Oh, you're perfect? How nice for you...

Sometimes I feel like a week flies by and before I know it, it's Sunday again. Or, Saturday or Monday for that matter. I think that most of that comes from just trying to do the best that I can one day at a time. Everyday it seems like I have just enough energy to get through that day and only a small amount left to think about what the future will bring. The funny thing is, is I don't really like surprises. I like to know what's going on in advance and be prepared for it. But, how do you do that when you're barely making it from one day to the next? I think this trips me up sometimes and stresses me out. And I hate being stressed out and I especially hate it when people tell me I'm stressed out. Like I didn't know already. I feel like this stressed out thing is a fault of mine and I have been working on it over the years, but it's hard; It's part of who I am. But, when someone feels the need to point it out to me I feel like they think I need to know, yet again, that my stress-out way of living is a fault and needs to be fixed. Because obviously I didn't realize. I'm sorry, but after 26 years of living with myself, I think I have a pretty good idea of what I suck at and I don't need someone else constantly pointing it out to me. Are you perfect? I didn't think so. So before you start getting on me about my faults, maybe you should take a look at the things you're not so good at. And leave me alone, so that I can focus on getting through this day and onto the next. ;)

Evelyn Mei Watkins

Evelyn Mei Watkins was born on June 14, 2008. We arrived at the hospital at about 11 am and she was born at 10:58 pm. Yes, she took her sweet little time getting here. :) As you can see she was born with lots of hair and although you can't see it from this picture, a slightly smooshed nose. We named her Evelyn, after my Dad's mom and Mei is Chinese for beautiful- Ryan learned Mandarin Chinese while on his mission to Taiwan. Little Evie as we often call her, has brought much joy to our lives as we've watched her grow and learn many new things. She will be a year old in less than 2 months and it's hard to believe that much time has gone by. She's walking now, she says mama and dada (or dado), and she loves to smile, wave and say "hi" to everyone we pass in the grocery store. She truly has a sweet little spirit and we're overjoyed that Heavenly Father has trusted us with such a precious little one.

"Please watch your children"

Today Ryan, Evie and I went to the local dollar store to look for some more books for Evie. She loves, loves, loves, to be read to and we thought the dollar store might be a good place to find a few more to add to our small collection. As we were checking out the manager of the store got on the intercom thing twice asking all the parents in the store to please watch their children. What is it about people in Utah and thinking that they don't have to watch their kids?! I told the manager as we were leaving that I agree that people should watch their kids. I think it's ridiculous that people come into a store and let their children run wild all over the place. It's almost like they expect the store employees to keep an eye on their kids for them. Seriously. My store has had sooooo many Code Adams where the parent has lost track of their kid(s). I don't get it. Either the parents have a false sense of security and think that nothing bad happens in Utah county, (except remember Elizabeth Smart??) or they're not teaching their children that wondering away from them is dangerous. I really don't get it.

Well I thought I would start a blog. I figured since our little girl is doing so many new things every day it would be a fun way to keep people informed about what's going on in our lives and in the life of our little cutie bug, Evelyn.

Evie and the lid

After watching my daughter play on the floor for over 15 minutes chasing the lid to a bottle around the room, I decided that this would be something fun and cute to share with those of our family and circle of friends who live far away and wish they too could be here watching Evie play. The lid grabbed her attention after she hit it with her little hand and it rolled in a circle right back to her. She hit it again and it went to her left side, just out of her reach. She then leaned over to her side and hit the lid again and as it rolled farther away this time she assumed the crawling position and chased after her new toy. She followed the lid to the rocking chair, back over to the front door and finally to underneath her high chair. This may not seem like anything special to you but for me it was so funny to see something catch the attention of my daughter for so long who seems to have the attention of half a second most days. I guess my little Evie babe is growing up. She's been crawling since the second week of January and will probably walk soon in the coming weeks and she's just barely 8 months old. I'm glad that she has an active personality and such a sweet spirit about her.