May in Evansville

May in Evansville meant an average temperature of 70 degree weather, and a chance of rain occuring at least once a week. We were able to make weekly trips to the library and take our bike out for a ride almost weekly, but with so much rain that meant there were also plenty of puddles to jump in.

Some significant events that occurred this month were:
-We biked to the church and back (a 4.2 mile trip one way)!
-We celebrated Mother's day by starting a garden
-Genelle's and I performed in a small dance performance on the 18th
-We made a family trip out to St. Louis over Memorial Weekend (to see the zoo)
-We visited 3 new parks and 2 lakes (Audubon Park, Smothers Park in Owensboro, Boonville City Lake/Park, and Scales Lake Park)!

We are excited to see all that June has in store for us!

April in Evansville

I plan to share all the adventures that our family have experienced over the past couple of months here in the Midwest, but first here's a little sample of how the last 30 days went... Enjoy!

The First Month

Big Things in the First Month:

1. At the start of Genelle's second week, her Grandpa Hebdon came by along with Uncle Jacob and her soon-to-be Grandma Jill.

2. Grandma Amy got to spend the second weekend of November with us and work her Mommy-Magic!

3. Grandpa Wright brought Aunts Naomi, Esther and Ora to see Genelle! Everyone got to hold and entertain Genelle!

4. Genelle ventured outside of the house in the baby carrier for the first time, and is beginning to interact with those around her.

5. Tummy time is a pain, but a must.

Christmas Photoshoot

Sometimes you have to have a photoshoot, just because...

Baby Showers and a Christmas Playlist

I am a big fan of parties, small, big, it doesn't matter.

This last Saturday I had the opportunity to host a friend's Baby Shower. I decided to to give it a winter picnic theme...

The invites had a splash of plaid

 (as did the party favors) and for the most part I just threw pinecones and candles around the room.

The Pinecone Banner

Chocolate Cake!

The Sign-In table with the Mom and Dad to-be

The Baked Potato Bar

The Guests pt.1

The Guests pt.2

The Playlist I had going on during the Shower (and have had since in my head):

The First Snowfall

It's a beautiful thing. 

A Request

Can we just pretend that I didn't just abandon the blog, and start over?

Okay. 

Well, we'll start over next week. Today I'll just share some pics from the last... couple of months (ouch) so I don't feel so guilty about being so neglectful...

Visiting my stud of a brother after his football game.

Some of the best photos my sisters took of themselves. (I'll have to share some of the silly ones later!)

Camping up by Bryce Canyon with the Boys

Some panoramics of Bryce Canyon.

Artwork from the Russian Exhibit at the Woodbury Art Museum

My friends, Rebekah and Brianna, and I with the Russian Folk Dancers who performed at the Woodbury Art Museum's Opening Night. 

Learning to juice...

and can apples!

Halloween!

 Fall Temple Trips, Walks around Town and Voting!

Playing Catch-Up

To say it's been a while would be an understatement.

A lot of things have happened since I last seriously blogged that it's hard to know where to begin... Several changes have occurred at home, but as for Mike and I one thing will remain the same: we are going strong! 

We just celebrated our 2nd anniversary and Mike is in his last semester at UVU so we couldn't be happier! Recently Mike joined a softball team and I was promoted to full time at work so life can get pretty busy, but we also like to make time for fun...

 We participated in several 5ks over the summer, went to the State Fair,

Just a night at the Fair

All the Gates & Hess Ladies

 the Whittaker Family Reunion,

There was Potato Sack Races,

Cattail Coloring

and Slingshot Practice

 as well as a Family Reunion on Mike's side,

It was up in Heber Canyon

Landon in his shades

The Hess Representatives

 and we saw Wicked!!

We had a lot of fun doing other things as well but to understand the fullness of the summer you will just have to follow us on Instagram!

The 4th of July

The Fourth of July really started the eve before. 

Mike and I were invited by his cousins to a block party. 

There was...

Face Painting

Cotton Candy

Sparklers

Some better than others

And a Dance party!

The next day...

Mike and I woke up at 5:50 this morning to prepare for the Freedom Run.

The Running Group (minus Suzie R.)

Mike and I

The Course

It was a hot day, but this has got to be one of the funnest runs I've ever been on (with the exception of my first run)! For the first mile there were speakers pumping inspirational music and for the majority of the race course there were people lined up on the sidewalks, cheering us on (okay, they were really there for the parade later in the day, but it was still nice of them to cheer for us). 

My time ended being 32:26, which is better than my other times (38:40-1st race, 35:10-2nd), and I beat Mike so I'm pretty proud :). 

At the finish line volunteers handed out medals (cool!) and water bottles. There were Gatorade and water stations, fruit, ice cream, bread and chip stands... it was pretty sweet!

Mike and I after the race

After everyone had had their fill of goodies, we headed down to University Avenue for the parade! Mike needed a 'shower' so he left for home, but he promised he would join up with us for the parade.

Olden Patriots

Navajo Representative

ROTC Rep

 It was so much fun watching the balloons, floats and Utahn State/City Leaders go by. (I made sure to hoop and holler when the UVU President and float came by -represent!) After almost 2 hours into the parade (approximately 2.5 hours after we split ways) Mike showed up for the parade. Within minutes he was bored, so we left.

After we got home and watched a little bit of Independence Day, our friends, Kim and Casey, came over and together we went to Bicentennial Park to play Disc Golf. Now, I've only played the game once before, and never on the field we played on so it was no surprise to me that I completely and utterly lost (with a score of 14 over par). But it was fun anyways (and you know that I'm going to sneak over there and practice every change I get).

Later, we all went over to a (random) Apartment Building's pool. Of course when we got there there was two guys from my old high school playing basketball so Mike HAD to join in. So the boys splashed around while Kim and I chatted to the side. 

After about an hour it was time for us to go, so we said goodbye to Kim and Casey and rushed home to change for our friend's barbecue! It was sooooooo good! After it was over Mike and I were only too happy to take home two heaping plates of left-overs! 

The night was not over yet tho, when we got home we picked up some ice cream and root beer then made our way over to our friends, the Lewis's. There we played games and had floats until the Fireworks began. 

It was awesome!