Grandpa Z's 58th Birthday

This year for Grandpa's Birthday, Grandma invited us up for root beer floats. We sat out on the back patio while we ate them and watched the hummingbirds and Blue Jays fly in for a little something to eat themselves. There's nothing better then watching the Blue Jays come in for a peanut and everyone holding really still so we can hear the hummingbird's wings. It reminds me of watching for the birds at my Grandma's (Laurine Zumbrennen) house when I was little. We would sit at the kitchen table and watch for the birds while we ate our breakfast after a little sleepover at Grandma's house.

Dad, you are one cute man! I'm so lucky I have you. I love your bright, happy eyes in this picture.

Thank you, Grandma, for the the yummy treat. It helped us to start the Summer off just right!

We love you Grandpa, Happy 58th!

Memorial Day 2010

We had another fun Memorial Day this year. We road bikes with Grandma and Grandpa Z up to Bridal Veil Falls. Jenny and Tyler road further this year . . . going all the way to Vivian Park.

Tyler was a maniac! It was fun to see him ride with the bigger boys this year and race everyone to the top. He was the first one back home too and showed all the cousins, aunts and uncles which way to go through the neighborhoods.

I got to ride with Katy most of the time, and I loved every second of it. She pedaled those legs just as fast as she could. It wasn't until we were almost home that Grandpa asked, "Does Katy's bike only have one gear?" He couldn't believe how well she kept up with everyone with no gears.

The ride back home is always the funnest because it's mostly all downhill. Katy, Grandpa and I were riding together with Grandpa in the front and I in the back. Grandpa would do fancy tricks on his bike . . . kicking rocks off the path and riding with no hands around corners and everything. Katy was mimicking everything he did. By the time we got home, Katy had almost mastered Grandpa's tricks. No challenge goes unnoticed by Katy.

Shawn and Bret decided they would just drive the car up to the falls and meet us there. But we were surprised several times as we rode our bikes on the trail. We would ride our bikes around a corner and all of a sudden Shawn and Bret would be there on the trail, waving to us and telling us "Good Job!" Then they would jump in the car and drive to a new spot ahead of us and surprise us again. One time they were "incognito" . . . Bret was sitting on a rock, making animal sounds by blowing through two pieces of grass, and Shawn was holding a giant tree branch as if he was hidden behind it. It was hilarious! Once we got to the falls, Shawn couldn't wait to start throwing rocks, and he begged to put his feet in the water. Once we said okay it wasn't 5 seconds before he was running into the water to play with Katy. The only problem was . . . Katy was in water that was pretty deep, and Shawn got a little too deep, too fast. He was a little bummed about that, but it wasn't long before he was dry again. I love this picture because it shows all my kids with my Grandma Robinson. Jenny reminded me that last year on Memorial Day, Grandma Robinson was in the hospital getting ready for a major surgery. She has had a rough year. . . Three major surgeries. But she is doing well now, and we're so glad that she could spend the day with us. Usually we have a water fight with water balloons, buckets and squirt guns, but this year we got to sit in Grandpa's hot tub. Besides the awful smell that made us all cough (ha-ha Dad) it was great to get in the warm water. Once all our relatives left, we hung out for a while and Grandma got out the squirt bottles and guns. We told the kids they could squirt each other, but the grown-ups (especially Grandma Robinson) were off-limits. They did pretty good for awhile but then, as you can see by the picture, Jenny couldn't resist stretching the rules a little bit. But Grandma was a good sport and joined in on the fun. There's nothing funner than a water fight with Grandma!
Grandma Clark asked us for some fun pictures of everyone a few weeks ago, so I spent the day trying to get some good shots. I had so much fun taking the pictures, but even more fun going through them later that day. I love each one of these little faces. I can't believe how blessed I am to be their mom.

I love you guys! Happy Days!

15 Years!

We had some family pictures done a couple months ago. We took 100 pictures in 100 different poses, and by the end we were all ready to be done. But as we were finishing up, I had one more idea of something I wanted to try. I looked at Bret to see if he might have one more pose in him and took my chances. It was my lucky day! He was a great sport.

We had this picture taken of us 15 years ago when we got engaged. I have always loved it, so I wanted to do one again that was similar.

And I'm so glad I did! I love this new picture even more! Bret is even more handsome today then he was back then. It's fun to see what time will do.

I love you sweetheart. I can't wait to see what the next 15 years will bring!

Super MOM turns 36!

On Monday Nicole turned 36 years old. We love her SOOOOO much!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

6 Inches of Snow?

Well these little guys started popping out of the ground about a week ago. We were so excited. We had a few days of upper 50's with sun, and we could almost smell Spring in the air. But then the kids came home from school yesterday, on their bikes, and by the time they got to the house they were soaked. It was snowing so hard, and it was wet snow! I told them it was crazy but it would never stick - It's March for heaven's sake! Well, little did we know - IT STUCK! 6 Inches Stuck! We went to bed with no snow and woke up to this!

Shawn was stoked! The first thing he said to me was, "Can we build a snowman?" He has been so excited about snowmen this winter, and I kept telling him we would build one. But we never did. So we pulled out the boxes and got out our winter clothes.
Shawn knew exactly what we needed for the snowman. I must have heard him say, "We need a carrot" about 100 times. As soon as I pulled one out of the fridge, he was showing me where we needed to put the carrot.
"It's a nose, Mom, it's a Snowman's nose."

The snow was really heavy and wet, but before long we had our little snowman made. I tried to just do the bare minimum with all the details, but Shawn wasn't about to have that.

"He needs a mouth, Mom"

"What about his hat?"

"Where's his arms?"

"He needs some buttons . . ."

He sure is one cute kid!

The best part was watching him stand back and look at the finished product. He was so proud to see what we had made. I would have to say we were pretty lucky to get this storm. And by the afternoon, the snowman had melted so much that he started tipping over and his head fell off. Thank heavens it's March!

Only So Many More . . .

Last night Jenny was online checking her email and looking up new blog posts. Tyler eagerly watched over her shoulder and Katy glanced at the screen each time she "bounced" in and out of the room. Shawn pulled a chair right up next to Jen and began to insist, "It's my turn Nenny! I want to play Dragon Tales!" After telling Shawn that it wasn't time for Dragon Tales, Jenny continued looking and reading.

The scene continued on the same for awhile with Shawn demanding his turn every couple of minutes. When he realized he wasn't getting what he wanted and couldn't take it any longer, Shawn reached up and pinched Jenny's nose demanding that it was his turn. Jenny screamed out in pain and ran to the bathroom with a bloody nose.

Needless to say, Shawn was sent to time out.

As time continues to move our family forward, the dynamics of our home are changing a little more each day. My older kids each take turns checking their emails. They post big events on their own blogs. And my little 3-year-old needs his fair share of time on the computer.

Knowing that I'm only going to have a 3-year-old in my house for just a little bit longer . . . Knowing that there's not going to be another little one to take his place . . . I have really enjoyed all the little moments of having a 3-year-old at home. It's just me and my baby boy for only a short time longer.. . . no school or extra activities to interfere. I love experiencing all the funny faces, cute words, laugher, tight hugs, bursts of energy and even tears.

So when he was sent to the corner and told to fold his arms and not move, I couldn't help but smile when after 3 full minutes he was still facing the wall with his arms folded, eyes down, and lower lip sticking out just enough to show he was sad. Because I knew these moments are only going to last for so long and then they will be gone.

100th Day of School

One thing I love about 1st grade is how they always celebrate the 100th day of School! I volunteered this year to help with Katy's 100th day party and boy was it fun!

When Shawn and I first got there, they were sitting at the carpet listening to Mrs. Spadafora give them instructions about the activities they were going to do.
This is Katy with one of her cute friends, Megan, playing a 100's game!

As soon as we got there, Shawn immediately ran to the book shelf and started pulling out all the books that he recognized. He sat himself down by us and started reading his favorites. This is him reading, "Snowmen at Christmas".

After awhile he got bored and was becoming impatient. Mrs. Spadafora grabbed a bucket of dinosaurs and put them in front of Shawn and another little brother.
Shawn was in HEAVEN!

But once Shawn saw that it was Katy's turn to make a Fruit Loop necklace, he was not going to miss out on that for a second. Katy was so cute with him. She pulled a chair right up next to her and started showing Shawn how to thread the fruit loops onto the string. She didn't complain once that it was her necklace and not his.

Of course, once the necklace was done Shawn wanted to put it on. Katy didn't hesitate and helped him slip it over his head. He was so proud to be wearing the necklace, and I was so proud of my Katy for being so selfless and caring for her brother.
I love you Kate! You are amazing!

More Cans for Mission Dollars

Well, he did it again! He saved up and smashed enough cans to head down to the aluminum recyling shop. Grandma Z has a box at her office that friends will drop their cans into. Once we get the cans, Tyler has to smash them all down and then throw them into boxes until the boxes are full. Once he has enough cans, we load them up and take them down to the recyling shop.

It had been awhile since we last went, so Ty had quite a bit of cans this time.

The first time we went, Tyler brought a friend with him, and we figured out how everything worked. After hearing about the process and seeing how excited Tyler was about it all, Jen and Kate have been dying to come with us the next time. So when they heard we were going again, everyone piled in to the back of Dad's truck, and we all headed down to the metals shop. It was fun to see how excited the girls were for Ty and the support they were giving him.

First they pour all of the cans into the bottom of this conveyor belt. Tyler is looking at all of his cans before they sent them up the ramp.

Once the scale has been reset to ZERO, the cans are sent up and over the top where the weight of the cans is calculated. A receipt is printed out for Tyler to take to the office where he is given a card for their "ATM" machine outside.

Tyler takes the card outside to the machine, inserts the card and the money is withdrawn from the machine. Ty had a total of 33 pounds of aluminum this time! He made a little over $15.00! That's about double the amount he had last time.

As soon as we get back in the car, Tyler hands me the money and asks me to put it in his bank account. He's saving it for his mission. What a great kid. I'm so proud of Ty for working so hard and saving his money for serving a mission someday. He is going to be one awesome missionary!

The Down Side of Costa Rica this Year

Sunburn? Yep . . . only Extremely Bad!

Last year Bret came home from Costa Rica with a pretty bad sunburn on the back of his neck. It dried out and flaked off, and he was really uncomfortable for a few days.

So this year we geared up for the sun a little better (or so we thought). I bought bottles of sunscreen with SPF 50 and we made sure that he put it on before he headed out on the boat each morning to fish. Bret came home the first day and said, "I feel like I got fried, and I put sunscreen on 3 more times while I was out there." Even though the burn didn't look like much, he said it was really uncomfortable. After two days of this, he wore a long-sleeved shirt for the rest of the trip and a t-shirt on the top of his hat so he kind of looked like a sheik while he fished (wish I had a picture of that!). He stayed out of the sun as much as he could for the rest of the trip.

On the way home his arms started to get a little redder and they were dry and itchy. But still nothing really strange.

After being home for 2 days they were nearly unbearable. They were extremely HOT and it seemed like the area that was burned was spreading. The skin started to peel, and the raw skin underneath was bright red. The next 4-5 days were the worst. The cycle of red itchy skin, to peeling happened several times. A friend in our ward, who is a nurse at the hospital, came up to Bret at church and told him that she could tell that both of his arms had 2nd-degree burns because of the amount of skin he was loosing!

This picture shows how swollen both of his arms were. He couldn't straighten his arms all the way because of the pain and the inflamation. You couldn't even see his elbows when he tried to straighten them. To say the least he was miserable. He walked around all day with his arms bent and we all tried our best not to get too close.

Well after several days of walking around with his arms bent, Shawn looked up at Bret one day and said,

"Daddy, are you a Tyrannasaurus Rex?"

Being the good sport that Bret is he said, "Yes! Rarr!"

We've been home for about a week and a half now, and Bret's arms are doing much better. They are super itchy, dry and a little sore, but considering what they were like, he's doing great! (Halleluyah!)

Katy and Her Teeth

I'm slowly figuring out that my kids inherited some funky mouths. Putting Bret and I together resulted in little mouths with BIG teeth. When it happened to Jenny I just thought, "Man, she got screwed." But now that Tyler and Katy are experiencing the same problem, I realize that it's all coming our way.

When my kids have a permanent tooth that's ready to come in, they have to lose 2 baby ones in order to make room. And what usually happens is the permanent teeth start coming up behind the other ones because the second baby tooth doesn't know it needs to come out!

Well, Katy has probably had the problem worst of all. She has had 3 permanents come in without even starting to loosen the babies. And she is not the bravest about it. (Which surprises me, by the way.) I can't stand wiggly teeth so the kids are basically on their own(or we pay a special visit to Grandma Clark's -- she loves wiggling teeth). Bret on the other hand is determined to get them out of there and not pay $50 a tooth to have them pulled.

Well this last time, Katy was really sneaky about having another loose tooth because she didn't want Bret to wiggle it. She hadn't eaten very good for days because she couldn't and her smile was non-existent. She even hid the Orajel(numbing gel) from Bret because she didn't want him to use it while he did a little wiggle-wiggle. But it got to the point where the tooth was literally hanging out because it was so loose. Bret couldn't stand it, and he was bound and determined to get it out.

I headed downstairs one night to tuck everyone in bed, and I found Bret lying on Katy's bed with her all tucked in and telling stories.

After telling the story for a minute (and earning some trust) Bret got to wiggle the tooth a little bit. Sometimes she was brave and was a good sport . . .

. . . Other times she would scream and fight because she didn't want him to touch it. Then after a few minutes she would be calm again and listen to another part of the story. It was so cute to find Bret with her, all curled up in her bed, trying to help her get that tooth out! These two are quite a pair.

As you can see, Bret was successful. My Katy is back and she's eating again. There's nothing better then seeing Katy's smile back.

And the tooth fairy even came that night. (It's a miracle!)