101 things we did on our vacation this summer…

1. Left Round Rock on Thursday, June 19, and drove 12 hours to Bernalillo, NM on the first day.
2. Day two - drove to Four Corners Monument and stood in four states at one time, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona.

3. We took a hike on the desert lands in search of a rattler, but only found huge ants, a large lizard, and a jack rabbit. 4. Arrived in Salt Lake City after watching several new movies (Enchanted and Bee Movie were favorites)!
5. Huy and Tanner cheered on Aaron, Jeff and Micah in their triathlon at Utah Lake.
6. We helped celebrate Luke’s 1st birthday at Aunt Linh and Uncle Mark’s house in Kaysville.
7. Helped make a cow cake for Luke. 8. Luke chose a Dell mouse for his future career. (It's a Vietnamese tradition to pick an object from a bunch of items to determine your career path!)
9. Enjoyed tons of yummy foods.
10. And good times with the family!
11. Huy and Kim went to church with Linh and her family (Huy’s sister).
12. Tanner went to BYU’s non-contact football camp with his buddies Connor, Spencer, Lucas, and Micah and his cousins Rawson and Davis. 13. He received Bronco Mendenhall’s autograph on his camp shirt.
14. Huy got one too on his cell phone, but then it rubbed off! 15. Rawson and Davis spent the night. 16. Sarah and Lucas spent the night. 17. Connor and Spencer spent the night.
18. Gave Connor and Spencer and Tanner buzz cuts.
19. Huy met up with his buddies from High School (Jaime and Marc).
20. And we had dinner with Adam (mission companion he hadn’t seen in 12 years) and his family. 21. Taylin went to a Travis Hansen basketball camp with her good friend Sarah Ricks. 22. She took 1st place in the three-on-three competition.
23. Tanner went to the Travis Hansen basketball camp with his friends Connor, Spencer, Lucas, and Micah.
24. They were an undefeated team through the camp. 25. He received the hustle award.
26. And the shootout award (Connor came in second).
27. We hung out with our friends (Ricks, Stocks, Engelkes), who were also visiting Utah for the camps, up Provo Canyon at South Fork Park. 28. We played a great game of Ultimate Frisbee.
29. We ate hot dogs. 30. And roasted marshmallows for Smores. Yum!
31. We had leaf races.
32. The kids played in the freezing cold river.
33. Huy created a huge bonfire with all the wood he bought. 34. We had a super-great time with everyone!!
35. Went shopping at the outlets in Park City on our way to Midway.
36. Had the car washed.
37. Arrived at Zermatt Resort and prepared for some relaxation with Huy’s parents and his sister and her family. 38. We played shuffleboard.
39. Huy and Tanner played ping pong.
40. We played miniature golf (and some did push-ups when they lost their own games). 41. We saw several craters.42. We went inside one that people swim in (below). Maybe we will actually swim in it next time.

43. Linh served us a yummy breakfast with some blueberry pancakes. Yum!
44. We went swimming several times.
45. We enjoyed the hot tubs most.

46. We rode a short ride on the carousel for $2. Fun, but rip off!

47. We hung out in the nice condo and relaxed. Great, great, great times!

48. Drove to Grace, ID.
49. Ate ice cream at Gossner’s Cheese Factory at 9am.
50. Saw Grandma and Grandpa’s new property in Grace (view from their soon-to-be kitchen window).

51. Huy fought a raccoon to a draw (all I can say is that it ended in a lot of screaming).
52. Huy threw a frisbee for Grandpa’s dog, Buck, to catch. Out of 150 acres, it landed in a 7 foot hole that he didn’t know was there.
53. They fished the frisbee out before Buck could jump in after it!
54. The kids and Buck cooled off in the stream.

55. It was a short visit, but worth it, hence Taylin's excitement.

56. Ate another ice cream at Gossner’s at 2pm on our way back to Farmington.

57. Huy says it’s THE BEST ICE CREAM HE HAS EVER HAD!
58. Celebrated Aunt Tammy and cousin Layton’s birthdays at Chuck-A-Rama’s with Aunt Jennifer, Marlee, Rawson and Layton, Davis, Aunt Tammy and Megan, and Grandma.

59. Sang Happy Birthday and had cake and Creamies for dessert.
60. The cousins worked on their “fort” in the bushes at Grandma’s.
61. Drove through 5 canyons during our three week stay – Spanish Fork, Provo, Sardine, Parley, and Weber.
62. Went through several homes on the Parade of Homes tour with my parents and my sister Tammy (my mom is getting ideas for her new home).
63. On the 4th of July we had breakfast with Huy’s parents.
64. Evans Family Reunion began - We braved Lagoon with Uncle Mark and Uncle Lance and Aunt Tammy and their families.

65. We enjoyed fairly short lines.
66. And lots of fun rides!
67. We got super wet – and not just at the water park.
68. A delicious feast was devoured that evening.
69. Sang Happy Birthday several times to all the family for each month.

70. We visited LOTS with family.
71. Played ping pong and croquet.
72. Had a fireworks show of our own before watching Lagoon's from the front lawn.
73. Watched Bee Movie on the projector, staying up way too late.
74. Kids slept in tents with their cousins, probably staying up even later.

75. Played more ping pong and croquet.
76. After some slip-n-slide.
77. And water gun fights.
78. Boys went fishing with Uncle Mark.
79. They came home with a large catfish.

80. They thought it would make a good pet in the kiddie pool.
81. Tanner took it to his grandpa to eat (died on the way and got yucky before he could be cooked.)
82. Evans Family Reunion parted ways until next year!
83. Saw Wall-E with Aunt Linh, Uncle Mark, and Noah, Nancy, Adam, Phi and Jilo.
84. Had a ton of fun at Hollywood Connection… (but I have no pictures to show for it. Where was my head that day?)
85. Rode rides and more rides.
86. Roller skated.
87. Ate pizza.
88. Played arcade games.
89. Decided to stay in Utah until Thursday, rather than leaving on Tuesday.
90. Went mall shopping with Aunt Linh and her boys.
91. Huy and Tanner went to the BYU Bookstore.
92. They played “dress-up” in the dressing room.
93. And purchased goodies for the game against TCU in October.

94. We were almost packed when we decided to stay another day.
95. We saw family one last time and said our goodbyes.

96. We drove to Durango, CO and stopped at the kids’ favorite – the fish hatchery.
97. Then we played in the river – found a fun spot to dip our feet.

98. Stayed the night in Santa Rosa, NM.
99. Watched more movies (Nancy Drew was the hit on the ride home).
100. Arrived home to find all things well while we were away!

And the 101 thing we did in on our vacation is…
We had a super fun, and a bit busy, time making memories with family and friends for our 2008 summer vacation! Thanks everybody!!

P.S. It takes a long time to write 101 things and get it ready to post (and I've given up on the spacing being right) so... sorry for the long time it took me to share about our vacation. But I think this pretty much says it all!

Introducing...
N I K E

We have a baby again! The kids are super excited. They have been asking for ummmm, four years now. I finally gave in and Huy has always been on board. Taylin said that now she can cross off everything on her want list! And Tanner says that a puppy is better than a baby because we can play with him right away. Kaylie just asked every morning until we could go pick him up if today was the day.

After going on several shopping trips to gather all the items a puppy needs, we picked him up on Friday, the 18th, near San Antonio. He was one of nine siblings - he had six sisters and two brothers. His mom's name is Junebug and the dad's name is Tuffy. Now his mom is me, and his dad is Huy and he has one brother and two sisters. He is one spoiled dog!

The first two days have been fun! Huy slept on the floor with him the first night and was up most every hour, but by the second night, he only was up three times. We are so proud of him! (I never thought I would talk about a dog as if he were my baby! Listen to me now! Aghh.) He is darn cute though, wouldn't you say? Who agrees?

the big E I G H T

Taylin celebrated a very special 8th birthday this year. She turned 8 and was baptized on the same day, June 7th! It was super special too because of all the great family and friends that came to be apart of it. Ong Noi and Ba Noi (Huy's parents) came from Salt Lake City, Grandma and Grandpa came from Nevada, the Clarks came from Fort Worth, and then her friends the Walkers, the Giles, the Colquitts, the Allens, the Simmons, her Primary teachers Brother Ornales and Brother Kloft, were all there! (All of her aunts and uncles and their families would have loved to have been there too if they didn't live quite so far away.)

At the baptism, she was so beautiful in her white dress and she did so very well. She had practiced how to be baptized in the pool the week before so she knew what to expect and sure enough, she only had to do it one time. Phew. After her baptism, she played her recital piece on the piano for the closing song and I must say, it was the best she had ever played it. She took her time and played with such emotion it made me cry, for like the fifth time that day. We are so proud of her for making the decision to be baptized. She is such a blessing and joy in our family. We love you dearly Taylin. Congratulations!

Family and friends came over for lunch afterwards and then we sang "Happy Birthday" to her before having some cake. She recieved lots of fun presents. She got blendy pens, journals and diaries and paper and pens, a soccer bag, a DS Lite with a Big Brain Academy game, clothes, Crocs, necklaces, and 8 white roses (her first time receiving flowers - she liked that).

Thank you everyone for all the support and help! You're awesome!

my two fast frogs

Check them out. They had a great season this year. They both improved their times on every event they participated in in both meets - Taylin finishing with a5+ second improvement on her freestyle, coming in 5th overall in her age group and improving on her fly by 4+ seconds. She is in the 7-8 year old age group so she swims as a seven year old, but turns 8 during the season which is a great advantage she will have as she keeps swimming.

Tanner moved over to the training pool this year and in the last meet, he swam the Individual Medley which is where you swim one length of the pool in every stroke (fly, back, breast, free) and it was his first time doing it this year and he took first place! Huge accomplishment! He also steadily improved in each of his strokes as well.

They both have been very dedicated to making practice everyday after school until it was out and then every morning at 7:45 am and 8:15 am. It is a big commitment and they have done wonderfully at it! We are proud parents. Can you tell?

Last day of school

Taylin had a great year in 2nd grade. She loved her sweet teacher, Mrs. Young. She made some great friends and learned tons. She is one smart cookie. She grew probably three inches, got glasses and braces, cut her hair and started growing it out again, she's excelled in soccer and basketball, and is one great daughter! So proud of her! On to 3rd grade!!

(This is Taylin with her friend Kassadi and others.)

Tanner has been promoted to the 5th grade. Ahhh. 5th grade. Can't believe it! He had a great year in 4th grade - made some adjustments and learned a lot about responsibility. He was on A Honor Roll several times and A-B a few times. He did awesome on his TAKS test! He is well liked and was happy to have his good friend Connor in his class. He too grew about three inches, went from a shoe size 3 to 6, played flag football for several seasons and basketball. We are proud of him!

(Tanner with his teacher, Mrs. Guthrie.)

(This is Connor!)

Creative Movement

This is our pretty little girl going to her first dance recital, May 24, 2008. She reluctantly let me put make-up on her, but she was excited to wear the costume, as long as it wasn't itchy! She did a great job. It was quite entertaining to watch - she made us laugh as she practically ran off the stage at the end. She knew the dances better than I thought she did - according to what I had seen in class. I was pleased and proud of course. Her ballet dance was to "Candyman" and then the tap dance was to "Stop in the Name of Love." She was so yummy!

Where does the time go???

Oh my, I'm a bit behind in my blogging, but then you know that and of course I know that. And once I get behind, it's hard to get back at it, but I am determined to get caught up before we leave on our family trip to Utah this week! AND catch up on all your posts I've missed!

Huy's SuperBowl Trip

"Okay...this has been way too long coming, but you've heard about it in chat rooms and talked about it around the water cooler at work. Now you can see the footage on your computer and enjoy what my family now talks about with reverence and great laughter."

Aaron Ricks

(Thanks Aaron for getting this available for all too enjoy! And for those of you who don't know what you are looking for... watch very carefully at the end of the video - Huy will be running an obstacle course and then he will "trip" and reappear as he crawls to the finish line!)

"I'm a piranha!"

Remember that scene from the movie Nemo? The dentist's niece, Darla, comes into the office to get her birthday present and says to her Uncle, "I'm a piranha," as she shows her mouth full of braces and then bites down as if she were going to bite something off.

Taylin has blessed us with her acting debut of the above scene as she now has braces so we get the full effect. It is very cute and so is she! She was so excited, and counted down the number of days, until she got her braces. But upon sitting in the chair, she didn't think it was as fun as she thought it would be. She did great though and was super brave.

This is her pretending to NOT want to smile.

And this is her beautiful smile now!

And this is her being silly and Kaylie wanting in on the action!

Cardboard

Setting the scene: big cardboard boxes laying around due to some redecorating going on. Huy and Kimberly on the computer doing work and probably posting some blog updates. Kids busy with markers making spaceships on the cardboard. Kimberly decides to go get a drink.

Passing by the creations, pausing to see the spaceship, glancing over to see Kaylie's to find this instead...

M: Kaylie, who is that?

K: (pointing) Mommy, Daddy, Taylin, me, and Tanner. It's our family! (stated so matter-a-factly)

Tanner and Taylin look over to see themselves.

Dad hears all the "ahhhhhs" and comes for a look.

Big hugs and kisses and more ahhhhs!

(Kaylie usually draws a lot of scribbles, which are precious, but this was the first time we had EVER seen any form of people, let alone people with features and real personality!)

Hail that's big!

Maybe that is a poor choice of wording, but that's my try at humor. Ha!

Anyway, I'm a bit behind in some blogging updates... We had a big storm on the 15th... Biggest hail I've ever seen. If you look closely at the corner of the planter, you can see white stuff that kind of looks like melting snow? No, that's the big hail. There is also a picture of the one Huy braved to get as it was coming down and pelting him. Bigger than a quarter! On the news they showed pictures of ones bigger than baseballs. Tanner woke up during it, but the girls... not a peep until we decided to bring them downstairs with us incase the tornado that was headed our way actually did come our way. It was one crazy storm.

S T E E L E R S win it again!

Playing most of the season as QB, Tanner helped lead his team to be the SuperBowl Champions once again. They had a great season, winning every regular season game and winning all three games in the Championships. He is learning great football fundamentals in flag and he is awaiting the day he gets to play tackle. (A few more years and many more pounds before I'll let that happen!)

The team also played in the Central Texas tournament and were three points away from winning that also. They had some great competition and the games were fun to watch, but in the end, the opposing Patriots (mostly just taller boys) passed the ball over the Steelers heads and came back from a 21 point deficeit to beat them. It was a tough loss, but they definately played their best! Can't ask for much more. And Tanner had an AWESOME over-the-shoulder catch that made Mom proud!

It was a great season regardless. Great job coaching by Huy and Jeff. Those boys are well coached! Congratulations to my boys!!

B L U E T H U N D E R R O C K S

It was her best season yet! Taylin was a HUGE contributor to her team, the Blue Thunder, this spring season. She learned that one must be super aggressive in soccer - it is a must. She went after that ball and gave it her all as she attacked her opponents! It was so much fun to watch her grow into a great player. She was a big scorer on the team as well. She had at least one goal in most games - remember her "hat trick?"

Congratulations on a great season Taylin!

"Merry Mountain Stream"

Taylin's Piano Recital

She brought down the house. Pretty close anyway. I was so proud of her. She had mentioned to me once, earlier in the day, that she was a little nervous, but nothing more was said. She just went up to that baby grand and showed it what to do.

Taylin's friend, Kassidy (on left), was a big support for Taylin as she came and sat through the entire two hours of other performances, just to see Taylin do her 2 minute performance. It was so nice of her to come. Also in the picture is Taylin's other friend, Logan. Logan was in her class for the last two years in school, but recently moved to Dallas, but came back to perform at the recital as well.

Did I mention I played in the recital too? I had the good fortune of playing a duet with Taylin, Colorful Sunset was our song. She has helped me to be a better player and it sure was fun practicing with her and then performing with her.

This is Taylin's teacher, Ms. Stacey. She has been a great teacher for Taylin!

Spoil me rotten day!

Honestly, I love Mother's Day! I don't know if my mother loved it as much as I do when her kids were little, but I sure hope I made her feel as happy as I feel on this day! (Mom?) I woke up to a yummy waffle with strawberries and powedered sugar and whipped cream breakfast. Taylin gave me folder full of wonderful coupons, poems, pictures, and bookmarks. Tanner gave me some coupons as well. Kaylie gave me a poem with a handprint. And all the kids gave me a charm bracelet with cute circle charms that had their names stamped in them - something I've always wanted. It was a great day at church. I didn't do a single dish or fix any meals - thanks sweetie! I took a two hour nap... so nice. The kids tried their best to not argue or fight. My family is just the best! Thanks everyone.

And Mom, I love you!

P.S. The photo is of the little craft the Activity Day girls did for their mothers. They were pretty cute and they did a great job even though it was a little challenging.

Nick Jr.com

Kaylie has a new friend... Nick Jr.com! She is learning that everyone else in the house likes to sit at the computer so she wants to also. She has learned to navigate herself fairly well to all the different games and she knows which ones she wants to play. Sometimes she can't find the ones she wants and when she asks me to help her, I'm not exactly sure what it is she wants either, and that just frustrates her. She can be a pill about it, but we end up figuring it out and she's happy again!