K-Bub

Mr. Ryan

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5 Little Turkeys....

This Thanksgiving, we had the joy of having our dear friends, the Sheldon's, join us for a week. Cory and I have been best friends since we were 7 yrs. old. To think about the years we spent dreaming of the families we would someday have, made this Thanksgiving so incredibaly special.

The 5 kiddos gather for the "perfect" shot: Avery (7), Cole (4), Quiten (2), Ryan (3), and Caleb (1)




On their first day here, we bundled everyone up and headed to Peavy Aboretum for a beautiful hike.

Family time around the house.

We also treated the Sheldons to a visit to The Albany Carousel Museum where volunteers work tirelessly to create, carve, and paint solid wood carousel horses for the soon to be Albany Carousel.

We also took a day to visit Whirlwind where each of the kids took their turn for a ride....well all except Quiten and Caleb who were content to just watch.

The day before Thanksgiving, Cory and I decided to brave it alone with the kids. We loaded them all up and drove north to Salem for a day at the A.G. Gilbert Discovery Museum. The kids were fantastic and had a great time exploring all of the different fun things to do!

Meanwhile, the men folk headed ontheir own adventure to hike Iron Mountain.

On Thansgiving day, the dadies took the kids outside for a chance to ride bikes together. They had an absolute blast - what a fun day!

The Dynamic Duo

So apparently I was further behind on the blog than I realized! Even though it is now half way through January, here are some pix to help you relive the crisp days of fall. For those of you who have never experienced fall in the Williamette Valley - the colors are spectacular!

Halloween for the Evans began with Ryan's first field trip ever with his pre-school class. It even included a ride on the big yellow school bus - something that was way cool in Ryan's eyes. The field trip included a trip to a local family farm where all the kids were treated to some yummy apple cider and homemade doughnuts. Then they were all loaded up for a hay ride out to the pumpkin patch where each got to pick his own pumpkin. Ryan of course chose the biggest (and greenest) one he could find!









The very next weekend, we visited another local farm with our church group. The kids had a blast play in the corn boxes (think sand box, but with dried corn kernals), exploring the corn maze, pumping water for the duck races, shooting ears of corn with a gun, and of course, another hay ride down to a pumpkin patch to pick their pumkins. It was a beautiful day and so fun to spend it will so many little kids.

Later that night, the four of us gathered in the garage for some pumpkin carving.











The Tuesday before Halloween, all the kids at Ryan's pre-school dressed up and went trick-or-treating to all of the high school classes.

Here, Ryan and his good friend Dorothy take off for class.

On the actual day of Halloween, with the boys eagerly dressed in the costumes , we headed downtown for an afternoon of trick-or-treating at all of the businesses. From there, we headed for the library parking garage for a carnival just for little kids. Dorothy joined us for the afternoon so that her mommy and daddy could get ready for their Halloween party.

After rushing home for some dinner and some trick-or-treating around the neighborhood, we headed to the Christie, Grady, and Dorothy's house for a fun night of halloween festivities. We had a great time as Batman, his "super-sidekick" Robbin, The Riddler, and Cat-Woman (it was the only female villian I could pull off pregnant - and that was appropriate for being around kids).