Welcome to the New Year

Welcome to the Blog for 2023. 

I saw this meme and laughed. After the last few years I need to know what we're getting into. 

We started out 2023 with a whole lot of snow. We came home from The Land and couldn't even get into our driveway. All 5 of us got to work shoveling snow, and with 5 of us it didn't take long to clear our driveway. But then we saw our neighbor a few doors down and she was trying to do her driveway all by herself, so we all headed over to her house and got her driveway done in no time. But then we saw her neighbor across the street shoveling by hand and we couldn't let her work by herself, so even though we were exhausted and dripping wet from the snow, we helped her with her driveway. I was so proud of our kids because they didn't complain about helping and were the hardest workers. 

After shoveling three driveways, we were hungry! We decided to start out the new year right with dinner at Texas Roadhouse. 

On January 2 the Utah Utes were playing in the Rose Bowl for the 2nd year in a row. We decided to have the Jones fam and my parents over to make homemade pizzas and watch the game. 

Can't get much cuter than these Utah fans. 

Unfortunately the Utes lost the Rose Bowl again, so this is our sad face. 

On the bright side I got my nails did.

We still love our Muggies and fight over who gets to hold her. 

This is kind of a funny story. Caden showed me some of the work he has been doing in school. I saw this assignment and I yelled, "Caden! How do you spell your last name?" He was like, "Um... E-V-A-N-S?" and I said, "then why did you spell it "E-V-E-N-S!"  and he said in his cute little scared voice, "Because our teacher said we only had to do the even problems." I guess that would make more sense... 

So Tyler saw this really cool, $400 Lego set that was a grand piano and he bought it. Caden and Tyler have been working on putting it together for a few months now. They work on a bag whenever they can. This piano is so cool because the keys actually move and you can set it up to your phone and it will play music while the keys move. 

Here's the finished product. This might be the coolest Lego set they have ever built. 

Oh man, this kid is as cute as they come. In the morning Caden likes to have bacon, grapefruit, and juice for breakfast. Usually he has an Eggo waffle to go with it, but this morning we had homemade banana bread. 

Brynnli has the cutest imagination. She made a store with all sorts of products we could buy. She loves when we come up to her store. 

Speaking of Caden and Brynnli. Sometimes these two are best of friends and play so well together and other times they just like to try to annoy each other until one of them comes to me crying. I'm glad I could document one of the times where they were being so cute together. 

Santa brought us mini panookie pans so that we can all have our own. Best idea ever. Now we don't have to fight over who gets more and we can all put on our favorite toppings the way we like. 

Tyler had to go out of town for a sight visit to a mine in Guererra, Mexico. He was kind of nervous about it because Mexico is kind of scary right now. He sent us a few pictures from his trip. The big hole in the mountain is the entrance to the mine. 

After his trip and the stories he told about the living conditions in Mexico, I was reminded again of why I am so grateful to live in America. We have no idea how lucky we are. 

While dad was away with work, Makayla and I went to the "Best of Utah" gymnastics meet. We had fun watching our Utes beat BYU, Utah State, and Southern Utah University. 

Grandma and Grandpa took us out for Makayla's birthday dinner. She chose Red Robin, one of her favorite restaurants. 

Terry and Craig's house is getting closer to being done. The paint is now complete and the next step is carpet and some finish work. Hopefully they will be in their house by March. 

The Utah Women's basketball team is doing so well this year. They are currently ranked in the top 10 in all of the NCAA teams. We like to go to the games and the kids always hope they can make it on the big screen. They spelled out UTAH with their light up sticks and made it on big t.v. 

Grandma Terry made it on the big screen too by flexing her big muscles. 

The kids had a day off of school, so we thought it would be fun to check out NickleCade. The kids spent hours running around playing different kinds of games. Caden really liked the pinball machines. 

The girls liked to play the games where they could win prize tickets. 

Caden and Tyler have been playing chess lately. Caden is really intrigued by the game and has been having fun learning how to play. 

We love when Grandma and Grandpa stay at our house because they play games with the kids. Who doesn't love a game of Headbands?

Remember how Caden played with the Outlaws basketball team? Remember how the team dissolved and we have been looking for another competitive team to join? Well Caden's old coach told us that his son was playing for a new team and he invited Caden to try it out and join. The new team is called Mayhem and so far Caden really likes it. His first game with the new team he got 8 rebounds... more than anyone else on his team! 

In addition to the Mayhem team, Caden is also playing Jr. Jazz. Caden's team is doing so well and ended up winning all of their games!!

Caden loved playing with his friend Johnny. They played so well together that we started calling their plays, "Evans to Orton" because they reminded us of John Stockton and Karl Malone. 

What a fun season of Jr. Jazz

Caden has so many family members to love to come out and support our #7

Kenzee and Mason had their birthday party at a fun place where the kids could learn how to paint. 

The instructor would give step by step instructions to draw the cutest puppy.

Spider man even made an appearance and Mason was so happy because he loves super heroes. 

Check out how cute everyone's paintings turned out. What I think is so cute is how unique everyone's dogs look. 

Anyone else think Tyler needs more sleep at night? He can fall asleep anywhere, but Bella is sure content to have a sleeping partner. 

Speaking of our cute dog, it was finally time to get her a haircut. She looked pretty shaggy in her before picture. 

You would almost think we got a different dog. She looks so cute with her bows in her hair. 

And how cute is Bella in her new coat? It has been so cold when we take her on walks, but now that she has a haircut, she gets even colder, so she needs her coat to help keep her warm. 

January is off to a great start!