Alaska Cruise June 2011

This free slideshow customized with Smilebox

What an amazing trip we had.  We loved traveling with our good friends and can't wait until our next adventure.  Alaska is truly some of the most beautiful places I have had the opportunity to see.  We had amazing weather while we were there.  We only had a little rain in Ketchikan.  It will be a memory that I will treasure for many years to come.  Thanks for aking us to go along with you to celebrate your 20th anniversary and our 15th anniversary.  A little early but well worth it

Hello Again

As many of you know I work for a CPA office so between the months of Jan to April not much happens except for work.  It is so nice to have another year of it over and now have so much to look forward to.  I am so happy to finally get to see that maybe "SPRING" has finally arrived.  It has been a long, cold and wet and we are all ready for some good days with a lot of sunshine.

We are heading to Alaska this year with our good friends the Heumann's to celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary and our 15th wedding anniversary.  We are so excited to get to go see this beautiful part of our country and to get to spend time with our wonderful friends.   Then we will be heading off to Orlando for Mark's convention and also to get to spend some time with Mark's brother's family, Dave, Kelly, Ava, Luke and Logan who live in Virginia and we do not see often enough.  We miss them and look forward to some time with them in Florida as well as when they come out for a long over due visit in August.  It will be a summer filled with lots of good times.

Merry Christmas

This year has been an incredible Christmas season for Mark & I.  We have enjoyed many wonderful parties with family and friends, Christmas shopping, zoo lights, going to Jazz games and just enjoying this wonderful time of year.  We are so grateful this year to have been able to help out those who are less fortunate this year.  We helped do a couple of sub-for-Santa's along with both sides of our family and help provide three families with a Thanksgiving dinner.  As one of our traditions is to attend the Festival of Trees and was able to bid on some wonderful donated items to help out the Primary Children's Hospital.  We are so grateful for this time of year where we get to be with all those we love.  We are most grateful for our Savior and the opportunity we have to reflect on all that he represents.  We have been blessed so much because of the sacrifice that our Savior made for each one of us and hope that each of you will take some time out of the hustle and bustle to reflect on all that He has given you.  We are so grateful to all our family and friends and this time of year and always.  We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year.

Holidays

Some of my  favorite things about the Christmas season:

I love the decorations and lights and the festive fell they bring.
I love spending time with family.  We are so blessed to have wonderful family's.
I love giving to others.  Being able to help others at this time of year to make there holidays better is what brings us so much joy.
I love the beauty of the snow and how pretty beautiful it is to see a blanket of snow out the window.
I love that we have so many opportunities to serve others.
I love listening and singing all the wonderful Christmas Carols.
I love going to see all the beautiful light displays at Temple Square and the Zoo.
I love all the yummy treats.
I love to go to all the many parties and spending time with all our many friends.
I love little kids and seeing their eyes light up as they talk about Christmas and the excitement of seeing Santa.
Most of all I love that we are able to remember our savior born so many years ago in a humble stable and be reminded of the great blessing it is to each one of us.  Our Savior is the greatest gift we will ever receive.  May we never forget that that is the true meaning of Christmas and the reason we celebrate this beautiful time of year.

A Quick Update

Smack dab in the busy season at my work and will be glad to see April 15th arrive, but we have been able to get a little bit of fun in during this long tax season. Mark went with his brothers, Paul & John to the Mountain West basketball tournament where they met up with their brother Phil and were able to enjoy great games, good food and each others company. While they were all in Las Vegas I was able to put in more time at work but was also able to catch a little enjoyment myself. I was able to meet up with Catherine and Hallie, my sister in-law and niece for a yummy dinner at Wingers, catch a basketball game my nephew, Caleb, played in and a movie with my friend Lithia and some of her children.

Our big happenings is we are now proud owners of a new furnace. We had a crack in the old one and the circuit board went out so it was cheaper to get a new one. It was not what we wanted to do but it needed to be done as the old one put us at risk of carbon monoxide poisoning.

Hope you have all filed you taxes and have seen lots of money coming back to you. May you all enjoy this beautiful Easter season.

Get Down With Scrapbooking

Cute Trinkets for all who attended.

Last weekend, Jan 22-23, I had the wonderful opportunity to attend a charity scrap booking event for the Down Syndrome Foundation of Utah. My wonderful niece started this event a few years ago because her husband Karson has three amazing siblings who have Downs and this is a way that they felt they could give back . I even was able to get a few layouts done - it is always nice to accomplish something to! My niece Marlene

This year she had the help of others which - my sister Annette, my niece Angela and her two friends Anisa & Cami. They did a super job with all the raffles, giveaways and classes. Way to go ladies. I was so great getting together with so many awesome women, many who have made a great impact on my life. It is always great to be with so many people but most important that it was to help out such a worthy cause. Thanks again for making such a wonderful event happen.

A group picture - minus a few

2009 Year in Review

2009 was a great year. We had success in our jobs and enjoyed many good times with our familes and friends. Here are some of the higlights:

January

On Januay 2nd we got together with some of my family to cheer the University of Utah football time to victory in the Sugar Bowl - BCS game. They beat the Alabama Crimson Tide. The finally score was 31-17. What a great year to be a Ute fan.

Later that month I attended the charity scrapbook event - Get Down with Scrapbooking hosted my my neice Marlene. It is a great event and all the proceeds go to the Down Syndrome foundation of Utah. I had a great time and even got some pages completed.

February

We had the wonderful opportunity to attend the Draper LDS Temple open house with my inlaws and had a wonderful experience. It is such a blessing to have another wonderful Temple dot the Salt Lake Valley. What an amazing experience.

March

We headed to Las Vegas to the Mountain West basketball tournament to see both the Utah Utes and BYU Cougars play. BYU played San Diego State which they lost and Utah played Wyoming and advanced toe the championship game which they won. Phil, Natalie and Nicole attended the games with us. On Saturday we headed up to St. George to spend the remainder of the weekend with Paul, Catherine, Hallie, John Tracy, Aaron, Aidan, and Addi. It was a nice little get away.

April

Made it through another tax season of working lots of hours but the day after Mark and I joined his parents in Maui for a much needed vacation. We spent a week of relaxing and enjoying the sunshine and Mark got some golf it at the Kapalula golf course. We took a ride on the road to Hana, shopped, ate a great restuarants and relaxed by the pool and at the beach.

May




We had new wood floors installed and boy did it make a difference and began work painting the bedrooms.






For Memorial weekend we headed to Jeff Maynes family cabin were we spent the time with many of my family. It rained to whole weekend so we spent the time indoors. It was nice to be together.

June

We had the privledge of attending the wedding of my nephew Phil and his beautiful wife Nichelle. We are so excited to have Nichelle and her darling daughter Haley in our family.

We also got to attend to open house of the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. What a beautiful temple.

July

Mark, his dad and two of his brothers, John and Paul, went to San Francisco to meetings for work. They also went to a the San Francisco Giants base ball game where they got to see a no hitter. Then they met up with their Uncles & Aunts, Lavor & Barbara and Doyle & Karen, who live in Livermore for a day of golf and b-bque. For the 24th of July holiday we headed to the condo in St George where we spent time with the Neuenswander from vegas, saw Footloose and the Tuachan theater, attended the Ivans town carnival and spent time catching some rays by the pool.

August

Our amazing Grandpa Benjamin Gunn Evans passed away at 98 years old. The whloe family minus, Kelly, Ava, Luke & Logan made the trip to Helena, Montana to pay or respects to a wonderful man and example to us all. We love him and will miss him but look forward to being with him for eternity

Later Mark had some business meeting in Phildelphia so I flew out and met him so we could spend some time with Dave, Kelly, Ava & their new twin boys, Luke and Logan. We had a great time with them. We were able to attend the Phillies - Atlanta baseball game, dinner at Cheescake factory, play with Ava and feed and hold the two boys. It was a great time.

September

Mark headed to Boston for business and the Neuenswander form New Jersery came out for a visit. It was great to have them here. The best part is that I got to spend two nights babysitting the adorable Luke and Logan.Logan & Luke

Ocotober

We headed down to the BYU-UNLV game in Las Vegas with John, Tracy, Aidan, Addie, Paul, Catherine, Val & Benda, Ron & Kerma, Doyle & Karen and Phil, Natalie & Nicole. We had a great time and ate lots of yummy food and spent time enjoying being together.

November

We celebrated our 13th anniversary and can say it has been an amazing journey. I love you more everyday. Could not have asked for a better husband and enternal companion.

December

What a wonderful time of year. We got to do so many wonderful things this month but most of all we ere able to celeberate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Without him none of this would have been possible. Look for to many more blessing in 2010.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

So we have had a fun but busy holiday season so far and Christmas is not until Friday. It all started on Friday, December 4Th when we to our nephew Nick to the Festival of Trees. We took him here several times before he moved to New York for three years and both Mark and I missed our time with Nick so it was great having him back in Utah so we could all go. He had a great time - got to see many of the trees, watch the performers, have a yummy sweet roll, dinner at Arby's and then got to sit on Santa's lap. Lots of fun for all of us.

Sunday, December 6Th we got to hear a wonderful Christmas devotional put on by the First Presidency of the LDS Church where they shared wonderful messages of the true meaning of Christmas. It is so nice during this busy time to reflect upon the Birth of our Savior and the great blessing it is to each of us.


Thoughout the that week we were able to spend time at family parties and company parties which is always nice to be together with our friends and family. We had a party for my moms extended family and then Mark's company party. I also was able to attend a wonderful Relief Society dinner and program where the focus was also on our Savior and become better women of Christ.

We were also able to go to a couple of Jazz games were we saw the Jazz beat the Orlando Magic but lose to the Minnesota Timber wolves. We are big Jazz fans so it is always fun to cheer them on.

On Saturday, Dec. 12Th we had a great day together. We went and saw the Utah Utes-Oklahoma basketball game where the Utes almost one in overtime then we headed downtown for dinner at Crown Burger and then to see the lights at Temple Square. After the lights, we headed to the Conference Center to see the annual Christmas Concert of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir which featured Natalie Cole and David McCullough. What a wonderful evening of music and inspirational messages. We love to go to this concert as it is a highlight of our Christmas season.

We also attended my company Christmas party and Mark was able to manage to fit a business trip to San Diego in to our busy schedule. This past weekend while Mark was in San Diego I helped with a funeral luncheon for our neighbors son and went to a fun friends part at out good friends the Huemann's home. Wish Mark could have been at the party but enjoyed his business trip where he was with tow of hi brothers and his dad.

On Saturday night we went to see the Zoo Lights with some of my sister, Cynthia's family. The kids loved it and we so loved watching the 3 new baby tigers intact with their mom and each other. Thanks to Matt & Ranae for inviting us to come along we had a great time.

Hope that you have all taken time to enjoy all that this wonderful Christmas Season has to offer and to spend some time with your family and friends. We have been so blessed to have som many good friends and wonderful familes to spend this wonderful time with. May you always remember that if it were not for Our Savior's birth we would not be enjoying this wonderful time of year.