Catching up on the last few months

Alec and Garrett both played baseball this summer. I was wrangled into being the coach of Alec's team. I think I had more fun than he did. He didn't care much for baseball. He didn't like soccer enough to play again this season either. He did however want to try football so we signed him up in the cities flag football league. He absolutely loved it. It was so much fun to watch him play, he got so excited for each game. (The pics from baseball and football I took on my phone and haven't figured out how to get them to the computer other than to facebook. Sorry.)

Garrett on the other hand wanted to try soccer and loves it. So, they both seem to have found something they enjoy.

Rachel is still loving gymnastics and has started taking piano lessons. She adores her teacher, loves to practice and to perform the music she has learned.

We spent the month of July in Denver. Darren was with us the first week for The Zimmerman Family Reunion. The kids and I stayed so I could go to the Scentsy Convention at the end of the month. This pic is from the pirate day that Melissa and I planned.

In August we celebrated Ashlyn's 2nd Birthday and Alec's 8th.

The children are going to a new school this year. It is a charter school in Layton.

This is Rachel with her teacher Mrs. Hansen. She's in 4th Grade.

Alec with his 3rd Grade teacher Mrs. Kelley.

Garrett started Kindergarten. His teacher name is Mrs. Hansen also.

So it is just me and Ashlyn in the afternoons.

The kids have joined the school choir. They are really enjoying it. They are excited for their holiday performances that start at the end of this month.

We shook up The Carpenter Family Reunion by bringing another Zimmerman. My sister Melissa was visiting and was a real trooper to come with us over Labor Day Weekend.

The week after the Reunion we had to say goodbye to Jenna for 18 months. She is a busy missionary now in Roseville California. We love her and miss her.

Alec was baptized in September. It was such a special Day.

Jessica (my niece) came last week for her fall break from school. It was so great to have her here. She is a great friend and helper. It was fun to celebrate Halloween with her here. We had a school carnival and a ward trunk-or-treat and carnival and Trick-or-Treating of course. We wore our Hershey's, Peanut butter, Reeses T-shirts to the ward Trunk-or-Treat. It was fun.

This is the kids all bundled up to go Trick-or-Treating. It was cold and rainy. Ashlyn caught on very quickly about how to get candy. Garrett: Toothless the Night Fury from How To Train Your Dragon. Ashlyn: Chicken Jockey, I thinks she enjoyed this costume more than the boys did at her age. Alec: Harry Potter. Rachel: Hannah Montana.

We had a quick visit from Robert's family that weekend as well. It was busy but great!

Family Time

Memorial Day weekend was so great! Sunday we visited Grandpa Gary's grave (Darren's Dad). Then had dessert and played at Pam's House (Darren's sister). It was so nice.

Monday was amazing because Darren was off work and there wasn't anything we HAD to do. So, we went to a cemetary in Odgen and saw the field of flags (1000) and listened to a couple play the bagpipes. Learning to play the bagpipes is on Darren's bucket list, and he loves to hear them. I was surprised at how entranced the kids were while they played. It was almost like they were hypnotized. That being said I hope Darren learns soon :) Then we got food from The Burger Bar and went to the park for lunch. After we worked in the yard. I love days like that.

Rachel loves gymnastics. She is doing really well and learns so quickly. She says she wants to do gymnastics til she gets married and then wants to teach it. She goes Tues and Thurs.

School is out Friday!

Baseball is over next week :(

The YW that were miamaides when I started serving in YW are graduating from HS this weekend. I can't believe it!

We are planning a camping trip for the 11th. We are so excited. We love camping. We had to purchase a few more sleeping bags, but we now have enough for the whole family.

I bought a new dinette set from Sam's Club online a couple of weeks ago. It arrived this morning. I put it together with the help of Jenna (my niece) and Pam. I absolutely love it.

This is going to be a quick summer. Only one month til the Zimmerman Family Reunion. Wahoo!! And because Scentsy convention is in Denver this year at the end of July, the kids and I are going to stay at my parents and come home after the convention. Then just two short weeks in August until school starts again.

Time flies when you are having fun!

I can't believe how fast the past few weeks have gone by. It is a blur. It was so fun to have my neice Jessica (my sister Melissa's oldest) here for a week. And then to have Mel and the rest of her fam come. They returned to Denver the Wednesday before Easter and took Garrett and Ashlyn with them. (Since we would be joining them that weekend.) I love my kids but it was incredible to get Alec and Rachel off too school and have complete silence. I couldn't believe how much I got done without Garrett wanting to play with me and Ashlyn hanging on my leg. I found out I'm not a half bad house keeper, when no one is there to mess it up! :)
Unfortunately, we got bad news from Darren's work the next day. Their project is coming to a close and they don't have additional projects yet. So, we are facing possible layoffs. They thought originally the end of May but now we are looking at August time frame, if they don't secure more work.
Despite the bad news we were able to go to Denver and have a great Easter weekend. The Easter Bunny out did himself! I still have Easter candy and we left half of it there! I don't have any pics to post right now because I stupidly left my camera at home thinking I wouldn't need it. Obviously I completely forgot it was Easter. Which I don't know how I did since that was why we were going!!! Mom and Dad let me use their camera but I haven't gotten the pics from them yet.
Darren flew home on Monday and we stayed the following week (our spring break). Melissa put me on a "cookie" diet. Don't let the name fool you. The "cookies" tasted like flavored cardboard. Yuck! Mel says "They are supposed to taste bad so you don't want to eat a lot of them." Well trust me I didn't want to eat a lot. I didn't want to eat any. Especially with all that Easter candy laying around. But I did it and we exercised by walking Jane and Grace to and from school everyday. I lost 3 lbs. Wahoo!! Trust me that was a big accomplishment!
Rachel is determined to start tumbling again... so I told her she needed to get some of the basics down really well and I would sign her up. She has been practicing everyday and wants me to watch. She won't do a cartwheel unless I am watching and gets upset if I miss one. I am impressed with her improvement.
Soccer has started for Alec again. We missed the first few weeks due to sickness and being out of town but he played Saturday. He likes being a defender which is why his comment below was so funny to me.
Baseball is about to start, I signed both boys up. Rachel didn't want to play. We went tonight to the parent meeting and met their coaches and got their uniforms. Alec will be playing machine pitch and is on the Bluejays team. And Garrett will be playing Tee Ball and is on the Angels team. We purchased bats, balls, gloves and a Tee last week. We have only ever had wiffleballs. And since my mitt is probably in Mom and Dad's basement somewhere and Darren doesn't have one, we bought an adult mitt too. Garrett is absolutely passionate about it, he wants to play catch everyday. Alec likes it as long as you don't tell him how to do anything! But I told him his coach would be giving him pointers and he should just get used to it, since we are trying to help him learn. I am amazed how much they have improved in just a few days time. It is really fun to play with them. I forgot how much I like to play.
Alec has now played Basketball, soccer and is learning baseball. I asked him which one he likes best so far and he said all of them. He said his favorite part of...basketball is shooting, soccer is kicking a goal and baseball will be hitting a home run!
Garrett attended kindergarten round up last week. I can't believe he will finally be in kindergarten! He has been ready for so long.
We were accepted to a local charter school so all the kids will attend there next year. They have a Spanish emphasis and the kids are excited to learn. They have been practising their Spanish around the house. It is so fun.
Well I guess I shouldn't forget Ashlyn. Not that she would let you. She is talking a ton. She repeats almost everything you say. And what is more amazing to me is she understands it all. She is completely independent and headstrong like Rachel (and her mother). And she is a total joy! She is so dang cute. We just love her. She loves being outside. You can't open the door without her trying to escape and she doesn't want to come in. Personally I think she has had the winter blues.
Well, I think that is enough.
Enjoy the spring! We certainly are!

Ears

True story:
I have wanted Rachel to get her ears pierced since she was about 5. She refused and I was not going to force her. She was scared because she thought it would hurt. It didn't matter what I said she just knew it would really hurt and it wasn't worth the pain to her. I told her I'd take her if ever she wanted to. She said she would never want to so I gave up.
Well, Jessica (Rachel's cousin) came to stay with us for a week and I guess Jessica talked to Rachel about it because the next thing I knew Rachel wanted to get her ears pierced. So, Rachel went with her cousins last weekend and got her ears pierced! She was nervous but Jessica, Jane and Grace all held her hand. It was so cute. She is so excited to have her ears pierced. After so much anticipation and anxiety I think it was a real let down for her...it didn't hurt like she thought it would. She told me she wishes she would have done it before because it only hurt a little. She told me to say "Rachel loves her ears pierced!"

Change

I love change, just ask my family. I get it from my mother. I love the change in the seasons, I love to change the around the furniture, change my hair style, etc. Change can even come in the form of reorganization, new wardrobe (one of my personal favorites) or new perspective. I spent almost the entire weekend with Barbara Barrington Jones. She is a great speaker. The stake booked her a year ago. She came and did an adult fireside Friday night, workshops for women from 10am-3pm on Sat. and did a youth fireside that night. I attended everyone. She has some great "perspective". Her humor is hilarious, just asked Jessica. I dragged her to the youth fireside, cuz I wanted to go. Checkout her website...barbarajones.com
Change is good. I have props for my life now. I am the self proclaimed queen of the house. I bought a tiara and wand. It is great to laugh and find the humor in life.
Anyway, just wanted to share.

Ashlyn 19 months old

These little ones grow too fast. I procrastinated getting her 18 month pics so now she has 19 month pics. Here is a preview.

Super Mario Bros.

Happy Birthday Garrett! He is now 5! Where does the time go?

Garrett loves the Wii and before his B-day his newest game was The NEW Super Mario Bros. Which he loves and would play 24/7 if I let him. So, he wanted a Super Mario Bros. party. Of course you can't get the party supplies locally so we ordered them online. We were a little stressed about them getting here. The supplies arrived the day before and the cake topper arrived 20 mins before the party. It is awesome.

They are playing Super Mario Bros. in this pic.

These are the partiers.

Here they are playing Mario Kart.

We did do other things beside play the Wii and eat cake and ice cream. He had a pinata and rented a Super Mario Bros. cartoon. It was alot of fun.

This is the funniest video. I let Garrett pick his candles and he chose the relighting kind. He didn't know that, but I did, and I let him get them anyway cuz I thought it would be fun...and it was. Poor Carter though... he grabbed a candle when they first went out (like all of us do to lick the frosting) but I think I scarred him when I yelled to put it back. I thought he would get burnt. Luckily he didn't.

Miracles still happen!

Here is proof. There is a electrical cord attached to the top of the cabinet. Garrett gave it a good pull tonight and brought it toppling over. He and Ashlyn (who was standing by) came away without a scratch. I can't say the same for what was inside but it could have been alot worse. I had a good cry about Grandma Stringer's cabinet that she has had who knows how long, and my wedding globe, and all the precious moments I have collected over the years including all the first Christmas figures, etc. Christ was the only figure to come out without a scratch. Lacey came to help me clean up the mess. Thank heaven for good friends and miracles. I didn't even need to punish Garrett. He cried and said he was sorry the whole time I cried which was awhile.

Child Labor?

What is it with peeling potatoes that kids love? My kids run to help when I need potatoes peeled. Ashlyn wanted to help this time. Start them young I say!


Ashlyn trying to be a big girl and do what everyone else is doing.


Do you see the smile? Alec is a great helper!