Happy Birthday Zachary

It's hard to believe, but, Yes, Zachary really is a year old. We celebrated his birthday yesterday by going to the Childrens Discovery Museum in San Jose and having some really yummy chocolate, brownie birthday cake. Zachary and Landon both had so much fun exploring the museum that they fell asleep as soon as they got in the car and didn't even wake up when we moved them into their beds. This hardly ever happens.
A year ago Zachary surprised us by coming 5 weeks early. We were told he could be a few months behind until he reached 2, but we haven't noticed that he is slow in any way. The first couple months he slept almost non-stop, but since then he's seemed to keep up with his age pretty well. He is now a really fast crawler. He can stand without help and is getting close to walking without help. He loves stairs and will go up when you say, "up" and come down when you say, "down". He loves to play with phones and will put the phone to his ear and babble. He says mom and dad, Uh-oh, hi, and tries to say many other words but few could understand. He is fascinated with lids and will play with a container that has a lid for minutes(longer than any other toy). He loves his dad and gets upset if he doesn't get a hug when daddy comes home. He's getting good at throwing fits and will start screaming and fling himself to the floor if Landon takes his toy or I take something away he shouldn't have. He loves food and most of the time will eat more than Landon. His favorite food is cooked zucchini. We love this little guy and are so glad to have him in our family. He loves to laugh and makes us smile many times throughout the day.

"COINS"

A couple times a week Landon asks if we can walk to the mall. Not because he loves to shop, but because he loves to play on the little firetrucks and other fun rides. He is always asking for "coins" (which I find funny because I've always called them quarters) so that he can take them to the mall. About twice a month we give in and let Landon earn the whopping seventy-five cents it takes to go on a 2 minute ride and we walk to the mall. Luckily, Landon always chooses a vehicle that has two seats so Zachary enjoys it too.

Today, we went to Walmart and as we were leaving I gave Landon a bunch of change to put in the red tin. What I thought was going to be a simple task ended up taking much longer because Landon had to sort the change and in the end would only put the pennies, nickels, and dimes into the tin. The quarters he kept for himself and asked if we could take the "coins" to the mall to go for a ride.

A new calling

About a month ago I was asked to be the new Young Womens President in our ward. A few of the first thoughts that ran threw my mind when I was asked if I would accept included, "Why me?", "I'm too young.", "Wouldn't someone else be more qualified?", and "How am I going to do this with two little kids?" I thought for a moment that I must be dreaming and that I would wake up soon. Well, it turns out it wasn't a dream and yesterday was the first day of this exciting, yet overwhelming calling I now have. Since being called I have had a flood of ideas and I find myself thinking, "How am I going to have time to do all these things?". I'm trying to stay calm and have faith that I can do this. I pray that I will be able to bless the lives of the YW and their families. I know that I am not alone in this endeavor. I am thankful for the help of counselors and advisers. I am thankful that I was counselor for 2 years. I am thankful for the example that the previous President was to me. I am thankful for the young women in my ward, and I am thankful for a husband that supports me in this time-consuming calling and his willingness to help with the kids. I know that it won't be easy, but I also know that I was called for a reason so I will take one step at a time and do the best that I can. I am thankful for opportunities like this that my church gives for I know that it will teach me to love to serve, it will help me grow stronger, and be better.

IMAGINE

Landon's imagination has blossomed the past few weeks. He likes to pretend his train is going to the beach, to Utah, to grandma's and other fun places. When he goes to the beach he pretends to put Thomas the train's swimsuit on for him along with his sunglasses, hat, sunscreen, and he makes sure he gets all of his sand toys. When he goes to Utah he shows Thomas how to throw rocks in grandmas pond. Last night he said he wanted to make a cake, but I told him we couldn't because it was time for bed. He decided to pretend to make a cake on the table and then brought me and Ryan a piece of it. He kept saying how yummy it was and how he wanted more. Then spilled a little on the couch and went to get a rag to wipe it up. This morning he pretended our bed was a boat and he kept falling in the water in hopes that we would rescue him. He also likes to pretend to talk on the phone to his cousins, Jared and Allison. We have fun seeing what he'll come up with next.

Growing Boys!

Zachary turned 9 months old a few days ago. He's got the army crawl down and loves to follow Landon around the house. I let him have the last little bit of my Popsicle as you can see in the picture and he loved it. The cold didn't even seem to bother him. Maybe it even felt good since his 8th tooth is already arriving.




Landon learned to ride his Trike a few months ago and is now getting pretty speedy. He's never liked it when I try to push him so I could take the push bar off, but we keep it on just in case I need to stop him from going into the road. He loves to go down hills, over bumps, and of course, through water puddles.

A Glimpse of Paradise

We recently returned from a week vacation to Hawaii. We stayed 4 days on Oahu and 4 days on Kauai. Both islands are amazingly beautiful and we had fun hiking, swimming, trying to surf, snorkeling, eating shaved ice, and of course visiting with Tyler, Janna, and Lilly. It was also fun to see Thomas and Brooke and their two cute boys. What a great place to live! We missed Landon while we were away, but it was definitely more relaxing with just Zachary and I know Landon had fun playing with with his cousins, Jared and Allison. In fact, we've only been home for four days and he was asking me today if we could go to Aunt Cindy's.

CRAZY.....but True

I've been searching for a place to park our car at the San Francisco airport. The cheapest I could find that's within a couple miles of the airport is $102 for 8 days. If you stay at a park and sleep hotel you get a 1 night stay plus the parking of your car for as little as $75. Crazy, huh! I guess we'll save $ by sleeping in San Fran and not waking up so early.