{august 2017}

We had a fun month full of visitors and Evelyn's 2nd birthday!!

We went to Pullen Park with friends and then again a few days later with Uncle Nate and Aunt Hayley!

Love our family bike rides!

My brother Nate and sis-in-law Hayley drove down from Ohio to spend a weekend with us! It was so fun. Of course, we had to introduce them to the one and only, Dames (chicken and waffles).

We found a European bakery in Durham that was actually quite authentic. Nate served his mission in Germany and Travis in Switzerland and France, so it was a fun place to try out!

We went to Bennette Place in Durham---the site of one of the largest surrenderings of confederate forces in the Civil War. 

Ev-the queen of leaving her shoes at the park and being lost for a couple days. 

Ready for kid party at a friend's house hours early!

We sold our piano! It opens up the room a lot and I'm glad we won't have to deal with moving it in a few months.

Ev turned 2 on August 12th! She brings so much joy, light, and laughs to our family. For a few months now, she's been able to say everything and anything and it is so, so entertaining to hear the thoughts in her little brain. She'll ramble off coherent paragraphs to us and sing songs. She is so funny! She loves Jake and is mostly obsessed with Chick-fil-A. 

Evelyn is obsessed with birthdays, so her's was the best thing that happened to her. She wore party hats for way too long, leaving red creases on her neck. She's obsessed.

One of her favorite lunches: taquitos

First stop: Petco to look at cats. Her birthday was a day of luck for a couple reasons, the first being that they let us hold and pet one of the cats!

The second stroke of luck came at Chick-fil-A. She LOVES the cow that dresses up for cow day. Other than that day, the cow only makes an appearance maybe once or twice in a year. She talked all week leading up to her birthday about giving the cow a high-five. I was nervous she would be disappointed because I knew the cow wouldn't be there. Well, we walked in and lo and behold there was the cow. With a party hat on. It was crazy!! Someone else had rented out a space for a birthday party there. Evelyn was in heaven to say the least and of course thought it was all for her. #momwin

Jake falls asleep during the day in random places now that he fights a nap.

She wore a party hat for about an hour once a few days after her birthday.

the solar eclipse! The street lights came on and we heard crickets. 

A couple months ago Travis told me his crazy idea to bike the length of the Outerbanks island with the Young Men in the ward. Well, after months of early morning training sessions, they did it! They drove down Monday morning, biked in the afternoon (talk about hot weather!), then camped that night. The next day they biked all day, then drove home that evening. Everything went smooth minus Travis coming home with over 100 mosquito bites! So proud of these guys! I love Trav's desire to connect with the young men and set goals and accomplish them together. 

One of Jake's many magformer creations.

Ev's into putting her blanket over her head these days. Too funny!

Uncle Rick came to town for some meetings! The kids loved playing him with! 

We had an episode of pinworms in our house. It was nuts! Jake woke up two nights in a row in a lot of pain, saying his bum hurt. Well, come to find out it was pinworms. Thankfully medicine zapped them away and I had to wash EVERYTHING in the house. But it was a long night to say the least. 

First french braids!!

Going out to play soccer before the season starts!