Happy bday my beautiful daughter

Rachel was born aprx. 8 weeks premature on August 18th, 1974(prenancy ultrasounds not performed back than). She fought hard to survive her most rocky first months on this earth. Her Dad and I were tested in our faith first with her early arrival and than again with her hospitalization at 10 weeks old when she got the flu and came close to dying.


How blessed am I to have such a strong daughter whom has endured a life altering change this year with her divorce. She continues to work very hard to provide her sons with as much consistency as possible in their life's and part of that challenge is to continue residing in the only home they've known.

I hope and pray this upcoming year will bring my daughter much deserved peace and joy.


Just fyi: this is possibly the only time Rachel had her hair long enough as a child to put in pigtails because she hated having her hair brushed, barrettes or rubber bands used:) and that was the reason for short hair most of her childhood!! Now ya know....


I love you with all my heart my little miracle....

I love Cool Whip!!

We celebrated Nick's 30th several weeks ago by bringing over dinner and dessert. I had set the leftover foods on the floor in a basket(duh) and Trinity helped herself to some more dessert!! Laura calmly asked "who gave Trinny the Cool Whip?!" What a stealthy little girl since Poppy, I, Nick, Rachel, Steven nor Dylan were in the same room had not noticed:) The dogs enjoyed as much as Trinity did!
We saw her again last night and she will soon be walking, not crawling, to get to her destination:)

Our newest gift from God...Slade Russell Evans

What an incredible honor for me to be witness to the birth of our newest grandson's birth on May 23rd at 2:39pm. Slade weighed in at 9 pounds and was 21 1/12 inches long. Heather was in unbelievable control throughout the 12+ hour labor....quite a "labor of love" for sure!!

Doug remained at Heather's side the entire time and lovingly made/fed her breakfast around noon in order for her to regain her energy:)

Slade is the first Evan's boy to carry on the name and prayerfully there will be several more from Jason/Katie and Nick/Laura??!!

Craig and I could not be prouder grandparents with Slade being our #9th grandchild!! How blessed we feel...

Hollie's new sib

This weekend we adopted Abby . The adjustment has been simple thus far except for a few growls from the oldest sister when the newbie gets up close and personal. She is most likely a border collie/terrier mix and aprx 2 yrs old. She does play well with others as we know since we have already exposed her to several friends dogs over the past 2 days. She was a stray that was rescued from a shelter and is somewhat glued to us wherever we are in the house. With her long legs and torso she stands way above Hollie and we

hope she will be a great hiking companion for us:)

Our youngest gem

Craig and I spent Friday evening with Trinity and her parents....it was great to visit with all:)

At 4 months she is indeed most interactive and such a good girl(she actually fell asleep in Grammy's arms) Laura shared some photos of herself growing up and there was one of her sitting in a high chair and you would think it was Trinity...unbelievable resemblance!!! We now know that Trinity has much of her Mom's genetics, if not more, than Nick's.

Cali Trip

Our Cali Trip

This was taken during the day on Huntington beach.

Family pic '09

My boys

Mickey and Dylan

Pluto and The Shepard Boys


We had a great time in Cali for Christmas. The boys were worn out from the start.

Mom I'm sleepy

I just love this girl!


Trinity went to the dr monday and got anitbiotics she is finally feeling better, we are almost 100%

Busy Bee

Kennedy had two weeks off of Pre-School so we had to get creative with things to do. She loves Pre-school and asks when she can go back. So, in the mean time we did lots of fun things to stay busy. I took Kennedy and her best friend Olivia to the park at Freestone to ride the train and they just loved it. Olivia's dad has a job offer in Utah and it would just be devastating for Kennedy to loose Olivia. They play together everyday. But, we all know how life is and you have to do what you have to do.Christmas morning was fun for Kennedy. She is really getting into it and loves to open presents. She didn't even get anything great. We spent MAYBE $60 on her this year and she loved all her gifts. She even let us sleep until 8:00am before she wanted to open presents. Oh, the joys of a late sleeper.
Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa Kelly's was fun too. Kennedy got some great gifts but I have to say her most favorite was from Trinity aka Uncle Nick. She loves the Nurff shotgun! I can hear that thing all over the house and she hates for anyone to touch it. Its her own personal line of defense.
We made cookies too! Well we made a big mess. I just let her enjoy herself and she did just that. She ate more than we baked and made a huge mess. Thank you Doug for the central vac it sure comes in handy. Hard to believe that next year we will enjoy two children to celebrate with. Kennedy is looking forward to a brother. She asked me if she can have a sister when we are done with him. Hmmm....how do you explain that?

Douglas Allen Evans--our 3rd pumpkin

After 4+ years following Rachel's birth you were a welcomed addition to our family!! You were coddled constantly by us and your older siblings:)
You enjoyed being around people and all fell in love with you instantly because of your outgoing personality, cute smile and blonde hair!!
How blessed I am to call you my son.....

Dylan's #5

Grammy and Poppy will never forget when your Dad carried you out of delivery immediately after your birth and we were amazed how big you were, especially your hands!!

It seems impossible that was 5 years ago and you are in kindergarten already.

We love you with all our heart and only wish I was celebrating your day with you as planned. How unfortunate you had to fracture your left arm at our home last night...we feel so badly about your injury:(

Happy Birthday Doug & Dylan

Happy Birthday to the Boys! Dylan we can't believe how grown up you are. What a fun boy you are and we love you very much.Be sure to check out Doug's birthday post at Doug & Heather's blog for a special birthday wish.

Our newest angel

On Friday, September 18th at 5:10pm, Trinity Rose was born weighing 8# 9oz. Our dear Laura labored/pushed long and hard but Trinity needed to be delivered by c-section. We are most blessed to have this new angel as part of our family. Our sincere congrats to Laura and Nick whom we know will be awesome parents!! As you can see, she is a most beautiful newborn(photo taken at 3 hrs old). How blessed Poppy and I felt to be able to see her so soon after her birth.

It's your birthday shout hooray!

Happy 4th Birthday Kennedy!

Check out a special birthday post on Doug & Heather's blog

My little angel baby

My dear daughter,

Hard to imagine 35 years have gone by since your early arrival on August 18, 1974. You were such a small precious angel sent by God. Thankfully, you were a real survivor and for that I am most thankful. If I had lost you there would have been a huge void in my life forever. How blessed I am to have you as my daughter and friend:) You are a beautiful person inside and out and as your Mom that makes me most proud!!!

First Day of School for us All!!

Steven starting 3rd grade and Dylan kindergarten-

wow-they are really growing up.

My first day teaching in my own classroom!!

The brothers giving each other high fives before school-
and I heard they did it after school too!!
SUCH BROTHERS!

Monster Jam

The boys had given Bryce tickets to Monster Jam for Father's Day.

We had a really good time cheering for our favorite trucks: Grave Digger,

Maximum Destruction, Captain's Curse, etc.

I think we were the best looking family there. :)

?I do not know why this is underlining?

The Family!!!
Go Captain Curse!!


Dylan with Tom Meents(Maximum Destruction)

Steven with Dennis Anderson(Grave Digger). Steven says, "Thanks Mom
for standing in line for 2 hrs. so I could meet him."

Trinity Rose's shower

On Sunday, June 12th, we celebrated the upcoming miracle of Trinity
Rose with a baby shower. Laura chose to have it at their home and her Mom and friend, Melissa, hosted it. Our granddaughter is not lacking for anything for the first years of her life:) Nick has decorated Trinity's room beautifully with new paint and a center border per Laura's decorating ideas!! We are most ready to have a new baby become part of the family...love her already.

Happy Birthday Mom!!!

I want everyone to know that I have the best Mom in the world and today is her day!!

I love you Mom!!!

Graduation Day

My baby Dylan graduated from preschool today. I can't tell you how proud I am of him. He had to spend every day-all day long with me, but he/we did it. Congrats-Dylan!! And oh by the way, Dylan had the Greatest Teachers EVER!!

Some of Dylan's friends!!

Cooking Classes

I have to say that the boys have a really good Dad-but I'm not going to say I agree with what he is teaching them here. Cooking!!!???