Ode to Rick

Husband Tag!!

1. Where did you meet your husband? Dancing at The Palace in Provo three days before school started.

2. How long did you date before you got married? 11 months.

3. How long have you been married? 21 years 81 days 3 hours 13 minutes, but who's counting?

4. What does he do that surprises you? Randomly does the laundry, makes dinner on a whim, surprises us with concert tickets - like Jason Mraz on Tuesday:)

5. What is your favorite feature of his? his cute laugh lines around his blue eyes. Especially when he smiles. Also his laugh. And his hands. Oh, and the way he used to dance while driving.

6.What is his best quality? He's absolutely hilarious and makes friends with everyone.

7. Does he have a nickname for you? Weesa or Lis

8. What is his favorite food? He's an Idaho boy - Potatoes

9. What is his favorite sport? Basketball and golf. Also, is fishing a sport?

10. When and where did you first kiss? Under the tree in front of my BYU apartment

11. What is your favorite thing to do as a couple? Go on walks, go to movies with friends, ride the scooter to dinner, watch the kids activities, have family dinners with his sisters.

12. Do you have any children? Ali (20), Tyler (17), Brooke (15), Chase (11) and a couple of fosters at any given time.

13. Does he have any hidden talents? He can juggle eggs without dropping them.

14. How old is he? 43

15. Who said I love you first? He did but I meant it first.

16. What is his favorite music? Anything that has a good beat.

17. What do you admire most about him? He's a great motivator and enthusiastic about being the best we can be. He's driven. He's so friendly.

18. What is his favorite color? Green. Probably because it's the color of the trees in the summer

19. Will he read this? hmm. Not really sure about that. i don't know if he reads this or not.

20. Who will you tag? I tag Mandy, Debbie, Jill, Marty, Tonya

Life is always changing. . .

I think I am having my share of changes this week. First of all, we transferred our foster children, Nicholas and Katelynn, yesterday to their Grandparents. That will be a good thing for them and they were excited to be going to live with them while their dad works on a few things. I still need to finish her Belle Halloween costume and get that to her (she reminded me a couple of times).

Second, I have learned that Dad and Bonnie are getting married on December 18! We are really excited for that big event. We thought Ali would be the next one in our family to get married but no. We were wrong on that one. Anyway, we all love Bonnie and her and dad make eachother so happy. What more could a proud daughter want? Roles are reversed here if you can't tell

Third, as many of you already know, we have to put Duke down tomorrow. We actually thought it was going to be today and had the appointment already set up for this morning at 9:00 but Rick had too many meetings that he had to be in top form for so we moved it to 9:30 tomorrow. All I can say about this is it's going to be crappy.

I guess that's all for now. I put this in Orange because it makes me happy and right now that's how i choose to feel in spite of Duke.

I can't sleep

I have this cute friend, Mandy, and I love to copy some of her posts. This one is funny so since I can't sleep, I figured this would kill some time while I wait for Tyler to get home.

Here's what you do: Answer the following questions. Type your answer in google images to get a picture. Whichever picture pops up first (as long as it's appropriate)... put it on your blog.. just like so:

My name is: LISA

My middle name is: CHRISTINE

My last name is: EVENSON

My favorite vacation spot: Italy

How old I am: 40

Where I'd like to go someday: ENGLAND

Where I grew up: Holladay, Utah

Favorite Food: Mexican, Italian, Japanese

Favorite Treat: Brownies with Ice Cream

Where I live right now: Draper, Utah

Favorite Animal: Dog, cat or horse

Favorite Color: Red & Orange

Who I'm married to: Rick

Describe hubby: Funny, hard working

What do I do for work: Mortgage Broker

Wow. Good timing. Now I'm tired AND Tyler just got home AND I'm all done.

more . . .

I wasn't done. I just had to pick up Brooke from piano and run her to the orthodontist, fix dinner, work on homework, finish working on a file and run and pick up Ali from work (she accidentally sold her car). So here's the rest of what's been happening.

We got a hot tub. (I can't believe I'm putting this picture in here) While we were sitting in here last Saturday night, Ali was skiing on the side of the house during the first snow storm of the year. The minute she heard it was going to snow, she threw the goggles on. Once there was 3 inches of snow on the ground, on went the skiis.

BROOKIE'S 15TH BIRTHDAY!!!

Before. . .

After . . .

I think Brooke had a pretty good 15th birthday. She got her braces off first thing in the morning after she had German pancakes. Then she got bagels delivered to her lunch for her and all of her friends. After school her cute friend Sarah delivered a Jamba Juice. Then it was off to the Spaghetti Factory for dinner with the family and finally she had a peach pie for her birthday dessert. All Brooke wanted for her birthday was a long board. I hope I don't regret this.

Brooke and the long board.

Rick and Nicholas (hmmm. Is that a gangster sign?)

Lisa and Katie

This is Bonnie, my Dad's cute friend. She and my Dad, who is ever present to all of the kids activities, birthdays, important events, etc., came to Brooke's birthday celebration. Poor Bonnie was thrown into our families chaos. I hope we didn't scare her away!! She's so sweet and is absolutely a darling friend for my Dad.

TIME FLIES

Seriously. Am I the only one that can't keep up? Okay, much has happened in the last couple of weeks so I'll just condense everything into a picture post and see if you can keep up with me.

This was from our family "staycation" this year. Even though it doesn't really show here what we did, I liked the pic. Look how tall Ty is getting!

This is one of the activities that we did that week. We went on a hot air balloon ride over Park City. This was on my list of things I wanted to do before I die. I was so excited I could hardly stand it and it definately met my expectations. The company that we went with is owned by my best friend, Angie, from high school so it made it even more fun to see her hubby after all these years. My Recommendation No. 1: For your next hot air balloon experience is to call Darin with http://www.morningstarballoons.com/

We've been debating since last November whether or not we should buy a boat. Finally we decided we would just rent a boat for one weekend and see how it goes. Needless to say, we had a blast. However, it was very cold. Only the bravest of the brave got out in the cold water and wind, Rick, Tyler, Ali, Brooke, Chase and our cute nephew Spencer. So, that leaves me as the unbrave. . . No, I was just in charge of making sure everyone had towels and food and such. Also, I had to drive for Rick when he got out there! I would have been in the water if it had been 90 degrees and glass.

Recommendation no. 2 - rent a boat rather than buy one. No storage, no insurance payments, easy to just pick it up and drop it off!

This is Chase on the wakeboard.

Brookie showing that she's really no guts no glory.

Watch Chase in the background

My studly 17 year old Ty James. Nice hair Ty.

First date of school for Brooke (9th grade) and Chase (6th grade). Ty (senior) left too early for me to get his pic.

Every morning Emma (Brooke's crazy cat) goes downstairs to my craft room, opens the closet door, pulls out (with her teeth) a pipe cleaner, brings it upstairs and plays around with it for awhile. Then we noticed one day that she goes over to the oven and throws it under the oven when she is done playing with it. So the other morning I decided to see how many pipe cleaners were under the oven. There were 26. She wasn't very happy that the gig was up.

Recommendation No. 3: check under your oven if you have a cat. You never know what you will find.

These are our latest foster kids, Nicholas (8) and Katelynn (6). Lots of high energy!!!! But cute just the same.

Recommendation No. 4: Everyone should foster at least once in their life. You learn a lot about yourself and what your family is capable of.

Ali and I went to the Reba McIntyre concert last Friday. We had such a good time together.

Recommendation No. ?: Enjoy your kids at all stages because before you know it they are all grown up!!!!!!

That's my boy

(warning, this is a little long)

Today Ali and I took Chase down to an audition to what we thought was going to be a respectable audition for a TV show. You may have heard about it on the radio. Ali and Brooke thought it would be great for Chase to audition since his true passion is acting and singing and he's such a natural. So Ali pretended to be me and called in and schedule a time for him. We were told to go down to the Hilton at 7:15 and that his time slot was 8:00. Ali even asked them if this was like John Robert Power's acting school and was told no. Wrong. It was an audition for two things. One was an audition in front of a talent scout for a new tv show. He's looking for one kid. They let 700 kids audition. The main one was ACT Talent School with a tuition of $9900/year. There was a lot of hype and excitement and music and the whole time I wanted to stand up and yell at Miss Hollywood and say, "You deceived all of us! Do any of us look like we can affort $9900 for our little children to go to your school?! I don't think so!" However, I didn't. Chase was so excited for his chance at stardom I couldn't possibly burst his bubble. Then the lady started in on how much work it is to be a child actor and they have to miss out on school and holidays and birthday parties and normal kid things. Chase didn't hear any of it. He was too excited and nervous. Finally the lady sat down and let the kids start to show their stuff.

When all is said and done, Chase was probably looked at for 5 seconds. The "interview" consisted of:

Typical LA guy (we'll call him Him): What's your name?
Chase: Chase Evenson
Him: How old are you?
Chase: 11 years old
Him: On a scale of 1-10 how much do you want to act?
Chase: 10 for sure
Him: Have you ever thought of modeling because you have a great look.
Chase: No. Just acting
Him: (to me as he points to the tuition page ranging from $2000 to $10000) Mom, are you willing to spend this kind of money to help your son fulfill his dream? ( I wanted to smack the imbecile)
Me: Um what?
Him: Do you see any prices here that you could affort for tuition?
Me: Oh, yes. i can afford this one (point at $2000)
Him: Great. and are you willing to spend the time to help your son fulfill his dream?
Me: Of course (dough head as my mom used to say to stupid people)

Then Chase had to read a two liner pop tarts reading in front of the manager guy who looked like he really could care less about being there. Then we were done.

On the way home Chase said, "Mom if I feel great about how I did tonight, then why do I have such a horrible feeling in my stomach?" I said, "that's the spirit telling you that what you just tried out for isn't right". We went on to have a long discussion about the things in our lives that we think are going to be amazing experiences and when it comes down to the actual experience, it may not be everything that we wanted it to be because Heavenly Father has different plans for us. Tomorrow morning I am supposed to call the place and find out if he made it for callbacks to their school. (Of course he did.) Chase told me that if he did make it, to tell them no. It's not the right thing for him becuase he still wants to serve a mission and stay with his family on Christmas.

That's my boy.

MEMORIES

So, I am a CRAZY sentimental freak-- I saw this on Mandy Woodhouse's blog and decided totally copy her. What a cute idea! I'm very curious to hear some of your favorite memories-- here's what you do:Here are the directions:1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you.It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments (or I'll email it to you)

Pee Wee Herman

This post has nothing to do with Pee Wee Herman other than the fact that as I am typing this post, I am listening to Rick do a Pee Wee Herman imitation. It's entertaining.

The past week has been very busy. Last Friday I took the kids to the zoo - Ali, Tyler, Brooke, Chase, Marcela & Aron. My advice to you is don't go in the middle of the day. Not only is it extremely hot but the animals are also hot and sleepy. So, we saw either a lot of sleeping animals or what appeared to be empty cages because they were hiding in the shade. My thought on the zoo is have you ever thought about what a strange animal a giraffe is?

Tyler, Brooke, Chase, Ali, Aron, Marcela

Then on Saturday, we continued our 9 year tradition at attended the Draper Days Parade and the Rodeo that night. This has been one of my favorite things about living in Draper. Especially now that I don't have anything to do with the pageant or float. I love hanging out with our circle friends and the kids and just enjoying everything about the day. Everyone drives around on their four-wheelers or scooters. I have no idea where the police go for the day because it seems that there are none to be found.

The kids anxiously awaiting the candy. Forget about the floats and marching bands!

Finally, yesterday was a sad day. We had to say goodbye to our cute little Marcela and Aron. We absolutely loved these children. Aron reminded me what it's like to have a 3 year old living in the house. It will take me awhile to clean all of the finger prints off the walls, counters, windows, floors, bedding, toilet - you get the point. And Marcela was the sweetest little girl who just loved to give hugs - on her terms. I wish we could see where they will be in 10 years. Would be interesting. But they are the reason why we do shelter care.

Marcela (Aron is throwing one of his silent fits - so funny)
Aron

Catchin' up again

THE BIG 40

My birthday present from Rick for my 29th, I mean 40th, birthday! Yes, I turned 40 this year but riding my scooter I feel like a kid again. I love my scooter!!!! Plus I am being economically frugal and smart. (Yes, Dad, I do wear my helmet most everywhere) My favorite outing was when I went over the mountain by way of Suncrest and visited Debbie and Jill in Lehi.

THE BIG DUKE

Duke Evenson of Draper. 9 1/2 years old, 120 pounds, probably 6 ft tall if he was a person walking around on his back legs. He's only eaten a couple of leashes, pulled out some of the neighbors trees and don't leave your shoes in our yard because they will become his chew toys. We feel bad that he probably has never tasted any of the steak we have given him because he eats it all whole. Rick decided that it was time for his annual bath in the kiddie pool. As you can see, Duke is very happy about this. Actually what he's thinking is, "Mom, please put the camera away. Can't you let a dog have his dignity and privacy while he's bathing?"

4th of July in Snowbird
We love these children!!! Almost three weeks ago Marcella (6) and Aron (3) came to stay with us, thus the reason for the blog title sixormore. They are the sweetest children and we have all fallen in love with them. They LOVE hugging us. And Aron is probably the most accident prone child I have ever seen. They are supposed to come to be safe at our house and we have already had to take him to the emergency room to get four stitches in his lip from a little scooter mishap. (No, we were not letting him ride on it) We've decided there is so much to learn from a little three year old foster boy, like how important it is to give as many hugs and kisses as you can in one day and how important that makes people feel. However, there are some Spanish swear words that he is also trying to teach us which is not so good.

This is after Aron was running down a hill at Snowbird and we kept yelling "slow down Aron! You're going to fall!" Sure enough . . . It's one of the funniest things to watch his little legs going faster and faster than his upper body. . . then down he goes.

This video was one of 10 videos of Chase riding the bull. The guy operating the bull started him out slow, real slow, thinking "this kid is going to be easy to knock off." Then after about 2 minutes, he sped it up, still couldn't get him off. Finally this video was after about three and a half minutes of Chase showing his cowboy roots. Maybe there's a future in this for him. On second thought, I hope not.

DAVID ARCHULETTA AT THE AMERICAN IDOL CONCERT

PROPS TO RICK!!!!

Gotta Love Rick and thanks to Craig Martin! Because of Rick and his friend Craig, we were able to go to the American Idol Tour concert Tuesday night. The whole experience was so fun all the way from the inviting of people, my favorite being Chase's friend, Kaitlyn Neff, to hearing the girls' ear piercing screams when David Archuletta come out. They say that he had to use two ear buds because he couldn't hear himself over all of the screaming. I love going to concerts!

ALI AND REBECCA

DAN AND RICK (I know, Rick looks a little odd here but that is Rootbeer only!!!)

Debbie was a little star struck all night long.

BROOKE AND SUMMER

CHASE AND KAITLYN (SHE NEARLY BLEW MY EARDRUM WHEN I TOLD HER SHE WAS GOING WITH US) ((THEY ARE ONLY A YEAR APART)) (((JUST WAIT TILL CHASE STARTS TO GROW!)))

DEBBIE (ON HER ANNIVERSARY NIGHT, THANKS MATT!), JILL, ME, MARTY

TY AND BAILEY

DAN, HEATHER AND DANE EVANS

I thought this was hilarious. Summer was taking a picture of David on her phone through the binoculars.

RICK AND ME

BY THE END OF THE NIGHT, SOME JUST COULDN'T KEEP UP WITH OTHERS.
WHAT A FUN NIGHT!!!