Can I Have a Dog?

A couple weeks ago we watched Jeff and Michelle's dog Buddy for a few days. Evan really liked having him here, we all did. Ever since then, he has been asking us almost every day, "can I have a dog." :) It's pretty cute. Last night we told him that once he is potty trained, can buy dog food, can provide a bed, can pooper scoop, oh and buy his own dog, etc., that he could have one. I'm pretty sure we'll get one before all that. Maybe we'll hold out on the potty training. We don't want to be "house training" 2 at once... Anyway, I think Evan is wearing Gary down. We'll see what happens!

Broken

Today Evan told Jeanne he couldn't go potty because his ..... was broken. :) He was able to go just fine when he got home, so I guess there's nothing wrong with him. Oh the things Evan thinks of. It's pretty funny.

Huckleberries

Huckleberries are for sale all over up here. I'm not sure how the hourly rate works out once you drive to the mountains, pick the tiny berries, drive home, clean them and bag them, but I'm glad some people are willing to do this because then I can buy some! My Aunt Annette and some of her kids are picking hucks for sale this year. Yesterday I bought a gallon from her and they are just perfect!

It's hard to decide what to do with huckleberries. If you freeze them, you can put them in cobbler, pie, pancakes, smoothies, etc. Or, you can process them and make pie filling, syrup or jam. You have to use more all at once if you do it this way, but they actually probably last longer if you do. I decided to make one batch of jam this morning and am still debating what to do with the rest of the bag. There are pictures on the picture blog of my final product. It turned out VERY yummy!

I Need a Vacuum

Yesterday Evan was out in the living room with a baggie of animal crackers when I heard him say, I made a mess. I didn't think much of this, even though he said it several times, because he says that a lot and it could just mean that he has a crumb on his finger... :) But then I heard him say, I need a vacuum. Huh? So I went out there and sure enough, he did need a vacuum. The animal crackers and all the crumbs from the bottom of the bag were all over the table. So, we got out the dust buster and I tried to show him how to use it, but he didn't want to be anywhere near that little red monster. Gary is the vacuum man in our house and it looks like Evan will be doing that too when he is big enough. Yipee for me!

Amazing

Today we drove by the bright red chimney sweepers truck and Evan said, "Oh my goodness, that car is amazing!"

Out of Evan's Mouth

We were on our way to Garfield Bay and Evan was just babbling away in the back seat, then we hear him say, "Oh man, I forgot my phone!"

I was working on my computer and Evan was trying to get me to hold one of his toys. I kind of pushed his hand away and said, not now. He said, "Mommy, be patient."

Evan had his bike turned over upside down and was studying the wheels. I asked him what he was doing. He said, "I was wondering how it was working."

We were on our way to WalMart this morning and Evan says, "Zella, don't scream. It's okay Zella." Zella is one of Evan's nursery friends.

"No way, Jose."
"Derangerous"

New Pictures Finally

I'm finally getting new pictures on the picture blog, lots of them, so check them out!

Couple More Minutes

Evan is starting to learn that he can negotiate... Whenever he is in the bath and it's time to get out, we usually say, okay, you can stay in for a couple more minutes. Well last week at the lake when I was telling him it was time to get out, he said, couple more minutes. I gave him a couple more minutes, but then of course he still freaked out when he had to get out of the water. Well a few days ago, he was playing with his new bike out on the deck and I told him it was time to come in. He said, couple more minutes. I told him okay that I would set the timer for a couple more minutes, then he needed to come right in when the dog barked...the timer we use is on Gary's phone and a dog barks when the time is up. I set the timer for 2 minutes and when the dog barked, Evan came right in the house. I was proud of him. So then bedtime rolls around and you guessed it, couple more minutes. We set the timer and the dog barked and Evan did NOT go right in his room, in fact he had a major freak out session. I guess we are still working on the art of negotiation. We'll keep trying. :)

Friends

Evan is getting to the point where he understands friends. Yesterday on the way home from Jeanne's house, he told me, Dominic is my friend, share with Dominic. It was pretty cute. This morning I was asking him about friends and he said Zella's my friend. So, his friends circle is ever expanding. Evan really likes it when I'm looking at my friends blogs and he sees pictures of his friends! We were looking at Abby's blog and he caught site of Lucy and he thought that was pretty cool and then was very excited when he saw Brigham too. It's all very fun. :)

4th of July - Mayan Gold

We had a pretty busy 4th of July weekend. On Friday we got up bright and early to get our WalMart shopping out of the way. Then I was finishing up the cake for the clickshops.com open house. The cake turned out well. I forgot to take pictures, but luckily my mom had her camera with her, so I'll get copies. On Friday afternoon Gary stayed home with Evan and I went to Garfield Bay with Mom, Kylie, William and Garrett and then Sherry, Doug, Christian, Kassidy and Grace.

On Saturday we spent the morning at home. We didn't go to any of the breakfasts for parades, which was fine with me. Maybe next year we'll take Evan to the parade. We spent a few hours at Garfield Bay in the afternoon. Evan loves the water and will stay in no matter how cold he gets. We had a floaty that he can ride in, but he is still half in the water, so we bought a little raft that he can be in the keeps him out of the water. He really liked that too. I was holding him with his life jacket on and let me let go and he floated by himself several times. He just may be swimming this year. On the way to the lake we had to stop at the gas station. We had told him we were going swimming at the lake. As I was starting the Jeep up to leave the station, he started saying, no, no, no... I told him, we have to go to the lake to go swimming. He said, the lakes right there! We were at the gas station on the end of the bridge, so sure enough, the lake was right there. It didn't make sense to Evan that we should then drive for 20 more minutes to go to the same lake. :)

Saturday night we had a bbq at Doug and Sharon's house. It was perfect. The temperature was in the 90's, but in the shade and with a slight wind, it was perfectly comfortable. It was entertaining watching everyone playing and visiting. We didn't go to any fireworks on Saturday night. We did watch the Macy's fireworks on TV. I know, not the same thing, but still pretty amazing.

Tonight we went to a fireworks show courtesy of Spencer, Greg and Justin. They purchased some cool fireworks and we all sat and watched them. We even got pop corn and carmel corn. Evan loved it! I almost went without Gary and Evan because it was way past Evan's bed time, but I'm so glad they came. At one point Evan even handed off his blue ball to Gary so he had both hands free to clap. It was pretty cute. Evan kept naming off the colors he saw and was just mesmerized the whole time. The grand finale was a firework called Mayan Gold. Evan repeated it several times as it was going off and also kept saying Mayan Gold on the way home. So, now you know if Evan says Mayan Gold, he is talking about fireworks. Next year we'll have to buy some fireworks too to add to the show.

One last thing. Tonight Evan has been counting and this is what he says...one, two, three, four, eight, nine, seven, twelve, eighteen! :)