Some Comings and Goings...

Uncle Tyson and Aunt Jayne stopped here on their way to Philly for the summer. They weren't here very long. just enough to get some dental work done, celebrate Jayne's 20th birthday(man does that make me feel old), and to have the kids in tears as they disappeared into the airport. Zach and Kate absolutely loved having them here. They had them busy playing all sorts of things.



Kate was so tired after they left, this is the second time we caught her asleep in a random place. We thought she was watching ET, but with a closer look, she was sacked out, lip gloss and all!




Next up was Egg Dyeing with the cousins. Zach was so proud of his BYU egg. He is still talking about how great Jimmer is.





Zach ran in his school's fundraiser, Running for the Arts. He ran 11 laps around the school track in 30 minutes. 4 1/2 laps is a mile. I think we have a little runner on our hands.




And now Easter and a week away from May. Where does the time go?

A Chance to Look Back...

I am horrible at erasing my emails. I read them and never delete them. I guess I never thought my email account would ever get full. But, recently I have been getting my old emails, I mean extremely old emails, like 8 years ago emails. It's like my email account is resending them to me to get me to make a decision about whether to keep them or to finally delete them.

I have to say this has been a blessing in disguise. Back then I am not sure blogging even existed really, so it's like life is giving me a second chance to capture Zach as an infant. Look at these pics of Zach that I emailed out 8 years ago. These were taken the summer we moved to Philly for dental school. We spent the summer with Justin's parents in Lewisburg, while trying to find a place to live. These pics bring back such fun memories. He loved Princess(the dog) and would crawl over to her and want to pet her. She is such a nice dog and loved all the attention. The other pics were taken at dinner time. He was the entertainment at every meal, holding his leg out in second, playing pat-a-cake, and his most unforgettable moment of all, the routine #2 in the diaper...which Justin referred to as making room for more food.

But even more memories were captured in these photos then I thought. Like Justin's parent's old house in Lewisburg, the house that marked Justin's "Glory Days". Yes, he had them...do I dare go into details? Two Words - Triple Threat! The cabinet behind Zach in his high chair is Grandpa Marty's old bottle collection. Zach bumped into this cabinet a few times that gave Grandpa a little scare. One of those bottles had an old dead mouse in it! If you ever wanted to tease Grandpa, all you had to do was get near this collection and threaten to shake it.

There are a ton of memories in this kitchen. Lots of late night runs to Rita's and The Freeze were eaten in this room. Endless hours of talking took place here. Sounds of Barry Manilow and Christmas Music were blasted in this room. Seriously the list could go on forever.

So yes, not deleting your emails has benefits...tons! Because of my old emails re-surfacing, I can re-save the pictures I have lost twice from old laptops that decided to break. I love that I am able to go back and blog about what happened in the past, and glad I am still young enough to remember it all. Second chances are good!

On to the Next...

Basketball is officially over. Zach is already looking forward to playing again next year. Eight games just wasn't enough for him. He had so much fun playing and really improved each week. This is a little footage from his very last game... Look at that follow through. He is channeling his inner Jimmer!

And Then There Were 21...

My sister Heather just had her fourth. His name is Christian Armstrong Lambert, and he came in weighing a whopping 9lbs. 4oz. He is the 21st grandchild on my side of the family. My sister and her husband are more private people so I won't be posting a pic of him on here, but this is the gift I made for her. It is a first for me. I am not really sure what to call it but I decided to go with the car seat tent! Nice! Anyways, for someone who has everything by the fourth child, she didn't have this and I have been wanting to sew something with pom pom trim for over a year now. Well, I finally got my chance and if you want to see the entire "How to" as in how to make one yourself, I posted all the pics and directions on my Stampin' Up! Blog. Congrats Heather and Steve!

Friends with Benefits...

Zach and Kate went to their first Blazer game last week. And thanks to an invite from our neighbor, Margie, experienced their first NBA game in style, with a box suite. It's nice to be spoiled every once and awhile. This was no exception with the endless amounts of food and drinks, bathroom on site, and the ability to play musical chairs. I have to admit as much as it was nice for the kids, it felt even better for Justin and me. But, now how are we ever going to want to go to a game again unless it is in a box suite? As Grandma RaeLynn would say "Why take the covered wagon, when you can take the cadillac?" We had a great time. It was worth keeping the kids up past their bedtime, on a school night, to have such a fun night out.

Kate' First Talk...

Or should I say Justin's? It is still hard to believe that Kate is a sunbeam now. But sure enough just shy of being two months out of the gate, she gets an assignment to talk in Primary. We practiced for a week, not lying! A week because if she is anything like her momma, she was sure to cry through the entire talk and have her dad end up giving the talk. We practiced and practiced and performed it for Grandma, Dad and Zach. She even got to the point where she had some of it memorized. But of course in the end, her name was called to give the talk, and just with the call of her name she broke down in tears. She wouldn't even hold up the props. Justin ended up giving the talk. Maybe next time, things will be different. But then again, if she is like me, she won't dare give a talk until she turns 16! Why is giving a talk so scary?

Here she is all gussied up, and ready to give her talk a go. I sent her off to church(I had to stay home with Zach, who had a case of the Stomach flu), with high hopes that all would go well. Well it didn't but get this...later that day, 2 hours after she had been home from church, Justin asked her that if mommy had been there to help her, would she have given her talk? She said yes. Great! But then again, she talks a big talk. Just like when I know she has been into something she shouldn't be and I ask her if she has done it?...She blames her baby.

It Finally Snowed...

And more than 2 inches this past Tuesday! The snow didn't really start falling until Zach was off to school, and melted shortly after he came home, so he didn't really get to enjoy it. But Kate and I did! We had so a fun morning building a snowman and trying out the new sled Santa brought for Christmas.


Kate has been quite the little entertainer lately. She is especially into music and dancing.

My Funny Little Valentine...

Well not really mine, as in my own child, but a funny little girl in Zach's class.

Here is the preface...
All the kids in Zach's class had just finished eating their treats from their little party, and his teacher, Mr. McBeth, had them all seated on the carpet to discuss what traditions their family had on Valentine's Day, or what was their family going to do special today, in honor of Valentine's Day.

Here's where it gets good...
The kids talked about going out to eat, or making sandwiches in the shape of a heart, etc. when suddenly one little girl, raised her hand, and said, "My mom and dad are going to have sex!"

We(all the adults in the room) were dying!!! Mr. McBeth chuckled, I busted up laughing, and her poor mom in the back of the room was in denial. Luckily, none of the kids caught on to what she had said, but I tell you, kids say the darnedest things!

Happy Valentine's Day!

On Two Wheels...

The cold wintery month of January seems to be to most unlikely month to learn how to ride a bike, but not for Zach.

Fortunately, we have been having some unusually great weather for January here in Portland. So a couple of weeks ago the kids and I were outside shooting some hoops and Kate was riding Zach's old bike. I decided to grab his big boy bike that he refused to learn how to ride this past summer, and began riding circles around him as he was shooting hoops. I teased him a little about how I could ride his bike and he couldn't, in a nice mommy way of course. But then I thought about it and started to ask him if he wanted to try to ride it. I tried to make him feel confident that he wouldn't get hurt because he could touch the ground without falling over because he has grown a few inches. My teasing payed off because although very nervous, five minutes into his attempt to ride a two wheeler, he became a "pro", as he described his new found skill.

I am so proud of him. And more importantly he is so proud of himself. He has become more daring since he learned two weeks ago, and is now picking up more speed and attempting to stand up on the pedals.

On to Basketball...

Zach is taking a little break from soccer and is now into basketball, and loving it! Saturday was his first game. He had Justin up at 8am for a little early morning practice just to make sure he was ready. But even at 7am he had gotten completely dressed, and had his basketball in his backpack and was pacing with excitement. The pacing reminds me so much of when Justin and I were first married. Before all of Justin's BYU soccer games, he was dressed and ready to go two hours before he had to be there and would be pacing our little 600 sq. ft. apartment. The apple doesn't fall too far from the tree. Zach had a successful first game and even scored a basket, but of course I didn't get it on tape.

Here's a few highlights...