evan, lindsay, nina, elena and esther

Evan is soooooo busy. It can make life tricky. I'm at home with Nina mostly alone for all the blow-outs, new development changes and curve balls (today she learned what the word scratch means, and I was her test dummy), new teeth, meal after meal after meal, clean-up, bathtimes, her pooping in the bathtub times, story time, etc. Evan's also gone for the amazing moments when you realize she understands and has understood what you've been repeating to her day after day, or when she's dancing (like 10 times a day), or when she practices kissing on you, practices words (thank you, doggy, kaysi), or mimics you doing something that you thought was beyond her. There's barely enough time to catch each other up and I've had to learn to be a better communicator. It can be hard having less flexibility in terms of me-time. He's even on campus all day from 7 AM till 9:30 PM two days a week.

But then I stop and think about all that he DOES with his time. he is really productive. Amazingly productive.

There's a lot that Evan makes in his day to day graphic design work/school routine. Probably enough to fill almost two people's lives with work. (he works so hard) But in addition to that he's also a dad and a husband (and a friend, son, cousin, brother, ward member, etc)

Here's what else he has been making these days besides super creative and talented design:

Dutch babies (i'm eating it as I type!!)

Saturday night, he (and I) made letterpress Valentines (in the mail)

He wrote nice notes on a lot of them for our loved ones.

Awesome impressions of eagles and monkeys.

On Sunday Evan made chicken and dumplings. FROM SCRATCH. (he made the chicken stock and everything. He has a weekend cooking ritual. Mandated by me :)

Nina happy. She smiles and gasps, and laughs every time he walks in the door.






Music time on the couch

Great whale conversation. (one of our favorite newer pastimes hahaa )

Really good strawberry gingerade (his own invention. I crave it)

Time for things like reading the scriptures, praying with us, being a boy scout assistant scout master, temple attendance, monday family night time, being a good guy. The fact that he makes time for all these is nothing short of a miracle and blessing from God.

Me HAPPY. I've been reading Guns Germs and Steel and he lets me go on and on about it. It feels super good to be learning something I'm excited about, and to have someone to share it all with who can be excited about it too. He brought me donuts on Monday. On Valentines Day he shocked me with an anthropologie skirt that I LOVE and I'm pretty sure was beyond our gift budget allotment. He encourages my creativity in ways I never knew I had the capacity for. He does yoga with me in our living room some times. He lets me be a youngest child (fetches me a glass of water almost every night, puts lotion on my feet, lets me whine. I ask for waaay more than I should)

Am I bragging too much? Let me continue...

He's been making his boss soo happy. Evan's been blessed with regular steady freelance (is that an oxy moron?) from Orton Design in Utah. His boss is such a great guy, and communicates so well to Evan. I've compiled some exerpts from his boss' emails:

Jan 29th

hey evan,
just wanted you to know how much i appreciate your efforts the last couple of weeks. it has been such a relief to have you consistent and producing really good work. please take your wife out to a movie this weekend on me. see avitar 3-d if you havent yet. just send me the receipt or add it to your invoice.
thx again,
mark

Jan 27

cool. thanks evan. i think this is a solid direction to put in the mix.
thanks so much.

Jan 22

thx for stepping up your game, evan. you have become an asset.
mo

Jan 18

it looks great, evan. i sent it on to the client.
start on the ads in the morning.
thank you for being dependable and solid. what a great thing.
thx
mo

Jan 15

looks great, evan.
thank you for your work on this.

Jan 14

looks great, evan. right on brand. a couple of little things not even worth mentioning at this time.
thank you so much. i feel very comfortable where its going so far.


The encouragement has continued. I just haven't been stalking his email as much :)



Yes, I sometimes feel alone or that things can be lopsided for me. True, I can't WAIT for him to graduate and move on to a new stage (July!) with a different schedule. I admit I get antsy, feel snow-trapped in a basement in rexburg and can be a control freak. I've been waiting for Evan to remove a rag from the shower for a month now, and I feel irritated at myself that his scattered socks irritate me. But, really - I can't complain about changes and challenges I'm facing with momhood. How could I complain when I'm really not doing this alone? We're happy healthy and making the most of everything in the best way we can. It's not perfect, but in a way it is. It's ours.
I love you Evan


(besides, who wouldn't want to be joined at the hip with this munchkin?)