming season and improved in many ways.

Her best events were backstroke and breaststroke.  We loved her facial expressions when she swam!

She qualified to go to the district meet on Valentine’s Day weekend.

She swam in two relays, freestyle and IM, and the breaststroke.

Her coach was thrilled that she finally shaved two seconds off her time.  He had been bugging her all season about it, knowing she could swim it faster than she had been. And she did!

She had a good time with her teammates at that meet.

I was only able to go for the first night.  The second night was during the same time that Lee was speaking in the adult session of Stake Conference and I decided to go to that instead.  It was a tough decision!  I enjoyed the meet, especially since I left the twins with a babysitter.  By the end of the season they were done with those meets!  (Lee was still working swing shift during this time.)  The district meet was held at Mt. Hood Community College.  We have been to that pool for a Gator’s meet before, but it was an outdoor meet.  During the winter they put a big bubble over the pool.  It was pretty cool, so I had to take a picture!

Emma advanced to the Saturday session with her breastroke and her relays.  I was glad that a parent photographer got some good pictures.  Especially since I missed seeing her breathing face! 

She had a great time again with her teammates.

And she swam well!  Both of her relays got 7th place, and made it on the podium.

Exciting, and a great experience for her freshman year!

A few weeks later was the team awards ceremony.

This group of freshman is a promising bunch of swimmers!

I really enjoyed helping with the dinners and timing for the meets.  It was fun!  They were nice enough to give gifts to all the helper moms.

Emma got her Varsity Letter.  She was pretty excited about it!

Emma has been swimming with Coach Eric for a long time.  Penguin Club, Gator’s, Canby High School team (a few months later he becomes her boss at the pool!). 

Good job Emma!  We love you and are proud of you.