All kinds of treats...

This was Caroline's first Halloween, and she LOVED her costume...

Well, maybe not, but she did love delivering bags of pumpkin muffins to some of our nearby friends and neighbors... Ok, mabye not that either, but she really DID love playing in the candy her cousin Marin got from trick or treating. She played...and played...
and played... and played...until Marin decided that was enough baby slobber on her candy.
She also loved having so much family over for trick or treat...

Cousin Damon joined us for trick or treating.

Showing off her costume with her cousin Marin, the princess on a unicorn

"Can someone come get this thing off my head?"

Meeting Morgan

Picking leaves with Papa Jim

Marin heard it was time for Caroline to eat and handed her a hot dog.

Caroline thought that sounded a lot better than pureed chicken and peas.

And our newest little pumpkin, Rylan

Remembering Evan

Today marks three years since my brother died. I want Evan's memory to be as real as possible to Caroline so here's a little "remembering" for her... Evan and Grandpa plowing in the garden. I like to think there is a very similar scene playing out in heaven right now.

When Evan was too little to protest, I decided that he would be a lot more fun to dress up than my dolls. The outfit was complete with powder and blush from Mom's make up bag. I can't remember if I got in trouble or not, but Mom must have thought it was funny because she took quite a few pictures. We always said we were going to pull these out for his wedding. Unfortunately, we never got to do that, but I'm making good on my promise to show the world!

As a kid, Evan aspired to be a farmer like Pop and Grandpa...so Christmas morning always involved cowboy boots, overalls, toy tractors, and camoulflage. Here he was trying out his new tractor in his new overalls. Caroline, I love this picture because Uncle Evan's face reminds me of yours.

Dad and Evan on a trip to Lake Ontario with my family. We drove, and it took about 2 days each way. This was the trip where Mom accidentally gave Evan the adult sized dose of Dramamine on the way home. I guess that was a bad thing, but it sure did make the trip home a lot more peaceful!

Evan and our cousin, Jill, were born about a year apart and were probably the two most mischevious kids in the state. We always said they were the boy and girl version of the same person. I'm not sure if this picture was taken on the day they hid on the roof, dipped Grandma's cat in a bucket of oil to see what would happen, got the golf cart stuck in a mud pit, or something else, but you can bet they had been up to something.

We used to spend a week or so during the summer at my aunt and uncle's house on Lake Burton. This is where we first learned to tube, ski, and take a bath in the lake so we didn't have to take a real bath later.

Evan's funniest school picture. I wish I had the one from a year or two before where he was wearing a suit and thought it was the best thing he had ever seen. He asked Mom if he could have the 8x10 to hang in his room. Caroline, looks like you may have gotten your healthy self esteem from him!

My family always took our vacations to the beach, but one year Mom and Dad took us to Washington DC. It happened to be inauguration weekend (which they didn't know when they booked the trip), the temperature was so cold that it broke all kinds of records (the WCF was well below 0), and Evan woke up sick the morning we left. The picture above is him on the floor in the airport after throwing up the whole ride there. He got over it the next day, and that vacation ended up being one of our most fun ever.

This is the deck at the house we used to rent every summer on Amelia Island.

Evan loved, loved, loved to be outdoors. He hunted, fished, hiked, and camped everywhere from Granny and Pop's yard to the wilds of Alaska. This is one of his trips to Alaska with our cousins, Damon and Prentiss.

This is one of the last whole family gatherings before Evan died. It was the Thursday night before our wedding, and we had a fish fry with both of our families and a couple of our closest friends from out of town. I knew then that having those most important people from all over the world (literally) together at once would be an important memory. Now that I know we won't ALL be together here again, it means even more to me.
Evan hated this picture. The photographer had told him to "gaze" at me, and he was not happy with the result. He said, "it looks like I'm in love with my sister." Cracked me up.

This one he was ok with apparently. He had it in a frame in his room when he died. His framed copy now sits in my kitchen. I'm so so thankful he was here on my wedding day. Caroline, I only wish he could have met you.

Thanks to my friend, Amanda, for collecting, scanning, and uploading hundreds of pictures of Evan so I had easy access to these. I will never be able to fully express how grateful I am for the way all of my friends have loved on my family and me when I needed them most.