Christmas with the Evans' 2011

Dear Family and Friends,

It has come to the time of year when we like to look back at what has been and gone, and look forward to what is coming. I have tried writing this letter many times in the past few weeks, but the words just never seem to come out correctly. This year has been so full of good memories for us, and the months have just flown by. I can hardly believe that the year is almost over.

I’m feeling very… preachy… spiritual… humbled… awed… today. I’m not really sure of the word to use for it. I have been sitting within the confines of my cubicle listening to Christmas music all morning and feeling touched by the spirit and feeling my cold black heart melt a little towards this season of greed. Because, it’s not about greed at all, but it’s about our Savior.

Jesus Christ was sent to earth for me, and the angels sang of his glory and testified of him to the world, not just to some shepherds in a field. Some times I like to think that maybe, just maybe I was a part of that heavenly choir singing praises to my King, my brother, and our Father’s gift to man.

I may hate the Christmas season, and what it has grown to be. I hate the shopping and the commercialism. I hate the greedy kids and the parents that just wont say no. I hate the “I wants” and the “give me” that we hear daily. I hate the crowds and the noise and the busyness of it all...

But above all else, I love giving. I love sharing. I love seeing the smiles and wonder on the faces of the little people in my life when Santa appears, or when the Christmas story is read. I love seeing strangers smile at each other in the streets and neighbors waving. I love seeing families spending quality time together. I love the music that speaks, not just of the season, but of our Savior. I love singing hymns and carols and not caring if I’m off key. I love looking at the lights in the stillness of the night. I love watching the snow fall and how it makes the world look new. I love being reminded not only of our Savior’s birth, but also of the promise of the atonement and eternal life and families. I love that for just a little while, the majority of the world sets aside their differences and we all share in a day of peace and humbled remembrance of what gifts we have been given.

This year has gone by quickly and we have done so many great and fun things, but what stands out to us so much is that this year has been full of examples of love for us. We have been on the receiving end of so many blessings and I hope that some where we were able to reciprocate and let you know that as our friends and family that we do love you, more than I think we even understand some days.

John and I have been blessed with families with whom we value our time. For friends that love us and understand us and might was well just be part of our families as well because we love you just that much.

So instead of a travel log of what we have and haven’t done this year, instead I’d like to share with you my testimony of our Savior. He lives. He loves us. We celebrate His birth because this is a man who came for each of us. He is the greatest example. He atoned for our sins and gives us the opportunity to be forgiven. He lived his life as an example of what we can and should be. Christmas should be about HIM and not about the things we have. He asks us for our faith, our love, and our broken hearts. I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior, with all my heart I know it. If we can just follow his example and do the best we can He’ll make up the difference and we’ll be able to live with him forever. I’m grateful for the gospel in our lives and the opportunities that we have to share with others, by word and example.

May the Lord bless you in this coming year. May you always remember the love that we have for you, and know that we consider ourselves blessed because of our friendship.

Merry Everything, and Happy Always.
Love,
Liz and John Evans
2011

~*~

"This Christmas, mend a quarrel. Seek out a forgotten friend. Dismiss suspicion and replace it with trust. Write a letter. Give a soft answer. Encourage youth. Manifest your loyalty in word and deed. Keep a promise. Forgo a grudge. Forgive an enemy. Apologize. Try to understand. Examine your demands on others. Think first of someone else. Be kind. Be gentle. Laugh a little more. Express your gratitude. Welcome a stranger. Gladden the heart of a child. Take pleasure in the beauty and wonder of the earth. Speak your love and then speak it again."

~ Howard W. Hunter, "The Gifts of Christmas," Ensign, Dec 2002, 16 ~

2010 For the Evans’

It is Christmas time again, and though I know I don’t have to write a Christmas letter I actually enjoy doing it, it lets me look back on the year and see what we have done. This year, instead of mailing this out to everyone I'm just posting it here so that only the people who really want to know what's been up have to read it. So lets take a look back at some of the events of 2010:

This year has gone by so quickly. I know that is totally cliché to say, but it really has. Since 2009 has turned into the forgotten year this year and all of its adventures have seemed rather surreal. The months have come and gone and though they were filled with activities we literally look back each month and ask ourselves where did the time go.

During the year of 2010 we have had A LOT of time to spend with our families whom we love.

Back in February we went to Disneyland with a few members of the family. John and I, John’s parent’s Jerry and Lorraine, our brother-in-law Scott and his daughter Lucy, and Scott’s parents Paul and Debbie. It was such a joy to share Lucy’s first time with her and to see her excitement at meeting the Disney Characters and enjoying the rides. We had a lot of fun chasing a 3 year-old Lucy around Disneyland, but we also had a lot of fun being by ourselves in Disneyland. It seems like pre-season is always a great time to go with few lines and nice weather. It really is the happiest place on earth.

Summer came quickly and the Pears family welcomed a new member to the family when Norm and Rebecca had their first baby. A beautiful little girl named Sophie. And thus followed the months of family.

Raymond and his daughter Nicole came to visit from Tennessee, and Andrea and her brood (Mike, Andrew, Nicolas, Miah, and Mikayla) came down from Washington. They all stayed for July and most of August. The family gathering was not only for Sophie’s baby blessing, but to support our father and each other through some difficult times. Prior to Sophie’s birth we found out that Father Pears had some rather serious health problems starting with Kidney Stones, then Prostate Cancer with radiation treatments, followed by Pneumonia… and now, six months later he is finally feeling a little more like himself.

After the influx of Pears’ they all mostly went home though Nicole stayed in Utah to start her first year at BYU as a college student. Andrea’s oldest, Kenji, also popped down for a quick visit with his girlfriend Hannah and spent a week at my house, which I loved.

Also in August, Lariann’s husband Scott got remarried to a wonderful woman named Ariane. Ariane and I both served in the Washington DC South mission so I already knew and loved her before she joined the family. Now Lucy has a new mom and we have a new member of the family to get to know.

Other additions to the family this year include Ryan who belongs to Liz’s brother Keith and his wife Rachel, he was born in September. John’s brother Jared and his wife Julaine had another little girl named Brooklyn not to long before Thanksgiving.

The only other trip we went on this year was to St. George for Thanksgiving where we were able to spend time with John’s oldest siblings, Scot and Heidi , and Kristin and Scott and their family.

It has been a good year for us. We are thankful every day for our families and our friends who love us so much. We have been blessed with jobs and a home and those things that we need to get by. We may not be rolling in the dough or living in a house boat off a beach in Hawaii, but we have what we need, and thankfully we have those we love.

May you be blessed this holiday season and throughout the coming year. Please know that we love you, and remember the true reason for celebrating this season is Christ and his love for us all. Happy Christmas!

Love always,

Liz and John Evans

Christmas List Addendum

I know, I know... I'm expensive for Christmas this year. I don't really expect to get anything for Christmas this year I just wanted to throw this out there too, this is something John and I have have wanted for a while now.

~*~

 

Celestron 21045 114mm Equatorial PowerSeeker Telescope

 

$104.83 at Amazon.com

 

and...

 

Celestron NexImage Solar System Imager

$91.79 at Amazon.com

it's early, but....

This is what I want for Christmas this year:

 

KitchenAid® 5-Quart Artisan™ Stand Mixer

$299.99 at Bed Bath and Beyond or Bedbathandbeyond.com

(if not pink then I'll accept red)

 

~*~

 

Sharp CD-DK891N

Mini system with iPod cradle/radio/5xCD/MP3/dual cassette

 

$162.02 at Colamco.com

 

~*~

 

5-Piece Curved Rectangular TV Tray Set

 

69.00 at Wal-Mart or Walmart.com

 

~*~

 

Or...

 

Matching Recliners

$399.99 each at R.C. Willey

(One for Me and one for John)

(if you can find these in Red microfiber that would be super)

 

~*~

 

Or... above all else:

 

Sleep Number® Classic Series c2 Queen bed

Too Much $$

 

Just in case...

If you didn't get a card from us this year:

It’s Christmas Time....

Which means it’s time for me to struggle through another one of these Christmas letters that may or may not get sent out again this year.
2007 started of with a bang... literally. We got in a car accident on New Years weekend totaling out our Mazda Protégé that we’d had for a little over 2 years (which was a record for us.) Which forced us to spend the first few weeks of the New Year searching for a new car. We ended up buying a 2006 “superman blue” Ford Focus whom we have named “Kal-El” in honor of it’s coloring. We have really enjoyed having this car, but as our luck would have it we got into another accident on November 20, 2007.
So the month of January was very busy with buying a car and then there was my 28th birthday and our 5th Anniversary and then it was on to February where we celebrated John’s 27th birthday.
During February we started our “Year of Road Trip Fun 2007.” Mid-February we drove the Pears parents to Elko Nevada for my cousin’s wedding. (Road trip #1) Neither of us had ever been to Elko so that was a first for both of us. Elko is a strip of casinos and then a bunch of houses. Made me wonder where everyone worked unless of course everyone worked at the casinos.
The end of February brought the pièce de résistance our trip to Disneyland! (Road trip #2) We went on this trip with our friends Bryce and Jennie and we all had a blast! We had purchased the Southern California Pass which gave us one day at Sea World, one day at Universal Studios, one day at the San Diego Zoo and three days in Disneyland. It was well worth the money, and with the pass it was less expensive then doing them all separately. The other places were great to visit, but Disneyland was AWESOME! John had been a few times before, but I had never been so this was all new and wonderful to me. We had a great time. (By the way, I am taller then Mickey Mouse.)
In March we drove out to Boise and back to help out a friend and chalked that up to another road trip for John and Liz. (Road trip #3)
July was a busy month for us. The first few weeks in July we had Andrea’s family down from Washington State to do some remodeling on our living room. They ripped out the walls, ceiling and carpet to redo everything. The entire remodel took 2 weeks, but it took another month on top of that to get the carpet installed.
Andrea’s family left July 15th while John and I took a trip to St. George for the nephew Nick’s farewell. (Road trip #4) Nick was called to serve his Mission to Anchorage Alaska.
The nieces and nephew from Tennessee came out to visit for the month of July as well arriving July 5th and were later joined by Ray & Kim at the end of the month. It was nice to see them since it had been a while since they had all come to visit. They left the second week of August.
August 6th I started a new job. Leaving CompHealth Credentialing where I had spent the last 4 ½ years to move to greener pastures working with Coventry Health Care in their credentialing department. It was a hard choice to leave, but it’s been a good change. So far in my employment with Coventry I have been recognized by the managers as a hard worker and within my first few weeks I was made Plan Lead over the Coventry Health Plans in Oklahoma which has been a new challenge to me, it’s been educational to say the least.
John is still working for the Church Office Building in the Physical Facilities Department. He has been several opportunities this year to learn new things and given more responsibilities. Near the end of 2006 he was given the opportunity to do an “apprenticeship” as a boiler operator. Apprenticeship is in quotations because they wouldn’t actually give it to him as a job title and he had to do all of his studying on his own, but they would give him one day a week where he could spend all day at the Central Plant so he could learn from the other operators. He zipped through the training manual in about 6 months and on May 16th he took the Utah State Exam for Boiler Operators and passed with flying colors. This of course didn’t change anything at work and he’s still everyone’s monkey boy, but he does still spend one day a week at the Central Plant learning and waiting for an opening to be presented itself.
This letter is getting written early seeing as how it is now Mid-November and I’m hoping to get the Christmas cards out right after thanksgiving. So here is a quick overview of what we are expecting for the rest of the year.
We were planning on our final road trip of the year to Orting, Washington for Thanksgiving to see my sister and her family. (Road Trip #5) But being in our 3rd car accident in 4 years has put a damper on that and we were not able to go. But to look on the bright side this may give us the opportunity to get a new car for Christmas depending on whether or not the insurance company totals out the car we currently have or not.
December is looking jam packed from where I’m looking at my calendar. We have Christmas parties on December 1st, 4th, 22nd and one yet to be planned. I’m finally taking John to see The Forgotten Carols December 7th after threatening him with it for at least 6 years.
Here’s hoping we have a safe and accident free holiday season (ha ha ha), and to all of you – Have a Very Merry Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year!

Love Always,
Liz and John

Favorite Christmas Gift....

Well, my # 1 favorite gift is my Anastasia music box

 

But not far behind is ...

 

The brown faux fur throw blanket that was given to me by my husband.

It's wonderfully fuzzy and warm.

 

I love it, but Noranti is deathly afraid of it.

 

I don't know if she thinks it's going to eat her or what, but she will not go near it and she wont come near me if it's around. I don't think I'm really surprised by the fact that she is scared of it, I just find it extremely amusing. How can one little cat be so afraid of EVERYTHING?!

 

 

 

the day after

It's back to work again today.... I'm very tired this morning for no reason at all. I was in bed last night by 10 pm and asleep almost as soon as I closed my eyes. This morning my eyes ache though like I have been awake to long and all they want to do is close.
I'm very cold today. It's the first time since I've had my new job that I have wished that I had a blanket at my desk. My hands ache too and I'm sure that's because of the cold.
I also have the strange pain in my chest again. It's like some one has kicked me in the sternum. It hurts to move my arms and it hurts to breathe. I even have a cough back again today and I wonder if it doesn't have something to do with the changing weather that might cause the "asthma" that I may or may not have. I brought my inhaler with me just in case.
That's enough complaining out of me. Lets talk about what I got for Christmas...

I got:
Anastasia music box
Princesses (little plastic ones)
Music and Lyrics DVD
A Christmas Story DVD
13 Going on 30 CD
Lindt Chocolates
$20
$25 gift card to Build a Bear
Underwear
Pink fuzzy slippers
A sappy book (I don't remember the title)

Pre-Christmas gifts:
Bath tray
Bath pillow
iPod & cover

John got:
Far and Away DVD
Superman action figure with Kryptonite
Nightwing T-Shirt
Season 10 of StarGate SG-1
Comic Books
$20
Dove Dark Chocolates
Captain America T-Shirt
Santa Pez dispenser w/Pez
Underwear
White Dress Shirt & Tie

We got:
Chocolate Orange
Bath & Body Hand Soap
The Holy Temple book
StarDust DVD
Harry Potter DVD
Orange sticks


And an over abundance of cookies and candy from friends and neighbors.


We have yet to go over to mother's house for presents there. That is the plan for tonight but it really depends on how the snow is on the way home from work. It is supposed to snow this afternoon into tomorrow. I know their house is on our way home, but sometime when it's dark and snowy outside I'd rather just be at my own house then stuck somewhere else.

Mother's Christmas Wish for 2008....

My mother would like to have 3 new members of her family this coming year... the stipulation is that they must be human.

Question:
Is there a prize for the first to bring one home?

This made me laugh today

Merry Christmas!

it's time to go home from work

:)

Christmas Eve

It's Christmas Eve and I am at work. I don't remember there being a year since I got a real job when I didn't have to work Christmas Eve unless I had asked for it off in advance... but this year I didn't.

It doesn't even feel like Christmas Eve. I know that it is though, however I need something more. Maybe a little "Christmas Spirit", perhaps a good snow storm, or maybe a family party with Santa as the special guest who has to run because he has a lot of other presents to give out tonight.

I don't know that I will get any of this by the end of the day so instead I'm going to make a list of things about Christmas past and present that make me happy. Here I go:

Watching the red light on top of the mill and pretending that it was Rudolph

Grandma Mc's divinity & peanut brittle

Family parties on Christmas eve

Snow caves at the end of the driveway

Rainbow mouse

Pictures with Santa at Bowman's Market

Orange slices

Peanuts in my stocking that never got eaten by me

Orange Sticks

Clementine's

Watching the news reports to see where Santa was

Waking up early and plugging in the lights

Christmas lights in the dark

Driving up Angel Street & Down Gentile on the way to Grandma's to see all the Christmas lights

Staying up really late helping mom wrap presents

Watching How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Uncle Lee reciting How the Grinch stole Christmas from memory

Church only lasting an hour when the 25th is on a Sunday

The Kaysville Stake Christmas program

The little tree we had in our bed room just for me and bebo

Sister Ensign's caramel popcorn

The dress Aunt Jane made me one year and all I had to say about it was that there were no pockets. - I think it was polka dot.

Piles of presents

The year I got to be Mary in the primary program at the ward party

Cats in the Christmas Tree

Waking up really early and shaking presents

Having john wake me up at 4 or 5 am asking to open presents

Snooping

The year I had my cousin Spring's name for Christmas and I bought her a glass unicorn figure and she hugged me and thanked me for the gift I don't remember anyone else ever saying thank you for the family name presents.

Knowing all the words to Silent Night and O'Christmas Tree in German

Christmas Concerts in High School

Playing the Bells

Christmas Music in general

Do They Know it's Christmas on the record player - the long version "feed the people, stay alive"

Chipmunks Christmas record

The story of the littlest polar bear

My best friends giant and beautifully flocked Christmas tree

New Kids on the Block Funky Funky Christmas CD

Giving presents to my friends

Getting my Clifford the Big Red Dog as a gift

The little yellow kitten the oldest sister gave me once

Christmas Dances with Jordan Savage and Mark Treu

The lights on Temple Square

Christmas dresses

Laser tag

The year a box of food appeared on our doorstep

Snow on Christmas morning

Getting something you REALLY wanted

Mittens attached together by a string through your coat sleeves

Mom's fur coat

Music boxes with dancing ballerina's

Keith playing Santa at the family party

Christmas sweaters that I always stole from my dad and brothers

Sleeping on the vent with a blanket over my head

Finding the last present in the farthest corner under the tree

I bought a cover for my iPod. Isn't it so shiny.

Christmas Memories

Once upon a time the oldest sister got married on December 14th. Of course her decorations were Christmas themed so after it was all over the family ended up with A LOT of extra Christmas decorations.

The oldest getting married of course left the two younger sisters to have an entire room to ourselves. Which was great because this middle sister became my best friend over the years. Due to the over abundance of Christmas decorations we girls claimed one of the Christmas trees. It was probably only 2 ½ feet tall and we covered it in a long string of white lights as well as random little ornaments that we collected over the years it was a beautiful little tree.

Every year J. and I would buy presents for each other to be put under our little tree and they were the first presents to be opened on Christmas morning. Some times we would even open them on Christmas Eve.

I don't ever remember what was given, or what was received, but it was fun having our special tree for just the two of us.

I still have this tree. It has been renegade to the back of the closet and I'm sad to say we don't use it anymore, but each time I open the closet I see it and I remember the Christmas' with my sister in our little bedroom.

Family Christmas Party

Did anyone else notice that on the invitation it doesn't say when or where this party is supposed to be?

December 21, 2007

I didn't die on my way into work this morning.

The snow outside is terrible. This is a picture of I-215 from my office building. Where is it you ask? Good question. It's out there somewhere.

This picture really doesn't do the storm justice - it's basically whiteout conditions outside and nothing has been plowed.

Driving to work this morning was taking your life into your own hands. Thankfully we left before the rush and by the time we were pulling into SLC the radio said traffic was stopped between Layton and Bountiful which is most of our commute so I think we did pretty good.

Ack!!

I scratched my new iPod... :(

I accidentally put it in the same pocket as my phone.

iPod's are cool

Right now I'm listening to MC Hammer and a moment ago I was listening to Queen....

 

Having 1,000 song to listen to makes me happy.

 

:)

My new toy. Merry Christmas to me. Now I just need one for John.

This camera has almost hit several people.

John watching an accident waiting to happen.

The conference center has 21,000 seats.