In Memory Of Jack Russell Bevans

My grandfather died on Saturday, September 29, 2007. He was my father's dad. I probably knew him the least of my four grandparents, but I did love him. He and my grandma were divorced before I was born, so we didn't see him very often. In fact, I've probably seen him more in the past few years than I ever did before. I have a few memories of him from my childhood. I remember that we would visit him and he would have popcorn balls that he made for us. He liked to hunt and go shooting with my dad. I remember shopping at Kmart for clothes for him for Christmas with my mom. I remember that he needed sizes in the Big and Tall department. I remember going to his house with a basket of food at Christmas time. We would carol to him and give him the basket. It used to be forbidden to invite Grandma and Grandpa to the same event. I don't know if it really was forbidden, but I never would have dreamed of inviting Grandpa anywhere that Grandma was going to be. I do remember the make-up bag that he gave me for my high school graduation. I believe that I still have it tucked away somewhere. When I got married I decided that I was going to invite both grandparents to the reception. I didn't know if Grandpa would come, but I was excited when he did. Grandma and Grandpa were both there at the same time, and the world didn't end...it was amazing! I even had my picture taken with both of them (but not together). When my kids came along, it was important to me that they know their great-grandparents. As his health has failed the last few years, we haven't visited as often as we should, but we have tried to visit him on his birthday, Father's day, Christmas, etc. I've learned more about him. I never knew that he was a good artist or that he liked strawberry shakes (so do I). I didn't know that his mother had him get baptized into the church before he left for the war (World War II) for her peace of mind. I am sad that he is gone, but I am glad that his pain is over. When I took the older girls to see him last week, he seemed to be in a lot of pain and discomfort. I was able to tell him that I loved him, and hear him tell me that he loved me too. He is in a better place now, and he has family there to be with him. He never made it to the temple while he was on this earth, so we can do his work for him and hope that he accepts it. I am thankful that we were able to live here and have him in our lives. I never knew any of my great-grandparents, and I hope that my children realize how lucky they have been to know two of theirs. I am having them write down their memories of great-grandpa so they will remember.
Leilani wrote:
Great grandpa was skinny and nice. His name was Jack and he liked going fishing. He was happy. I made him a tie for Father's Day (the gold one in the picture above). He liked kids. He had problems. He liked company. He was a great drawer.
Emilyanne wrote:I remember visiting great-grandpa. We would bring him a treat and we would sit on his lap and listen to his stories. He was really nice. I miss him. I liked visiting him. I am sad he is dead.
Elisabeth wrote:I remember taking pictures with great-grandpa. He was happy to see us.

Who's The Fairest Of Them All?

Emilyanne is a BIG Snow White fan, and she was very excited to have this dress finally finished! I bought the material for her years ago, and finally cut a dress out for her in August. She wanted it finished by the first day of school, but I was working on finishing up another project with my sewing machine and didn't want to change the color thread until I was done (threading a sewing machine is a BIG ordeal for me). So, she asked if it could be done for school pictures (today). Grandma Bevans took pity on her and finally sewed up the dress, because she knew I wasn't going to get it done.(I am a very slow sewer) Didn't it turn out cute? She truly feels like a princess in it. Her new dream is to get her picture taken with Snow White when she is wearing this dress.

It's My Life

I am not a sports person. I do not like to watch sports on tv. I do not like to attend sporting events (if I must endure one I bring a book). I did play soccer and volleyball growing up, but not for the love of sports. I started playing soccer in grade school because I was sick of watching my brothers play. I figured it had to be better to play than watch. I continued playing on through high school, partially because I enjoyed it and it was good exercise, but also because - I admit - we practiced at the same time as the football team. I enjoyed playing volleyball in Jr. High, but was never any good at anything besides setting the ball. (In fact, I got a C+ in my volleyball class at BYU for my lack of skills) And don't get me started on my memories of my mother terrorizing me for my lack of athletic ability in softball when she was the coach of our young women's softball team. (I still maintain it is okay to run like a girl if you ARE a girl) The point of this? I avoid sports for the most part.

So, guess how I now spend my nights and weekends? Watching my children compete in their various sporting events. Gymnastics, soccer, volleyball, softball, tennis - they play them all. And I can't bring a book when it is my own child. The only sport they have stopped doing is basketball (unfortunately Alan's favorite). Don't get me wrong, I love my children and I cheer them on as any proud parent would. I just never invisioned my girls as athletes. I thought I was safe from living the life of a sports mom until a son came along. Silly me. They seem to have inheirited their daddy's love of sports. So now I just laugh at my life. Who would have thought?

SUPERSTAR !

I am a very proud mama as I write this blog today. Leilani had a gymnastic meet yesterday, and she finally won some awards. All last season she hoped and worked towards winning something, and it just never happened. After the fiasco last week when they got kicked out of their first meet without finishing competition (the gym manager had forgotten to pay the membership fees to USAG), we weren't sure how the girls would do today. They ended up doing great! It was a 12 team meet, and our team (Gymanstics Northwest) took third. Leilani placed in three out of four events (7th on bars, 5th on beam and 5th on floor) and also placed in the all around (6th with a 34.95). We were so proud, and so was she (as you can tell from the picture). I cannot describe how nervous I feel for her everytime it is her turn to compete; it is funny how you feel like you are right there doing everything with them. Alan was keeping track of her stats (they have to get 35 twice in order to move up to the next level), and had it figured that if she got an 8.45 or higher on her last event (bars) then she would make 35 for the first time. He groaned when they showed her score - 8.40 - because he knew she had missed it by .05 Oh well, there will be plenty of other meets, and she had her highest ever all around score and her highest score ever with a 9.2 on floor. Did I mention how proud we all are? If you are interested, her other two scores were 8.75 on beam and 8.6 on vault. We'll see if she can improve on vault this season. Although it wasn't her lowest score, it is her worst event. The scores are misleading, because vault is an event that people score higher on. Bars, which was her lowest score and which she placed on (they placed the top 7 on each event at this meet) is a lot harder event and has lots lower scores.

Mermaids

For Elisabeth's 4th birthday we had a Little Mermaid party. We fixed up a spot for pictures and let each of them dress up as the Little Mermaid. So, here are our Little Mermaids. We called Benjamin our King Triton

Elisabeth with her Marie

Elisabeth got this stuffed kitty for her birthday a couple of years ago, but recently she made the connection between the cat's name Marie and her middle name Marie. There was an instant bond, and now they are inseparable. She wanted me to take their picture together since she was wearing her Marie shorts. So, we borrowed Grandma's camera and had a photo shoot. It is probably good that I do not have a digital camera, because I take even more pictures with a digital than I do with my film camera. But I will go digital...as soon as I can afford the one I want. For now I will continue to borrow my parents' camera when I need to burn film on my kids.

We All Love a Parade

Early last Saturday morning we all got up for the Eugene Celebration parade. Yujin Gakuen School marches every year, and the girls love to be in the parade. So Alan, Leilani and Emilyanne went with Chris and Charlotte to the staging area of the parade to march, and my mom, Elisabeth, Benjamin, Kyle and I all went to watch and take pictures. It is an interesting parade, but it is fun to watch kids. We have a new principal this year and he actually marched in the parade with the kids. Neither of the other two principals that have been at our school have ever done that. I think he will be good for the school.

1st Day of School 2007

Well the girls have officially been in school 2 1/2 days now and they are loving it! I can't believe Emilyanne is in 2nd grade and Leilani is in 4th grade. Elisabeth doesn't start preschool for another week and 1/2, so I get her at home for a little while longer. Both girls are in Japanese homerooms this year, but they LOVE their English classes more. Emily thinks that Patrick Sensei is so funny and has fun games and activites to do. Leilani's favorite thing about Ashley Sensei's class is the rule that the kids can talk whenever the teacher isn't talking...and they get to listen to music too! They like their Japanese teachers too, but I think the Japanese classes are a little more serious. Emily was excited about making rice balls today. I'm glad we don't go back to school until after Labor Day. The weather was too nice in August to be back in the classroom. It has been in the 70's this week, so it is more like fall. Alan has been much more willing to do yard work in this weather, and he has almost got all the ivy removed from our fence. It always amazes me how much older the girls look on the first day of school each year. They are so cute (but I admit I am biased!).

Labor Day Pictures

More Labor Day Pictures

The Oregon Coast

Our family loves to go to the beach. (Ok, Alan tolerates it and the rest of us love it!) The kids love to play in the sand and run in the waves. The problem is that the water is so cold here in Oregon. When we went to San Diego, California for Mark's wedding a couple of years ago, the kids were thrilled to be able to swim and play in the ocean without freezing to death. We got back to Oregon, and they had a rude awakening when they tried the same thing here. We still love the coast, though. The scenery is so pretty! And every once in a while you get a warm, windless day, which is what we experienced Labor Day weekend. The water was still cold, but the weather was warm and gorgeous. We all had a blast playing in the waves and digging in the sand.

The Last Summer Getaway

As usual, our annual Labor Day weekend camping trip to Honeyman State Park was a lot of fun. We left Friday morning and returned Monday afternoon. Although Friday was a bit cool, the rest of the weekend was warm and nice. Friday we set up camp and went to Cleowox lake. Alan played with the kids on the sand dunes and in the lake while my mom, dad and I went around with Mike and his finance Elisha to take some engagement pictures. Saturday we went and played in the ocean at Heceta Head beach, and took some more engagement pictures. Sunday we went to church and had our big family home evening campfire program. Monday we hiked up the sand dunes and ran/jumped down them with the kids. We played in the sand, played games, played laser tag, and visited around the campfire. We had the whole Bevans family there except for Kari and her family and Mark and Shauna (whom we missed and hope to have with us one of these years). We really enjoy all the family and friends we spend the weekend with, and we are eagerly looking forward to next May when we can do it all again!