Rachel Homecoming 2014

September 2014:

Rachel went to her first Homecoming dance this year with a few of her friends: 

 Maria Hertrich, Julia Goetz, and Emily Merrick.  

Such beautiful girls.

Zach's Baptism

It is hard to believe that our little boy is eight years old already.  Time is flying by too quickly.  He has been looking forward and preparing for his baptism for so long.   

We are so grateful for Zach.  He always tries to be a good kid and choose the right. 

Zach and Grant have been looking forward to getting baptized on the same day.  Grant moved in when Zach was turning 4 and they have been good buddies ever since.  They are such good boys.

We loved having so many friends and ward members attend Zach's baptism since our family was not able to come.  He loved that Kelly came with Meghan to be part of the celebration and support Zach. 

 I loved getting to share this day with one of my dearest friends, Shannon.  I am not sure how I am going to survive when they move next summer.
 I'm glad that we will always have this special day to share.

Zach's 8th Birthday

For his eighth birthday, Zach wanted to have a lego party!

Zach was so excited to have some of his closest friends over.  He has gotten so into Legos the last 6 months that it is all he has asked for both his birthday and Christmas!  To start things off--a little Lego BINGO.  I was surprised that this held their interest for so long!

Nathan is so close to BINGO.  You can see that he is just hoping the next one Shae calls is the one he needs!  

He was so excited.  I think he looks so old in this picture!   I am not sure how time flew by so quickly these past eight years.

Luke and his twin brother Logan are in Zach's second grade class.  They went to preschool together and have been hoping to be in the same class for three years.  It finally happened and they are basically inseparable at school now--playing soccer everyday at recess. 

Grant and Zach have birthdays 6 days apart.  They are going to be baptized together this coming Saturday.  We are looking forward to sharing such a special day.

Logan

Carson just moved into our ward recently and Zach was excited to have a new friend with the same name as his cousin.  Turns out that Carson has a cousin named Zach too!  They both love football.  

We made some Lego gift bags that the boys could take home their BINGO prizes in.  

The boys each made a lego creation.  I was surprised what they could come up with in 5 minutes.  Each one was different and so clever. 

Rachel wanted to make Zach's birthday cake this year and it was quite a task!  She made a blue 9x13 cake, stacked it up and then covered it in homemade yellow marshmallow fondant.  She was up till midnight trying to get it just right for the party.  It turned out great, although it was so much work I am not sure she will want to ever do it again!

.

Zach was thrilled to get some fun Lego sets from his friends!

Zach has been asking for a room remodel for awhile now.  His choo choo train bedding just wasn't grown up enough I guess.  We put him to bed in our room the night before his birthday so we could update it with new bedding and a sports theme.  We moved him back to his bed for the rest of the night so he could wake up eight years old in a newly decorated bedroom.  He was so excited!   

On his actual birthday, which was a Sunday, we had a little party before church.  Rachel got him a baptism towel and memory book.  

Mom gave him his Cub Scout shirt complete with patches all sewn on.  The Cubmaster came and visited him that morning to welcome him to Scouts.  He had passed off his Bobcat and started working on his Wolf by the end of the day.  I hope this motivation continues for awhile.  He is looking forward to taking his scout book to Idaho to work with his cousin Carson on a few things in Grandpa's shop.  

He got a lego set he has been REALLY wanting and a movie from Grandma and Grandpa.  

Dad gave him a basketball hoop for his new sports themed bedroom.  They had alot of fun slam dunking and I am hoping they don't break something once it gets moved to his bedroom.  I have already overheard talk of jumping off the bed to try to slam dunk it.  Yikes.

This might be my favorite picture of the whole day.  Zach riding to church in his new suit, reading his Cub Scout book.  This is a moment I will hold in my heart.  My sweet little boy is growing up.  Happy Birthday Zach-o.   We love you so much.

Hawaii 2012

I have missed blogging my memories and decided that I am really going to regret it if I don’t finally catch up on recording some fun events.

Last year at this time, we were prepping for the trip of a lifetime.  Over Spring Break, we all went to Maui to celebrate my parents 40th wedding anniversary.  They were generous enough to give us all airfare to Hawaii for Christmas.  I was so excited to see the kids open their gifts and realize we were all going to Hawaii together. 

Grandma and Grandpa got them each some Hawaiian clothing and a coupon for a free ice cream cone in Maui.  Paige was a bit sad thinking that parents weren’t allowed to go!

 

We arrived in Hawaii at night and with so much stuff!  Grandma and Grandpa came to meet us and welcome us with leis. There was such a big group of us, but we were so happy to all be together after not seeing everyone for 3 months.  The sea breeze felt amazing and we felt grateful to be there.

It was so difficult to sleep that first night because of the time change.  Plus, I was so excited for my kids to see the island and the ocean I could hardly sleep.  The birds started “singing” about 6am and we were up and ready to go.  The birds actually sound more like they are screeching.  Grandpa Lyle used to call one species of the loudest bird “the aggravator.”  There were so many memories of Grandma and Grandpa on the trip. 

We were all ready to hit the beach early that first day, probably heading down around 7 or 7:30 in the morning.  We were the first people on the beach and at that moment I remember thinking this is what heaven must feel like: my favorite people in a most beautiful paradise.  The only thing missing was that Shae and Meghan weren’t coming until later that evening. The sand and sun felt so good and it was so peaceful!

It is hard to not look back at the pictures and feel a bit sad…wishing we were there again this year.  This trip was definitely a highlight of my life.