Where U been.. (head tilt).. girl?

I finally put together a professional website showcasing my hair & makeup work, as well as a beauty blog! (I know 'cuz I'm so good at updating this one?!)
I'm SO excited (& nervous) to share these with you! PLEASE leave a comment if you check them out. I'd love some feedback! Especially on topics for the blog!

www.melissaevansbeauty.com

* New "makeover" site in the works... Check back soon!*


ENJOY!

Road Trippn'

We had no plans for Thanksgiving. No one was coming. We weren't going. Most of our friends were leaving (or so I thought) and I was a little bummed. It's not like Christmas, that I like to have to ourselves. We plan festive activities to keep us busy & as long as Santa is shelling out the gifts, We're going to stay put.
So for me Thanksgiving is the Holiday I like to travel for, besides what festive activities are there? Eat till your pants pop? I do that alone everyday! It's much more fun once a year, to share that heartburn with a loved one.



It wasn't that we didn't have options. Greg's family was planning to get together at his parents in Payson. The only problem was we found out about it too late for Greg to get work off. He was feeling pretty bummed about it too. SO bummed in fact that he woke up 4 days before and said, "Let's just drive out to Az for Thanksgiving! If we leave here Wed. afternoon and drive all night, we could get to Payson Thursday morning!" I thought he was a little crazy, but at the same time it kinda sounded fun. We always talk about wanting to be more spontaneous, but with work & kids let's face it~ It never happens!






We let his parents know we were coming, but they kept it a secret from the rest of the fam. Sure enough on Wed about 1:30 in the afternoon we hit the road. Thanks to bribe presents, Dvds galore, Earphones for said Dvds, Teaching the boys to pee in a bottle, 5 hour energy drinks and that sweet Teaxan officer who let me go with only a verbal warning..... It was a smooth 17 1/2 hour car trip! The boys only got out of the car ONCE in Oklahoma city, then fell asleep for the rest of the trip! They woke up an hour before we hit Payson when the sun came up. As for Greg & I~ we took turns driving, although neither one of us really slept and enjoyed talking together all night. I highly recommend this as a form of couples therapy.




It was really fun to surprise Greg's family. The boys had such a great time palling around with their big cousins. That almost seems like an understatment. I hardly saw the boys those two days we were there. They were constantly out exploring. Tate even played so hard that he fell asleep in my arms, That never happens! We are SO happy that we were able to spend such quality time with everyone! It was the first time we had ALL been together.... since our boys have been born. :)




Now since we were so close to Phx we had to drive down to see a few friends & spend time with Dad & Ann Marie. Special thanks to Grandma & Grandpa Riggs for letting us stay at their place while they were visiting Mom in Utah. That was SO sweet! I wish we had more time to spend there, but we tried to make the most of our two days and jammed LOTS O FUN in! Dinner out with our besties,the Oberly's & Wagners. Scoring some much needed loot from Dad! Letting the kids catch up with their destine best friends and getting some cousin love from the Heaps!








I do LOVE Az-e zona (as Tate calls it). And although we don't want to move back~ I would love to be closer so we could visit more. :) Next time for longer so we can see more of you!




To see more pictures from our trip please send us a self addressed envelope or simply click HERE!

(As I write this Tate is on the potty singing the Star Wars theme!)

Isn't it Ironic.. Don'cha think?

After a long week of doing hair- Is it really only Thursday? I decided to take the day off and treat myself to a morning of doing NOTHING! The boys are at school for about 2 1/2 hours and instead of running errands, cleaning the house or coloring hair like I normally do, here I am blogging. This started with a quick Facebook check.

How did I get so addicted to Fb? It's like if I miss a day or two I feel like I have no idea what's going on in the world of my friends. Not that I even talk to them very much there. It's just a lot of snooping. Who posted new pictures? What is that witty status update? Are there any new friends to add? Even when I do talk with them we have almost nothing to say; I already know everything about them thanks to FB!
Honestly it's a little ridiculous. And it's totally taken me away from my first stalker love- The BLOG.

After a few mins of FB time I hopped onto a cute friends blog and then her cute friends blog and so on and so on and I totally remembered why I love blogging! ****Not only can you share with your friends, but you can try to look awesome to people who don't even know you!**** I know that sounds a little vain, but let's be honest. I'm a girl. And a former fat one at that. We all need a little ego stroke every now and again and what better way than by piecing the happiest, best looking moments of our lives together for all to see!
I mean I'm totally not going to take pictures and talk about the fight Greg & I had last week. Or how I've been feeling totally depressed ever since I realized that I'll pretty much be doing what I am doing right now for the rest of my life.
Where's the excitement in that? No no- Those things are too real and that's NOT what blogging is about. Well at least not my blog.
(I feel like I've just reached that point in Wayne's World where he complains to the camera and the camera man starts walking away) Don't walk away.
I do have a point.
As I ended back on our page. Staring at the promise that I wouldn't get that far behind again...I realized something. I want to be more real with my writing. I laugh when I read what I wrote under the picture of Greg and I. It sounds good,"This blog is dedicated to all those fun, silly, crazy and sometimes hard moments." How sweet & honest, but really- When have I ever really shared anything hard?
Did you know that I honestly plan my outfits to wether or not we'll be taking pictures? Heaven forbid I get caught wearing the SAME THING TWICE! (I can't believe I just admitted that... I feel so shallow right now.)

Ok so, I can't promise I'll be totally real because sometimes it is fun to live in the perfect fantasy-blog world. On bad days I'll come look at my pictures and what I wrote and think- Wow! That looks really great! And it's not that it's all that far from reality, just embellished a bit.... I mean No one's going to tell me how hot I look right now with a beanie over my 4 day old hair and sleep-deprived swollen red eyes. (Although I do believe me.)
Crap! There I go again. I guess these things take time.
Even now as I proof read this I am fight every pollyanna bone in my body not to say- I do have some hard days, but most are peachy keen! But I'm going to work on it. If only for myself. I mean blogging has got to be cheaper than therapy! Right? The only question is could it be as effective? Hummm..
Enough with the deep thoughts- I still want to try to watch SYTYCD before I have to go get the boys. And that's the truth!
If you want to see what we've been doing over the past few months you can check out my FB photo albums Here (Most recent)
here (Summertime)
click Here for Family Reunion. HEre's some more and maybe just ONE MOre.
There! That ought to do it! All caught up now.

I'll try to keep up on this thing, but this time- No promises!

27,000 words

Yeah, I know- It's been a while. I think I just got so far behind I didn't know where to start or how to catch up. Luckily,
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. So instead of writing it all, Here is a little glimpse of what we've been up to the past few months:

I'll really try not to get that far behind again!

Family Photo Shoot

I'm super lucky to have an amazinlg talented friend as a photographer. Her name is Cynthia Cockriel and she is fabulous! (check out her website- www.cynthiaphotos.com)
What's even better is that we trade services. I do hair and make up for some of her photo shoots and also for her family. In return she dose our family photos & develops them. I have to admitt I feel like I'm getting the better end of this deal!
It's been so fun to work with her over the past few years. Each time she does our photos I love them even more than the year before..... And I'm so happy that she wants to trade because otherwise I couldn't afford her!






So here are our shoots from this year. We actually took these over two days in early November. The first was the fam, but Cynthia didn't feel like we had enough of the boys. So we got them dressed up again and I took them out for one more round. (That's the main reason why there are so many more shots of me than Greg, sorry honey. Really I don't think he cares.)
The first day was at this darling farm about 40 mins from our house. I guess there really is a lot of farm land around us. I just don't usually see it. The second day we went to a local park. Poor Brody, I accidently shut the car door on his little finger right when we got there. But, "The show must go on" after a few pieces of candy he was ready to smile. He was even excited to show me some shots he took while I was chasing Tate around and wasn't watching him.






I waited very impatiently till she called to say the pics. were ready. She's very professional about the whole thing. When your pictures are ready to view she calls you over to her home to watch them on a DVD her son makes. She like to watch your reaction as you see the photos for the first time. Is is rude to say I was blown away by them? She is so talented, she really made us look good. I'm so happy to have such great family photos. The only problem is that now I am TOTALLY SPOILED by her and neither one of us can ever move away now!

It's begining to look a lot like ChRIsTmAs!

I LOVE this time of year. I know most people do. There is just such a magic in the air, a feeling of togetherness. For us the fun started when we woke up Sunday morning to SNOW on the ground! Luckily (for me driving) there wasn't much, but enough to feel festive & cozy. I really hoped we could get the tree out that night, but things got too busy... so much for Sunday being a day of rest. Only 4 weeks till early church!!
All day & night Brody kept begging to get the tree out. Finally last night we put it all together. (Although I still have corn stalks on the outside of our house. Better get on that!)


Greg was a good sport. After a long day back to work he just wanted to relax, but Brody was persistent and Greg went along with it. He even smiled for the pictures!




Tate was so excited about the Christmas Tree. He wanted to put the Angel on top.

Now the tree was up.
Decorating it on the other hand......... I was really trying to not be OCD and to let the boys help out. But when they broke the little peanut cushy things into a million tiny pieces, started throwing them in the air saying, "Santa, Snow!" "Santa, Snow!" I lost it a little. Cute as they were, the mess was not! I had to call in the reinforcements. Maybe next year we can all decorate together.

Speaking of cute! One treasured(?) find was a singing and dancing frog that Grandma Linda bought last year. The boys loved playing with it...... in fact I hear it going right now. I know this video is a little dark, but they are just so darn cute! I had to share. For the record this was the first I'd seen Brody's break dancing moves. I'm pretty impressed.

"Count your many blessings"

We were so happy to have Dad and Ann Marie join us during the week of Thanksgiving. For being here only a few days we sure crammed a lot of fun in. Eating at Jack Stack, Baking, going to the park , on a walk, more baking.... Jogging, movie watching, going to the Plaza, (no not when David Cook was there). Shopping, Foos, Union Station, train rides, eating, playing and eating some more.

For the actual Thanksgiving Day we had a casual celebration. To take a break from cooking we went over to the park. It was fun for us all to play, not just the boys. Then I took them on the trail to see why I love it there so much. Even with the bare trees it still was beautiful & peaceful. Anne Marie and I ditched the boys to go for a little run before we stuffed our faces.

We cooked the traditional meal and were all very grateful that the deep fried turkey didn't catch on fire! Our friends Ken & Kristi Lord came to enjoy with us. Their two oldest girls were visiting family in Utah, so they just brought Garren & Jackson who are buddies of our boys. After dinner we played wii and watched Speed Racer... (wonder who picked that?) It was a very fun, very relaxing day. Dad and Annie even had the dishes done before I even came down from putting the boys to bed.
They were so helpful around the house, almost too helpful. It makes me wonder how I ever kept up with out them...... Oh yeah- I don't! Although we never did go see twilight with them, Greg is so bummed, we enjoyed their company and hope they come to see us again soon.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! (like 2 weeks ago!)

Okay first off- I just updated a TON! So make sure to read all the ones I just posted-K!

So Here's the deal from our Halloween this year. It was seriously so fun. One of the best Halloweens in recent years. I think the main reason was the weather. It was absolutly beautiful! I think it was like 65 degrees or something perfect like that. The past few years have been so cold that by the time we get around to trick or treating we are frozen after 10 mins, not this year... But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Our first festivities for the season started with Brody's school party which you can read more about below. Then the gym I work at, Lifetime Fitness (Although I am quitting this week. I hate that word "Quitting". I mean I only teach one class, so it's not like I'm a real important employee to them. I've been there 2 years and I only do it for the free membership. Lately I've been super busy with doing hair and that's what I love doing anyway, So time to move on. I know you all cared, but anyway) They hosted a costume party. It was so fun to get the boys dressed up. I wouldn't let them play in their costumes before that night for fear that they would destroy them, so they were super excited. This was the first year I didn't have a hand-me-down for Tate, so I could dress them with a theme together. It wasn't hard to figure that one out. They love the movie Speed Racer. So, Speed & Racer X it is. (I'm so glad the power ranger costume phase passed!)

This is my favorite photo from this year. And it's the only one with their helmets on.
My "pit crew" sweatshirt wasn't ready yet, so I was just a
Boy Scout with one of Greg's shirts. He was golfing that afternoon and sadly missed the photo opts. He was able to join us for a little fun at the end.

The boys and I also vetured out to our Ward (Church's) Halloween Party. This night was not so fun. Greg was working late so I took the boys alone only to be totally overwhelmed once we got there. There were so many people in a little space. I couldn't keep track of Speed Racer running one direction & Racer X running in the other, then going to sneak treats. I was not a happy Mama and was about to leave, 30 mins after we got there, but then Greg called and said he was coming. He always has to be fashionably late! We stayed a little while longer enough to play a few carnival games and called it a night.

I thought it would be fun to include some pics from previous Halloweens with the boys. I just can't believe how fast they are growing up!

For the actual Halloween night a few friends got our families together at The Pizza Shoppe for dinner. This worked out so nice. There were too many families that we wanted to be with to sanely accommodate in any of our homes, so this was the perfect option. All you can eat pizza, no prep work, no clean up. Just show up eat, chat and move on our way. I can definitely see us doing this again next year. As the kiddos finished eating some of the Dads took them to a grassy spot in the parking lot to run off some energy. Tate almost pooped-out even before the trick or treating & Brody busted his lip, but it was all in good fun and they both were fine.

I had ordered a Speed Racer Sweatshirt for Greg too, so we could be the "pit crew", but it never came. He was bummed as you can imagine.....

I was only able to capture a few of the kids the rest didn't want to wait for pictures. We had about 10 or so families, so it was a pretty good sized group. That made it really fun.

After dinner we all went to the same neighborhood to Trick or Treat. I think this is my most favorite neighborhood for Halloween. Every home was deck-out in some form. Some very classy, other way over the top with grave sites and giant spiders. It was fun. That combined with the falling leaves and the beautiful weather made for a perfect Halloween night. Tate was so funny as he realized what was happening. He was so happy to be getting candy. Brody ran along and had as much fun with his friends as he did with the candy. Even Greg enjoyed himself which is saying something because this is his least favorite holiday. I can easily say this was our best FAMILY Halloween ever!

First Love

This is only Brody's second year of pre-school, so I'm still pretty excited by the whole thing. He goes three days a week with an extended day on Wednesdays. He loves getting to take his lunch to school. He also loves Avery.
She was in his class last year and became his "girlfriend". I didn't think he knew what that meant, that he just thought she was cute & fun to play with. Even over the summer he would say that he missed seeing her at school. So we were excited to find out that they had the same teacher again this year. But now I am starting to worry a little bit about this school crush.

(This is Brody with Avery last year at our Mother's Day Tea.)

I thought it was just cute until he told me he asked her to marry him a few weeks ago."WHAT?!" I said. "Yeah, I asked her at circle time" He said. "Well how? What did you say?" "I just said, Well maybe you want to marry me?.....(He hangs his head low) But she said no. She says she's going to marry her brother." (I'm trying not to laugh) "Oh, that's okay. You should just be friends right now anyway." "But I want to marry her!" "Why?" I asked. "Who talked to you about getting married? What do you think it means to be married?" "It means you get to be with the girl forever."
Now this was all still pretty cute, but that was about a month ago. I thought I had convinced him to just enjoy being four and not worry about getting married until he's Mommy & Daddy's age, but he still talks about marring her, like almost every day! I've tried all sorts of things to talk him out of it. Greg even tried to tell him that girls have cooties till they turn 16, He didn't buy it.
I mean I LOVE that he will talk with me about her. I really want to encourage that for the future, but this kid is way too interested with this little girl! He's told me that they will get married and move to California, but I will stay here in KC, because, "You like it here, right Mommy? But you can come visit us." He is so funny all the things he has thought of. I fear that he is going to get his sweet little heart broken. Where does he get this stuff? I just worry that if he is this excited about a girl at 4 what will he be like as a teenager??!!! SCARY!
You can bet that I have made the switch to Organic milk. Too many hormones in this little boy!

(Brody with Avery & Tate playing Harvest Bingo while Tate eats the candy corn game pieces)

Anyway-Avery isn't the only thing we talk about. He tells me all about school. He is learning to write his name and he's getting pretty good at it. He and his friends play power rangers & puppies during recess. He loves when it's his turn to bring snacks & show n tell. He was even super excited for Tate and I to come help out with their Harvest (not Halloween mind you) party.



Every day I drop Brody off it is a struggle to keep Tate out of the classroom. So he was really excited about the party too. He came right in a sat down to play with Brody & his friends. Luckily they are sweet brothers and Brody thought it was fun to show Tate everything he does at school.




The party was great. The kids played games, decorated cookies & crafts. At the end we got to join them in circle time. I love watching Brody discover the fun in learning. I hope he will always be this enthusiastic about school. I am so impressed with how well he is doing, both socially and intellectually. I just hope he doesn't let his interest in girls get in the way! Married at 4?Oh brother, We'll have to keep our eye on this one!