Monster Trucks

 This month we went to 2 Monster Truck shows. One was with my family and Aubrie's first and the other was just a date night for Jeff and I. Aubrie suprisingly loved it and kept her ear protection on the entire time and would watch the trucks and motorcycles drive around. I remember my dad taking me and Sterling every year as little kids and we loved it.

 Grave Digger Truck

What Aubrie is up to these days: (17 1/2 months old)
-She can say many words now and is becoming more clear with her speech. She says: cheese, eggs, mom, dad, and yells daaaadd, yay, baba, bye, hi and many others that I can't think of right now.

-She has unlimited amounts of energy and loves jumping on the couch and kicking all the pillows off
-Loves chasing the kitties and trying to "hug" them
-Loves her family members especially Shannon
-Is becoming picky with foods at times but still loves pasta, pizza, and mac and cheese
-Loves to be chased down the hallway and tickled as she growls at us.
-Still loves going to daycare and runs to Sheena and hugs here as soon as we walk in the door
-Got an ear infection this month :(
-Loves to play dolls and barbies and feeds them bottles and pretend food
-Can count to 2
-Loves music and dancing and has excellent rhythm
-Loves to jump up and down
-Can tell you lots of animal noises including: cat (mean cat growl), dog, cow, owl, duck, bird, bunny (sniffs her nose), chicken, horse, and more than I am forgetting.

Introducing RPT's new PT...

Thats right, I got a position with RPT in South Jordan in an outpatient sports medicine clinic. This was unexpected as I originally applied for the position back in October and found out I didn't get the job. I was dissapointed and finally accepted the fact I would just stay at St. Josephs. Then out of the blue, I got an email from RPT wanting to hire me....of course I couldn't resist the offer. I know it will require a lot more hours and less time with Aubrie, but I will be able to specialize in Womens Health and Hand therapy which I have always wanted to do. I start in a few weeks but am really nervous since its been awhile in OP setting.

Midway Ice Castle

 This little fish loves the water and will yell, "Ya Ya Ya" when we tell her it is tubby time.

 We decided to take an adventure to the Midway Ice Castle to see it for ourselves. It was really neat and had lots of different 'rooms', a maze, and a slide inside the castle.

Some other funny things Aubrie has been up to lately:
- She can tell you what sounds these animals make: cat, dog, cow, horse, duck, owl, snake, and tiger.
-She jabbers and talks in jibberish all day
-Some of her favorite foods are: mac and cheese, any pasta or pizza, pears, peaches, blueberries, grapes, and chicken and stars.
-We have been trying to work on more sign language lately and she can sign "more" "please" and "thank you" along with waving bye and blowing kisses.
-Loves feeding her cats and dolls her bottle
-Starting sticking her tongue out and in really fast (like a snake) when she wants to eat something.

Funny things about Aubrie

I wanted to write this down before I forget....As I was picking Aubrie up from daycare today, her teacher Jo who has known her since she was 10 weeks old, said to me that the one word that describes Aubs is Passionate. She is passionate about every one of her emotions. When she is happy, she is super happy and giggly, when she cries it is as if the world is ending and she shakes and cries very loud, when she is mad, she is really mad and when she is lovey, she is very cuddly and lovey.

I love my little Passionate girl!

First Haircut

 Aubrie had her first haircut on December 30, 2013 at just a few days shy of 16 months old.
Her hair was growing so quickly(I was cutting her bangs every other week!) and when it was straight, it was down to her shoulders! Even though I liked it long, it was getting a little scraggily and it was a lot longer in the front and straight while the back was super curly. She went to Amber's salon to get it cut and sat on my lap and did great the entire time. She even let Amber blow dry her hair straight!

 Of course her favorite little kitties are in every picture....she adores them. Aubrie learned 2 new words this week: ba ba and bye. She also loves to run up and down the hall and growl at me (her sign to me to come chase her).

We are so glad to be feeling better around our house....we spent the past 4 days with the flu bug that got passed from one person to the next.

Goodbye to 2013 and Welcome 2014!

I wanted to be able to remember all the ups and downs that 2013 brought our family so here is a little list:

Aubrie's changes:
-We began the year with a cute 5 month old baby who was starting to sit up and move around and interact more with us.
-Aubrie went from breastfeeding and rice cereal to formula and baby food to whole milk and "regular" foods
-Aubrie went from a 14 lb baby to 23 lbs and from waking up 4-5 times a night to maybe once or twice
-Underwent her first surgery to get ear tubes in, which has been one of the best decisions we made
-Spent time at Primary Childrens Hospital for a few days with RSV, ear and eye infections
-Swimming in a pool and lake for the first time and absolutely loving it
-First camping trip to Timpanogos/American Fork and to Bear Lake for Raspberry Days and going to Hatch
-Turned ONE year old and had a lady bug themed birthday party
-Loved watching all the parades this summer, dancing at concerts, and watching fireworks
-Went Trick or Treating for the first time as a bumble bee
-Played in the piles of leaves and played in the snow and went sledding

Jeff and my yearly events:
-We (well I forced Jeff) to embark on a weight loss lifestyle change starting in April....Jeff has gone from 241 to 201 lbs and I have gone from 193 to 159 lbs. It was not easy, but so worth it to feel better about yourself
-We sold the Mazda and bought a Chevy Traverse
-We enjoyed many local vacations including: Hatch, Yellowstone, Bear Lake, and Timpanoogos Cave
-Jeff got layed off from Fetzers right before Thanksgiving and with lots of prayers and interviews, was hired right before Christmas at Fondell Woodwork.
-I survived being a mom to a newborn and very active little girl....nobody tells you how hard being a parent is
-Jeff and I have been serving at the Bear Den leaders in our ward and can't wait for March to come so Aubrie can be in nursery
-We continued with our yard and house projects this year by planting many flowers and fruits and Jeff painted the entire house while he was unemployed.
-Through many hard months earlier in the year, we became closer as a couple and family and learned to appreciate the small things in life
-Enjoyed all the events that summer time brought including fairs, fireworks, and parades

HERE'S TO 2014 AND MANY MORE GOOD TIMES AND HOPEFULLY A GROWING FAMILY!

Christmas Traditions and Fun

  This Christmas season was filled with lots of traditions new and old. Little Aubrie came home from daycare with this elf hat on and loved it so much she wouldn't take it off and kept saying, "hat, hat, hat".

 This was the second year for the Evans family Christmas party. This year my mom added some contests since our family is quite competitive. The first contest was "ugly sweater/outfit" and my dad won of course, even though he was mad about having to wear his outfit the entire party ;) There was also a white elephant gift exchange that included lots of family gems including pig statues from my grandma.

 Our little family in our "Ugly Christmas outfits" minus Aubrie's cute outfit.

 The second contest was the Gingerbread House Contest. Sterling/Amanda and Grandma Downhill won this year. This was our house with our secret ingredient of cotton candy snow. We found out the next day that this wasn't such a great idea as it all shrunk and looked terrible. Next year we will have to find another secret ingredient. Jeff had fun getting into building our house and putting all the details on it.

Some of the Christmas traditions I enjoyed this year:

As a child we had one of these advent calendars that you would "decorate" the tree each day with an ornament. Aubrie enjoyed putting one on each day and would clap after she placed them.

We weren't able to make it up to Temple Square this year but we did get to see the lights via drive through at Thanksgiving Point. Aubrie was in awe and kept saying, "Woahhhh" at all the lights. We went during a terrible snow storm so we opted to skip petting the reindeer, maybe next year.We also drove around Draper and Sandy to see some lights. This was my favorite house below. They had lights that were synchronized to music and even had what looked like a real Santa in the window. We sat and watched for a half hour since it was so neat.

 Draper Park: