We're in the "Buff"!

In July we got to go to Buffalo, NY (the Buff) to visit Travis, Stephanie, and the boys. What a fun time we had!

What a cute little family!

Collin was sick most of the time we were there so he did a lot of clinging to his mom and dad and watching TV. We wish he would have felt better because Stephanie and the boys did a lot of staying home by themselves while we went out doing fun things. Thank you Stephanie for your graciousness. I know it wasn't easy.

Here we are on the campus of the University of Buffalo. This is where Travis has spent a big chunk of time these past three years.

Here is Dr. Evans (almost) in his operatory. This is where he sees his patients.

Here we are checking out the rest of the dental clinic.

Look who we found on our tour. It is Ryan Carter from Mesa!

It was a fun tour and here we are by the dental student buffalo. There are a lot of statues of buffaloes in the area doing different things.

Next on our list of things to do was Niagara Falls. Trevor left his passport home so we only did the American side. So we just got to look at the Bridal Veil Falls for most of the time.

However, we did take the Maid of the Mist tour so that we could see the Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side up close and personal. Here we are in our lovely blue rain ponchos.

After the tour.

We took a hike along the river...

crossed over this bridge...

to get to a better angle to see the falls.

This is looking down at the Cave of the Winds. You could pay to walk up a jillion steps and then get drenched by the falls. We chose to forego that fun adventure. Marcus and Megan and their family had preceeded us in Buffalo by a little less than a week and took that tour. It was fun to see the water cascading down.

The next day we drove to Palmyra to see the church sites there and to attend the Hill Cummorah pageant. When we got to the the Smith Farm, who should we see but a couple of Trevor's friends from home. They are in Washington D.C. for the summer and drove up for the pageant. This is Trevor, Moroni, and Justin.

Trevor in the Smith log cabin, where Joseph was visited by the angel Moroni.

Walking in the Sacred Grove.

Us in the Sacred Grove.

Looking up at the Hill Cummorah and the stage. As you can see we were there plenty early to get a seat.

Sunday night we went back to Niagara Falls to see the fireworks. It was fun to see and they had some different fireworks that I had not seen before but it definately was NOT long enough. About two minutes worth or maybe five if you stretch it. It was a pretty long drive for just a few minutes. It was fun to see the Falls at night, however.

Here we are enjoying the show.

Fireworks!

Say cheese!

Monday found us on the road to Kirtland. Here we are outside the Kirtland Temple.

It was an interesting tour. We had a great tour guide that spent a lot of time telling us diferent things about the temple and showing us some things that Travis had not seen on his previous visit to there.

Family photo opp in front of the Newell K. Whitney Store.

This is the sawmill in Kirtland. It was very humid that day.

On our way home we called Stephanie and decided to go to Chee Burger Chee Burger instead of having her feed us. Here we all are waiting for our food.

On Tuesday, Collin's temperature was gone so we all loaded up, excited to go on a boat ride on the Erie canal. Here is a picture of the locks on the canal.

Instead of a boat ride on the Erie canal we got to go on a walking tour of the tunnels where the water was used to power three manufacturing places in the 1800's.

Travis and Collin by a millstone. Gives great imagery to the scripture of it being better to have a millstone around your neck.

Here we are inside the tunnel. Don't we all look thrilled to be there.

Yea! Finally our boat ride. A little five minute deal up and back a short stretch of water while being dripped on from the rocks overhead. It was an okay tour and I learned a lot. It was just not what we all were expecting so it was a little bit of a let down.

However, Travis, Stephanie, and Trevor salved their disappointment by going to the last Harry Potter movie while Wayne and I stayed home with the sleeping boys.

Wednesday, Trevor finally got to go to Canada. He had Aubrey overnight his passport so he could say that he had been in a different country. We went to Crystal Beach on the Canadian side of Lake Erie. It was a nice beach and I liked the gentle waves.

Trav and Stephanie's friend Rachel and her son Gavin came with us. Collin hadn't seen Gavin for about a month because they had been in Utah. But Collin was still a little grumpy from being sick and wasn't the best of friends that day.

We came, we waded, ...

we jumped, we ate, and left! A fun trip!

That evening we went to Tonawanda and ate at Mississippi Mud. It was a fun restaurant that overlooks the Tonawanda River. I had a very delicious crab cake sandwich and onion rings. Not quite Weight Watcher fare but very delicious!

We took a little walk along the river...

checked out the water.... found some ducks and geese...

and ate ice cream cones. Someone is a little sloppy with their cone.

All too soon we had to say good-bye to my little NY boys

Collin and

Weston.

What a good time we had. It was too short. But we appreciate the hospitality of Travis and Stephanie and the fun things they had planned for us to do. Thanks and we love you.

Holy Haboob!!!!! : D

Yes, that is really a word and it describes a big wall of dirt, like in the Sahara Desert, but it was in Arizona. Tuesday, July 5th the M & M's had come over to swim when Liam and Neil came running in saying that a dust storm was coming. I looked out the window thinking that it was one of the summer's usual dust storms. No! It was the mother of all dust storms! A huge wall of dirt over a mile high was rolling in on us. It was amazing!

Happy Birthday, America! In celebration of Independence Day I thought it would be fitting to post our pictures of when Wayne and I went to Washington D.C. in April. The weather was wonderful, but we once again missed the cherry blossoms. We had a wonderful time and did some things that we have not done before. We stayed in Old Town Alexandria, which is a fun place with lots of fun little shops. We did not step foot in the Smithsonian's this time. Been there and done that quite often. I would have liked to go take a look at the First Lady Inaugural Ball Gowns. (Love that...Wayne, not so much!)

We did not do the White House tour. We've done that...besides who wants to see where Barak lives? We did do Lafayette Park which is across the street from the White House. I had just finished a David Baldacci book where the crime scene was set in that park so it was fun to go there and see the things he talked about.

This is the center of the park and this is the statue of Andrew Jackson. In the book this statue was damaged because of a bomb that went off in the park. I was glad to see Andrew was doing well with no damage. In the four corners of the park are statues of four Revolutionary War Heroes. From France - General Marquis Gilbert de Lafayette (of whom the park was named) and General Comte Jean de Rochambeau. From Poland - General Thaddeus Kosciuszko, and from Prussia - Major General Fredrich Wilhelm von Steuben.

Didn't do the tour of the Washington Monument either. Just walked by and stopped for a photo opp.

We did go to the World War II Monument, which we had not seen before. It was quite impressive.

We did check out the Korean War Monument. I think this is one of my favorite. It is so impressive to see the soldiers walking through the field.

More of the Korean War soldiers. Also there is a wall of photographic images of troops who supported the soldier fighting. The way the stone is etched it looks as if they are ghost-like. It is pretty cool. I am so grateful for the men and women who have served their country in the armed services so that we can enjoy the freedoms of this country.

Speaking of serving their country. This is my Uncle Bill's grave in Arlington Cemetery. He was in the Marines and served in Korea. He was a career soldier and made it to the rank of Brigadier General (I believe). I was glad he was buried in Arlington so that we could drive our car to check out his grave and then drive to the other sites in the Cemetery. While we were there we went to pay our respects to President John F. Kennedy and check to see if the eternal flame was still burning. It was!

My favorite thing in Arlington is to see the changing of the guards at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. It is such an impressive sight to see the Marines and their precision and the honor they show.

We timed it just right. While we were there some school groups had come to put wreaths at the grave and it was fun to see the ceremony that went along with that. Also there were a lot of veterans in the audience. It was a pretty awesome and touching experience.

We did not do the Mount Vernon tour. I kind of would have liked to have done it again but we didn't. We have not been back there since Wayne, Fran (my roommate), and I went back there for the bicentennial celebration.

This is Wayne's favorite place at Mount Vernon. When we were back staying with Uncle Bill and Aunt Mary, they showed us the back view of the place. They lived just up the road from here. You can always see some wildlife from this view. We saw peacocks and a deer on this visit.

One thing I had not done before is go to Roosevelt Island. It was nice to walk around the area. It is peaceful and beautiful. It is a shock to have this wooded rural area right in the center of Washington D.C. They are in the process of building a memorial to Teddy. Here is Wayne standing in front of Theodore Roosevelt, because his Dad's name is Theodore.

This was on Sunday. We went to go to church in Alexandria but no one was at the church building except another tourist couple from Utah. Apparently they were having Stake Conference some where else. So we made the loooooooong trek to the Washington D.C. Temple (only because we kept getting lost). We spent a lot of time in Georgetown trying to get to where we needed to go. It was an interesting drive.

We went to the visitors center and on our way we met this cute little lady, Sister Stubbs, who told us about a ward meeting at the church close by among many, many other things. It was the ward with all the missionary couples who have been called to work at the Temple. It was a pretty interesting ward. There were also a group of nursing students from BYU that had missed their church meeting where ever they were staying.

I am so grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ and for the freedom to worship Him as I please. I am grateful for the heroes of the Revolutionary War and our Founding Fathers for the sacrifices they have made. I am proud to be an American and a member of Christ's church established again on this earth.

Easter Came and Went!

The Evans Family held their Easter Festivities on the Saturday before Easter. We had the traditional dinner of pink chicken (ham), scalloped potatoes, rolls, salad, and of course green bean casserole and yummy deserts.


After dinner the fun began with the hunting of the eggs. Everyone got their baskets/buckets and began the search.

Checking out the picture Auntie Aubs got of the kids.

More searching

still more searching

Kayda was the winner of the Golden Egg!

Checking out the goodies.

The gang

Look at what I got!

Next came the decorating of the eggs prior to the annual Egg Bash!

Ruthie is this year's Egg Bash Winner!

Matthew getting stronger

The babies

Sesilie is getting so big

Mr. Peanut aka Orson

Cousins

Bruce or Peter or Heath, oh, it's Orson Marcus

What a little cutie and a little peanut...

5lbs. 13 oz. and 18 1/2 inches short!

Updates

Back to blogging and getting up to date. We had the two grandbabies in February and with those two new additions we decided to give the old homestead a cosmetic facelift. Afer looking at a bizillion paint samples and going back and forth and look what we came up with...almost looks the same. However, the main color is a silver/light grayish blueish white, the trim is a darker blue, but the big change is...the doors are red!
In the middle of March I got to go back to New York to help Stephanie out with her boys while Travis went to Tonga for an internship. What a great trip that was. I got to play with Collin and hold the new baby to my hearts content. It was so fun to be with Stephanie and the boys. (I will add those pitures later.)


While I was gone my wonderful husband got busy and finished up the bathroom in the basement that has been in a state of remodeling for a year and surprised me with redoing our bathroom. What a great guy I married.

New potty for my bathroom

along with new tile everywhere!

New light fixtures for the basement bathroom

and also new tile everywhere for this bathroom. How easy to clean up after little grandsons when they come to visit.