DAY AT THE TEMPLE

Mark was filming a wedding video so Nora and I just walked around the temple grounds for awhile. She had so much fun walking around and exploring, but everytime she saw Dad she wanted him to hold her so... we had to go out of sight so he could work. It was such a beautiful day for a wedding!

and... more Nora

all and all it was a pretty fun day! I just followed her around for about an hour and a half if you couldn't tell :-)

TWO FAMILY REUNIONS!!

We had TWO awesome family reunions this past summer back to back! LAKE MICHIGAN one week with my fam and LAKE TAHOE the next week with Mark's fam. Mark took the second block of summer session off at UVU to be able to hit both the trips, so it was so fun having him home for a month and being able to get some quality family time in. I know it's been a while since we've posted... I'm just not too good at the blog thing! I mean come on I don't even have a background! WHO ELSE HAS A WHITE BACKGROUND ON THEIR BLOG??!! This summer was so much fun for us! And Mark is finally DONE studying for the LSAT (which he took yesterday!) Now we start the application process for law schools, cruise through this school year, Mark graduates in April, HAVE A BABY THE FIRST WEEK OF MAY, and probably move across the country by August!! Wow this year will be fun! There's the lowdown.... and yep I'm pregnant again :-) Nora and the new baby will be 19 months apart and hopefully... the BEST OF FRIENDS!! haha! We are having a birthday party for Nora today with mine and Mark's families so hopefully I'll post some of those pics later this week. Nora is so much fun! We really love her, and everyday I am so grateful that Heavenly Father is sending us his children. Family is so important, so thanks for such fun trips this summer!! THANKS to Brian, Nat, Bob and Diane for making Tahoe possible and THANK YOU Mom for making Michigan possible! We love you!

Grandma reading to all the babies!I have no idea what she is about to eat here! I guess I should have taken it away instead of taking a picture :-)
all the fabulous Evans girls!!
Lisa designed our family reunion shirts! watch out she's gonna have her own clothing line someday.
Nora's favorite aunts and uncles, probably because they speak her language right now :-)
the whole clan!! minus steve on his mission and Mandie and Craig's baby is still in the oven.
Bob, Diane and all the happy grandkids! (we have this same shot with my mom and her "happy" grandkids too)

the stellar guys...
and of course super cute girls!

Here's Michigan...
and there's some of the happy grandkids! :-)
daddy daughter moment


David totally took us out!


they look really excited to go on the tube!!

Lenora and Stacey Lenora!

rice cereal fight to cure Jody's attitude!

So I don't know why, but I was super ornery today.  Not just ornery but super sarcastic too.  Watch out for Jody's attitude!  Well around 6 I was feeding nora some cereal and mark said something to me and I said some snotty sarcastic remark to him. well, I guess that was the last straw for him because he threw a cup of water on me and I quickly fought back with rice cereal.  Nora joined in and we totally won the fight!!!  

NORA'S FIRST PHOTOSHOOT

ok I know it has been forever since I've updated this thing!! I need to keep up on it better. Tons has happened in the last little while. We moved last month into a cute little house in Provo, Nora took her first 4 steps yesterday, we visited Texas and Moab and we are off to Michigan and Lake Tahoe at the end of this month. The summer has been super busy with lots of fun things going on! The best part is that Mark isn't taking a full load of classes (which he has done every semester since we've been married... 18 credits!) He only has one class each week but it is on friday nights, so that stinks for me. I've been working a lot and Mark has been spending a ton of time with Nora. She is definitely a "daddy's girl." Although I am better at putting her to bed :-)!! One of my clients, Coriann, took these amazing pictures for us! It was so fun! corihenderson.blogspot.com Nora had her nine month check up last week, here are her stats:

21 pounds 88%

30 inches 99%

head cir. 62%

REGARDLESS WE LOVE HER!

our little snow white

I know it's been awhile since we've posted... seems like I say that every time I write a post actually!  Nora is so much fun and has so much personality!  These pictures show off her cute side but there is a Jody side in her!!  She's got a little attitude and she knows how to use it!! haha!  And I am such a sucker, I totally give in!  (I don't think my mom ever gave in to MY attitude!)   She's been a little sick this week, first her 6 month shots and now she has a pretty bad cough.  It's so sad to watch her cough and then cry because her little throat hurts. Needless to say, warm water has been a favorite of hers this week!  At her 6 month check up she was 19.8 pounds (94%) and 28 inches (98%).  Way to go Nora!!!  She is looking more and more like her dad every day!

my best shopping trip ever!

So most of you know that I am a coupon junkie and freebie shopping finatic, but this shopping trips tops them all!!! I paid $4 for all this stuff! 12 travel huggies wipes, 12 boxes of kotex, 30 ziploc containers, 24 disposable junkie razors (but i'll still use them), cough drops, olay cleansing wipes, and softsoap! the total came to $45 but with all my coupons it came out to $4 and the tax was originally $6, but some of the coupons exceeded the purchase price of the item so it cut into the tax :-) oh my gosh I love shopping!!!!!! I was just so excited about this that I had to share :-)

Nora's Blessing

Nora was so beautiful in her blessing dress and Mark gave her a beautiful blessing! 

wow time flies!!!

I know I'm not the best at updating our blog, so I just thought I'd give a brief review of how we are doing.  Nora is such a joy in our lives!  I don't even know how to explain it!  Being a mom has made me a happier person, and I love taking care of her!  She is almost 4 months now, and is hitting milestones everyday.  Watching her roll over for the first time was so much fun.  She brings her feet up to her head, rolls to her side and then shoots her legs out straight to finish the roll to her tummy.  She found her feet about two weeks ago and loves playing with them and she found daddy's face last week and now loves touching and hitting it all the time :-)  Nora loves making noises now too!  I sing to her and then she starts singing back... very loudly!!  she is all smiles that is unless she is hungry!  Well, my mom started chemo therapy this week so last week we took an amazing girls trip to florida!  My mom, all my sisters except Lins :-( and a few of the older grandkids went to disneyworld and universal studios.  Oh my gosh it was soooo fun!  And Nora now LOVES her stroller and being outside (too bad utah is just too cold to take her out on walks right now!)  Thanks mom!  It was so good to get together with all the girls.  Play games every night, catch up on our lives, see kelly's boys since they live in Georgia now, we just had fun together!  Mark unfortunately didn't go :-( and that was our first time being apart in a year and a half! Mark is studying every day for two hours, because he takes the LSAT in June!  Once he takes that we'll kinda have a feel for where he might be going to law school or where we might live for the next couple years.  As for now we will be here for at least another year and a half.   I love our little family and I feel so blessed to be where we are right now!  It's hard not to want to be where other people are or try to jump ahead in life, but we feel very blessed right now.  Life was fun while we were dating, it got better when we got married and now it just feels right with having a family!  We couldn't ask for more! 

THE ROLL

This is the proudest moment of Nora's life (so far). SHE ROLLED OVER!!!

We could have took a video of it but we decided to tell the story with still shots. 

NORA'S PERSONALITY!

BABY NORA AND GRANDMOTHER LENORA

GAP BABY

Thanks Aunt Julie for the super cute outfit!!!!

HALLOWEEN PARTY WITH THE FAM!

We went to the county club party with the family on halloween night.  Great food, great prizes, games and dancing!!! Thanks Mom for inviting us!  We had a blast.  Our family won 4 out of the 6 prizes given for best costumes!!! Well not us... my brothers and sisters :-)  Holly and Blair were little red riding hood and the big bag wolf, Christy was little bo peep and micheal was her little sheep, and David and Lins were batman and batwoman!  Mark and I were soccer players... basically we didn't have costumes and these jerseys were already in our apartment :-)  But Nora was the cutest lil pumpkin ever!!Grandma and Grandpa only missing 4 grandkids (Kelly and Rich's kids, we missed you guys!)

HALLOWEEN FUN!!!

Lenora loves her binkie, but not for long... as of today we can't give it to her anymore!!!  (doctor's orders)  she's not eating right and the binkie is not helping the problem!  Although she is 10 pounds now!!!





Kristy and Grady invited us to their fabulous halloween party.  It was so much fun, and Mark and I won the newlyweds game!!!  Lenora slept through most of the party but she was such a cute lil bunny :-)  Kristy's decorations were awesome!! she made that spooky lookin tree on her wall out of vinyl! someday I'm gonna be as domestic as you Kristy! (she made her costume also! )                                                                  Our fabulous hosts, Mr. Burger King and Wendy

Zorro and Katherine Zeta Jones!!!  

A POST FROM THE MOM

Well I've been slacking on posting, so Mark took over for me for a while.  Wow it has been one amazing and crazy emotional week!  I don't even know where to start.  I can't believe we have a baby! It's still sinking in, and it's a lil scary!  When she is in my arms I'm so happy and I can't believe that Heavenly Father has blessed us with such a beautiful little angel, but when she is asleep is when my mind starts thinking  WAY too much.  All those thoughts that make me think I'm not capable of being a mom or that I really have no idea what I'm doing.  It's funny how Satan works.  He's knows our weaknesses and he really pushes the right buttons!  Never the less, I know the Lord is on my side and I see his hand in everything.  Lenora is such a blessing in my life. Everytime I look at her I am amazed at how much love I have for her.  Her sweet spirit warms our home and it is so nice to have her in our little family.  She was named after her Great Grandmother (my Grandmother) Lenora Parkinson.  (Doc's wife for those of you who know him from Maglebys).  If she is anything like her Great Grandmother, she will be a blessing to all those who know her, and known for her service and love for others.  

3 DAYS OLD

4 DAYS OLD

5 DAYS OLD, WATCHING CONFERENCE WITH DADDY

Lenora! Galore. . a. . !

Baby Lenora Is Here!

Our little baby Lenora has finally come to join our little family, But it wasn't without some long hours of labor. . . . on the part of Jody. It was really hard to see Jody going through so much pain, but she handled it quite well, even though the epidural wore off. . . 3 times! Who knows what really happened, but the anesthesiologist  had to come back every hour or so to pump her full of meds to keep the pain manageable. 

Lenora was born at 12:13 am September 30, 2008 with a full head of hair and the longest eyelashes i've ever seen. She was 8 lbs 14 oz and 21 inches long. The doctor had Jody pushing for about 10 min before the baby came out (the doctor helped out with his salad tongs. . . at least I think thats what they were). Lenora is very healthy, nursing great, and likes to cry occasionally. Its so fun to hold her and just have her here with us. 

Jody's mom was in the room for a good potion of the labor and helped out a lot during the more intense contractions and the delivery. I called my parents after the delivery and after the doctors were done doing initial checks on Jody and the Baby and they asked if they could come by and see us. As soon as I said they could, they surprised us by walking in the delivery room. They were waiting for about an hour outside the hospital for the news. 

It was great to have the support of family as Jody and I became parents today. It has really brought a new sense of gratitude to us for our parents, and especially our mothers. 

Thanks to all of you who have been a support throughout the pregnancy. I don't think things would have been as smooth as they have been without your help. Thanks.

Baby Shower at Maglebys

Thank you Mom, Christy and Stacey for throwing me such a fun shower!!!  Our baby is gonna be so spoiled with all the cute stuff that she got!!!  It was so fun to have tons of family and friends come!

well the baby ticker to the right has stopped ticking, BUT the baby is still cookin!!!  I'll keep y'all posted when she finally decides to make her debut!!!  As for now.... she is teaching me patience :-)

my mom and sisters, they are so good to me!!

my mom and sisters from the mission!!  well ok this is my mission presidents wife and some of my companions

The Evans girls... and stephanie! :-)  I married into a beautiful family!!

NEWS FROM THE DOC THIS WEEK

well not only is she measuring big... the Doc is pretty positive that she's going to be late!  I guess the good news is that he won't let her come past the 30th (one week overdue.)  Ahhhhh!!!  ok I think I'm going to go running this week! and maybe a lil trampoline action too!!! no j/k!  hahaha

Our First Anniversary!!

Sorry I know it's been awhile since we've posted.  We have had quite the eventful month!  Between moving, kidney stones, Mark starting school and working a ton... August really flew by!!!   We celebrated our FIRST ANNIVERSARY on friday!  yay! wow that went by so fast!  I feel like we just got married yet at the same time I feel like I've known Mark for forever!  And now the next big event is coming pretty soon...  the birth of our LIL GIRL.  We are anticipating her arrival, yet hoping she doesn't come early (since I have clients booked until the 18th!).  Well actually she's not going to be so "lil."  The doc assured us last week that our lil girl is going to be more like a lil BIG girl :-)  I guess that is good to know, because I know that she'll be healthy, but on the other hand...  wouldn't it be nice to deliver a lil petite 6 pound baby!!! hahaha!   Regardless of my nerves and butterflies,  I just can't stop thinking about her!  What is she going to look like?  brown hair?  any hair?  is she going to know me the first time she is in my arms?   Wow, Mark and I feel so blessed to have this addition come to our family, and so fast too!  Only two more weeks!

PICTURE UPDATE!! WOA BELLY!!

A LONG TRIP TO THE HOSPITAL

Well I'm only 7 months pregnant, so right now the last thing I would want to do is... go to the hospital!  For the last few days I've been having a lot of lower back pain.  Assuming that it is completely normal b/c I'm in my third trimester and the baby is obviously growly rapidly now, I just decided to brush it off.  Well, tuesday night was almost unbearable!  Mark and I were watching a movie and I kept having to switch positions or stand up for a few min etc etc.  But once again I just figured that I'm kinda a baby and every pregnant girl goes through pains like these.  Now today was a diff. story!  I woke up (ready to pack all day since we are moving in two days) and the pain had multiplied.  Mark was so nice, but I on the other hand was a rollercoaster! One min. I was crying and the next I was super ornery. We tried tylenol, heating pads, icyhot, swimming, a massage, a bath etc. but nothing seemed to work. I just kept thinking... omg if this is what I'm going to feel for the next 2 months!!!!!  Finally at 7pm we were driving down to provo to drop mark off at school and I was going to go register at babiesRus when I just couldn't take it anymore!  We called the Doc and he told me to go into the ER.  After much mental punishment of me telling myself I'm such a baby... your not even in labor!! I was relieved to find out that I had a kidney stone and the pain is often compared to or worse than labor contractions!  I guess I'll be able to compare them myself in a few months! :-)  Sorry for such a super long post!!  I'm feeling good as new now... I just have my fingers crossed that I don't have to go back tomorrow! (I guess its possible that it hasn't completely passed yet) Anyway, I am so grateful that the baby is ok and it was just me!!! they said her heartrate is perfect and kidney stones couldn't effect her :-)  I think I'm starting to realize that I really would do anything for her!

THE MEMORY GAME!!!!

I  saw this on my friend's blog and it looked like fun!!!  I thought I'd give it a try :-)

1.  As a comment on my blog, leave a memory that you and I had together.  Doesn't matter if you knew me a lot or a little, basically anything you can remember!

2.  Next, re-post these instructions on your blog!  It's quite fun to see what people remember!  If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume your playing the game and come leave one on yours! 

Garage Sale Weekend

Last weekend we had our first garage sale, and it was quite the success!!! :-)  Now all that quality junk I've been weeding out is gone!!! yay!!!!  We are moving next week to Provo and it will be sooo much easier now that we're a lil more organized, FINALLY!  Almost everything sold... except mark's cherished desk.  We were trying to sell it to get a smaller one... well I was trying to sell it. Mark on the other hand says that it is his fav. piece of furniture!  I guess he lucked out because we still have it!!!

GETTING ORGANIZED

Not too much is changing with us right now.  (That is for about 3 more months til baby evans comes).  Mark is going to school mon, wed, and fridays and working up in salt lake on tuesdays and thursdays... and me I'm still just working at the 2 salons (alpine and provo).  :-)  The only interesting thing that has been happening in my life is ORGANIZING!  I've decided to go through EVERYTHING that we own!  Baby clothes, winter clothes, xmas decor, kitchen, etc. etc...  and I am weeding out!! I think I'm even going to have enough stuff to have a yard sale!! The only problem is I don't really know where to have it.  I don't know how I have collected so much QUALITY JUNK over the years!!!  But this is going to come to an end!  seriously I have clothes that haven't fit me since freshman year in high school and boxes of "maybe I'll use this someday" stuff! I am weeding out and I am going to stay organized for life!!!!! I'll let y'all know how it goes!! 

Hair Fight

Note to self. Never get in a fight with your wife when she has hair clippers in her hands!!!

All's well that ends well I guess.

Our Babymoon!!!

We left from Puerto Rico and stopped in St. Thomas, Dominca, Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua, St. Kitts and Nevis

Barbados has by far the most beautiful water to swim in! We found this fun beach that had a rope swing, trampolines, and climbing walls.  I don't think I was actually suppose to be aloud to go of the rope swing b/c the guy asked me if I was pregnant... I quickly said no! That was the main reason I wanted to go to this beach!  I wasn't about to let someone tell me I couldn't! :=) Needless to say I think the guy felt really dumb afterwards!

This was in Antigua! We went snorkling and kayaking.

Mark served on Nevis for 4 months.  We got to go visit a few of the people from his mission

This hurt like a mother!!!  Luckily it only took about 15 min.

Every night we would come to our room and their would be a new animal made from the towels! we loved it! We played guessing games on the way to the room to see what animal it would be. 

This was at an active volcano in St. Lucia.  The temp. was 90 degrees! it felt so good on my sunburn!!

All the islands were sooo beautiful!  We saw tons of waterfalls, pineapple and banana plantations, volcanos, and many different rainforests.

It was so nice to be away from everything for so long. No internet or cell phones!  Thanks for taking me to see your mission Mark!!! I loved it!!

We are sooo excited!!!

We leave on saturday for a week long cruise to the caribbean!!! We'll post lots of pictures when we get home!!!

baby update

Well we are having a girl!  Mark was soooo sure it was a boy... maybe next time mark! :-) As for me, I guessed it was a boy, but really really wanted a little girl.  (Hence the reason why I already have lil headbands and bows that I've made!)  She's measuring big so my due date got moved up one week!  (sounds good to me! the less weeks the better!)  We are sooo happy and so excited to become parents to our new lil girl!

Pregnant Talk

Well life has not been fun this week.  The salon was dead, so I think my body thought... well this week would be a great week to get sick then!  So instead of being able to use my time wisely because noone in Provo wants to get their hair done...  (for some reason my Alpine salon is always packed but Provo, not so much) I got to sit on the couch all week.  I was so excited that I was going to have a few days off!  I was thinking... I need to weed out my closet, clean the bathrooms, ya know get some stuff done.  So much for that!  Well I hope everyone is feeling sorry for me now! :-)  haha! But really I'm counting down the days until I'm 13 weeks along!  Rumor has it that that is when I start feeling better!!!! yay! (I hit 12 weeks today) The best part about this week was my first doctors visit!!  Mark came and we were able to hear the babies heartbeat!  :-)  Ok I'll stop complaining because I really am soooo excited to be a mom!  All of this has got to be worth it!!

OK I know we never post so... I'm going to play catchup :-)

These are from our honeymoon.  Mark planned the whole thing!!  We stayed at this amazing resort in Cancun with unlimited room service and extreme spoiling!!

Seeing the Mayan ruins was really an eye opener!!  It would have been nice to have had an LDS tour guide because our lady really had no idea what she was talking about!! I felt so blessed to have the Book of Mormon in my life when we came here.  It was so neat to see how smart these people were and their amazing cities!

Well, its been a long time since this blog has been added to and I thought now is the time to let the world know that we're still alive. Jody and I live in Pleasant Grove, Utah in a small 2 bedroom apartment with a beautiful view of Mt. Timponogous out our bedroom window. I am currently attending UVSC working towards a degree in Communications and Jody is Working full time as a hair stylist and a waitress in her family's restaurant. Here are some photo's of our wedding day that many of you have been waiting to see. I hope you enjoy! 

-LOVE THE NEWEST EVANS FAMILY

mark & jody

Here are some engagement Photos that Jody and I took while vacationing with her family in Michigan. Aren't we so super really really ridiculously good looking?!!

Engagement

So, I'm am engaged to be married, its kind of an amazing deal! I no longer have to look around for the girl of my dreams, no longer have to spend money on other peoples wife's and I never have to wonder who my next kiss will be coming from. I guess there are some things that aren't so great, like picking colors, choosing best men or brides maids, BBQ or Luncheon,  or figuring out what all the guest are going to be eating while I'm standing on my feet all day greeting people I've never met before and will never meet again. But with all those things aside I am super excited to be marrying Jody. She makes me very happy and will make me even happier come September 8th ;-)

Mark And Jody

So, this is mostly for Brian, but for those of you who continually wonder who Jody is here are some pictures of us at lagoon. Also some buddies. . .