Great Scot!

by Julie

Last Saturday, June 26, 2010 we headed to Oak Grove past Leeds, Utah for the William Stirling Family Reunion. William is my great-great grandfather. It was great to see siblings, parents, cousins, uncles & aunts and of course Grandma C. with her sturdy little plaid cane. We played games, listened to stories and enjoyed a tasty lunch. The kids gathered up lots of candy being blasted out of a potato cannon. I didn't get any actual reunion photos, so if anyone has some, please share. Members of our immediate family who were there: Mom & Dad, Debbie, Chuck & Snick, Vicki & kids and Wayne's family.

One of the highlights of the reunion was Wayne...

boasting a tartan kilt while piping an array of delightful Scottish tunes!

Grandma called out "Wayne, what's under the kilt?"

and later tried to lift the kilt to attempt a peek.

Grandma Christensen, Wayne, Mom

Grandma & Wayne and

Grandma's brothers, Merrill & Culbert Stirling

4 Generations... Grandma, Mom, Wayne and Meg

We stopped in Leeds after the reunion to see the

William Stirling home where Grandma C. grew up.

(click on the picture to make it large enough to read)

Happy Birthday Chandler!

by Melissa Evans

Chandler is such a sweet kid! He has been a good big brother to Jared and Meg. We were so happy to celebrate his birthday these past couple days. Saturday we went to the circus. Aunt Debbie came with us and Chandler was excited about that too. When the circus was over our funny little Chandler who had been reading the slogan "The greatest show on earth," leaned over and said to me, "Mom, that WAS the greatest show on earth!"

After the circus we went to Panda Express, Chandler's choice.

Later on in the evening we went to U-swirl (frozen yogurt).

The boys had never been there and they thought it was pretty cool.

Then on monday we had his cowboy party. There are quite a few kids in the ward all going to kindergarten in the fall. So, we decided to have all of his kindergarten friends over!

We panned for gold, had stick horse races, roped the fake steer, tried to drop snakes into a boot, and made our own trail mixes. My parents got him the little red cowboy shirt for his birthday so he'd have something to wear. We thought he looked so cute in it and decided he would make a really good looking cowboy! The kids ate their cake and ice cream out of old pie tins and drank rootbeer from mason jars, which they all thought was pretty funny!

Since I was crazy enough just trying to get ready for the party, my mom made Chandler his boot birthday cake.

Chandler is a fun kid to do things for because he loves everything and is grateful for whatever you do for him. He often says thank you multiple times for anything we do. We are so glad he could have a fun birthday.

We love him so much!

Stirling Reunion

Hi all you wonderful children. Just in case you didn't get one of these invitations in the mail. Please come if you can - I know Grandma would be glad to see all of you. And - you will get to see Wayne play the bagpipes all dressed up in his kilt outfit. Oak Grove is close to Leeds at the base of Pine Valley Mountain. Love, Mom

Chuck & Snick in San Diego

We went to San Diego June 21-24 to visit our friends Julie Doughty and her son Kevin for his High School Graduation. They helped pay our gas, gave us a place to stay and fed us well.

Endowment session on Tuesday at the San Diego Temple

The entire outside of the temple is under construction...

look at all that scaffolding!

This is a wild artichoke bush in their back yard

Chuck and "Little Kevin" (who's not so little anymore)

Ocean Beach - we HAD to go there to eat at Hodad's...

delicious burgers, onion rings & chocolate shakes!

Chuck next to Hodad's VW Bus... beach bum!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy 22nd Anniversary

Randy & Debbie

Happy Birthday Carissa!

I remember the day my little baby bubba was born. It was one of the most special, wonderful days of my life. She has been the joy and light on my life ever since. Since I have only been blessed with one daughter, I am so glad it was Carissa! She was a beautiful sweet little girl and is turning into a wonderful beautiful woman. She inspires me and is a great example to our family. She helps me be a better person and for being my daughter gives pretty good advice. And it has been really nice to hear the piano again in our home. I am grateful for all the fun times and memories we have had together and hope she has a GREAT Birthday and we make more this summer. HAPPY 19th!!! Love DAD XOXOXO

It's hard to believe that our baby girl is 19 years old. It has been so nice to have her home for the summer. Carissa had a successful freshman year at B.Y.U. We were thrilled to find out that she is receiving 2 scholarships for her sophomore year which will cover all of her tuition and books. What a wonderful blessing for Carissa and our family.

Carissa is busy working for several different people this summer. She watches a 5 year old girl named Brooklyn about 22 hours a week. She just finished house sitting for some friends and is house sitting for someone else at the end of the month. She's been helping a family pack and babysitting for several other families as well. She is very excited to be flying to New York for a week in July. She is going with her friend Courtney and staying with an LDS family back there. We're excited that she gets to have an adventure this summer.

Carissa has a strong testimony of the gospel and has learned a lot in her Book of Mormon classes and her missionary prep classes at the "Y". Her favorite class her freshman year was child development. She is already taking classes for her major which is elementary education. We are so proud of her and the goals she has made in her life. We are grateful to have such a beautiful and loving daughter and want to wish her a very happy birthday.

~ Love, Mom

Oh my goodness, Sissy! I can't believe you are 19 and all grown up... where has the time gone? I am so proud of you and all of your accomplishments. You are so pretty, smart and talented! You are WEIRD, too (maybe that's why I like you so much!). It has been fun having you home for the summer and getting to see you on a regular basis. I'm going to miss you when you leave for school again. This is turning out kinda like a yearbook entry.... "Have a good summer and don't do anything I wouldn't do - LOL!". I love that you got to spend time with me in North Carolina and I was going to post some of our pics from then, but I'm having issues with the disk the pictures are on - ahhhhh! I hope you have a wonderful birthday and I'm glad Grandma is coming in to Vegas to take out both out to lunch for our birthdays... woo hoo! I LOVE YOU!!!

~Snick

Sissa,

Happy Birthday, Girlie!!! We hope you have a fabulous day!!! The girls were so excited that it's your birthday!! They said, "Yea, We love Sissie!" We've missed you this year, but are happy for you living in the real world!!! We all have so much fun with you - you are so great with my girls & they just love you to death, and Brad & I had so much fun @ the cabin with you , snowboarding, playing games and seeing your fun, spunky attitude! You are too much fun!! We love you lots & lots & wish you a very happy Birthday!

~Love, Brad, Candi & Kids

Happy Birthday Sissy! We are so proud of you and all of your accomplishments! It's great that you are so smart and have earned scholarships for college. You are such a beautiful, mature woman, but also fun and weird! The last few years you have been more like a sister than a niece. Don't be in a hurry to grow up, enjoy being young and have fun (just stay out of trouble). We love you!

~Vicki, Shane and Kids

Missionary Update

Brother & Sister Carlson,

Yesterday we visited the Melbourne ward here in Houston, they had a senior missionary couple report on their mission here in the Texas Houston Mission. We served with this couple here in the mission office. While we were there, we were able to hear your son and his companion sing the hymn “Lord, I Would Follow thee.” It was so beautiful, they did such a great job and I was so proud of him. Thought you would like know how well he is doing. We just love him.

Living the Dream,

Elder & Sister Chesnut

Happy Birthday Snick!!

Hi Julie, Happy, Happy!!! We love you. Here is a virtual card that I made for you. I will bring the real one in one in on Friday with an especially cool gift. I hope you have checked out the blog. Love, Mom

Julie, We hope you have a Happy Birthday. We are proud of you and hope wonderful things will come your way this next year. Thanks for all you do - your work on the blog really helps to keep the family connected. I know it is a lot of work but we all appreciate it. You are always fun to be around and always have great ideas. I know you stress about your R.S. calling but you always come up with activities that sound so great.
We love you so much, Mom & Dad

Dear Julie,

I dont know why I always forget your Birthday, I am so sorry that I do. Today I went over to Enterprise with Norma Christensen, and Ellen Clark to a Stake Ladie's Luncheon, and I said to Ellen you have a birthday tomorrow, they have these every 2 Months and the different wards host the luncheon. We got home about 2.P.M, and I laid on the couch and had a nap, Steve stopped by and ask if I wanted to go back to Enterprise to watch Jared an Jesse's boy Cash play Baseball, it was a tournament game. We had gone over last Saturday and it rained so hard that they cancled it until this afternoon, he said I will pick you up in 40 Minutes. I came in to the Computer and went to the E-Mails and here I see all these Birthday Wishes to you. I was about ready to E-mail you and Steve drove up, so I went with them. Cash's Team won 13 to 8. But I came home so tired, but I thought I have got to E-Mail and say Happy Birthday.

You got some special notes from your Family, and I want you to know how much I love you, and I still think of the special times that you and Debbie would come and stay with us, and how much your Grandpa Christensen loved having you come and stay, I am sure there were times that you would get homesick as you were quite young.

I want you to know how much I appreciate you taking the time of keeping the Evans Blog going, and you are Special Grandaughter to Me, and you have a Wonderful Husband that loves you too.

Love Grandmother Christensen

HAPPY BiRTHdAY Snick-R- Doodle!!
Snick, you are such a fun Sister and Aunt! WE love having you aroud to make us laugh. You always have a spotless house and it is decorated so cute. I can always count on you for a game(I will miss Sunday settlin). We want to wish you a Very Happy Birthday!! Thank you for helping us move!! And BIG thanks for doing the BLOG!!
Have a Great Day, LOVE, Kevin, Cynthia,Tylee, Kaden, Kobe and Halle

Our kids had so much fun visiting Snick and Chuck in North Carolina and staying with them for 6 days and 5 nights. They have been close to them ever since. The boys were excited to hear they were moving back to Las Vegas and couldn't wait to see them. Rylan was allowed to pick one friend to come to his birthday dinner and he picked Snick and Chuck. We let them both come! The boys have called up Snick and Chuck several times to come have a "cowboy sleep" and they have been great sports about it! We've had a good time eating popcorn and watching kid movies. Then sneaking off to more comfortable beds once they are asleep! Being our closest relatives geographically, we have called on Snick and Chuck several times to watch the boys at the last minute and they have been more than willing to come over and help out. Especially now that Jared is potty trained. We all know how Snick feels about poopy diapers !!! We love having Snick nearby! Snick has been great to keep us updated on everything that is going on through the blog. I hope she knows how much we all appreciate the work she does on here. Thanks Snick!

Love,
Wayne, Melissa & Kids

Covered bridge in NC

The Biltmore

When I think about Julie as we were growing up, I think of this bundle of energy bouncing off of everything. I still remember her on the channel 10 show Tip Top Ten. She was enthusiastically doing jumping jacks and bounced right off the stage. Good times. Julie and I loved going to Grandpa and Grandma Christensen's house for a couple of weeks every summer. We had a lot of fun times there. Julie has a great sense of humor and is fun to hang out with. She is very talented even though she doesn't always recognize it. She does a great job in her Relief Society calling. Julie enjoys giving service to others, and helps a lot of people in her ward. When Randy and I were moving she stepped right in and helped a lot. I am very grateful for all the help she gave us. Our kids love their Aunt Snick. They love to joke around with her and have one on one time with her too. We hope you have a Happy Birthday, Juls.

We love you, Debbie and Family

Snick is a totally fun aunt! I have had so many fun memories with her. Getting to visit her in North Carolina was one of the funnest trips ever. She definitely kept me busy on that trip. I remember when I had a sleep over with her when I was younger and she let us eat cookie dough ice cream for breakfast!! Ya....shes that cool! ha ha. I love spending time with her. She has so many different talents and skills and always has something weird to say or do ;) ha ha I'm just messin' cuz I always tease her about being weird (its OK tho because it runs in the family) Thanks for being such a great aunt and friend.
Love, Sis

Snick is super fun and silly just like me. I remember when we shared a room long ago and we'd lay in the dark and just talk, be silly and scratch each other's backs. We still have as much fun now when we have a sleepover. Last year in December when she came to visit, Milo was gone away at school so we slept in the same bed and were silly (and crude) and laughed 'til we cried. Snick is very organized, neat, creative, and not afraid to try new things. We look so much alike that dad always called us twins. So, one year we surprised him with a professional portrait with just the two of us dressed alike. Happy Birthday Snick! I love you very much and miss you lots!!!

Doc

Snick is fun to be around and I enjoy spending time with her. She is such a fun aunt to my kids. She was so sweet to watch Grant for me many times when I was pregnant with Lewis and even changed a poopy diaper!! Snick is very beautiful and also has many talents. She is a great photographer, a good cook and very crafty. I'm so grateful to have such a wonderful sister!
Love,
Vicki & Family

look at that beautiful smile!

Happy Happy!!