Zach's First Race!

Zach has been running this summer. At first it was due to mom's encouragement and the incentive of a Border's gift card, but then he discovered that he really enjoyed it. He would run laps around the neighborhood and I would go with him on my bike with Elise in the child seat on the back.
Will ran along with Zach during his first 5K race in Flint, Michigan. Will was his running partner and cheerleader. They were excited before the race started.
I almost missed getting Will and Zach running by at the start of the race, but we cheered as they passed us by.
They finished!! Zach had hoped to go under 30 minutes, but was still happy with a 31 minute result. It was still his best time and great under the conditions, high 80's and very humid!!
Here are my two favorite boys!! They are all hot and sweaty, but glad to have run in a "real" race! (Is it just me, or does Will look more tired than Zach?) Like Father, like son!

An "old" friend

Through a somewhat bizarre series of events, I was able to see my best friend from high school after almost 10 years. It was so awesome to see Ryan, pictured here with his little doll of a girl, Lilly, when we met up with his family in Ohio. It was great to spend the day and get all caught up on what's been happening in the last 10 years.
It was so fun to talk to Ryan and Laurel (sorry Laurel, the picture doesn't do you justice--bad angle, but it was the only one I had!) and I felt as comfortable with Ryan as if we'd always kept in touch. I think it's the sign of a true friend. I totally thought that Laurel was someone that I would have been friends with, even without the Ryan connection. It was fun to hear about how they got to know each other, where they've been, great books and Ryan's radiology stories.
Lilly and Elise were so cute playing together. Elise was definitely the more quiet one, while Lilly was the chatty one...but both very squeezable!
I thought that my mom and dad and siblings would love to see Ryan and his kids...Lilly (Elise's age), Tyler(9), Alison(4), and Malia(7). The kids had a great time together, and Zach and Tyler especially got along (much to Tyler's suprise!:)) and liked playing the Wii and talking about books.
Ryan and Laurel were such great hosts and we hope that we are able to return the favor when Ryan can pull himself away from work. Before we left, Zach said a prayer and was grateful we could see my "old" friend. I am, too!

Locks of Love

My totally cute, sweet Ashley is growing up and I have mixed feelings about it. She has been growing her hair out for several years and decided this summer, before middle school started, that she would cut it off and donate it to "Locks of Love".
We decided to take "before" pictures so that we could remember her long blond hair.
I don't know who was more nervous while she got it cut, her or me! Her face went a deep shade of red when she heard the snip, snip of the scissors, and I felt a little sad to see her little girl ponytail being cut off.
Here are her totally cute "after" pictures! The haircut turned out really nice and she and I were both really happy with it. Zach, in his tactful 9 year old boy way, told her that her new haircut made her look "chubby" (Ashley and I were betting he would say "you look wierd", "chubby" was something a little more creative). I completely disagree. She does look a lot more grown up, though, and that leaves me with mixed feelings. I'm excited for her to have new experiences, but a little sad to see my little girl grow up.
She's really becoming a beautiful young lady! I'm proud of her for donating her hair to such a good cause!

Zach's totally awesome birthday party!

We made up for Zach's traveling birthday by having an awesome laser tag birthday party at ZapZone. You can see my stellar birthday cake making skills with Zach's baseball birthday cake. He thought it was awesome!
Zach has been hoping for a laser tag birthday party for over a year, and the reality was just as fun as he hoped it would be! Any game with strategy, really cool gear and teams with a flag, and he's in!
It must definitely be a boy thing! Based on the very high decibel level that they were describing their amazing moves and comparing scores, I would say they all had a good time!
There's nothing like glow in the dark to make everything much cooler!

Finally- food storage!

Will gave me this great food storage unit for my birthday in February. We finally put it up in July. We are so on top of it!! I am really excited to get all of our food storage organized in our food storage room. The only problem is, the kids will actually know what food we have down there now, and it might disappear faster now!

A traveling birthday

Zach had an interesting 9th birthday this year. He turned 9 at 1:36 am and wanted to be awake at the exact moment. We were traveling back from Missouri and he set his alarm. The alarm went off on his watch, but he didn't wake up. He was all the way in the back of the minivan where we couldn't reach him and so we just got to listen to the alarm for awhile. We finally got him to wake up, celebrated by singing and eating a cookie, and he was soon back to sleep. We got to Grandma and Grandpa's in Indiana after 2 in the morning and got up to go to 9:00 church. We barely made it through Sacrament Meeting. Dad was sitting next to me and the only time I think that he was awake was when I poked him. We gave up and went back to mom and dad's and took a long nap. Grandma helped Zach's birthday feel a little more like a celebration when she made him homemade cinnamon rolls. Every time we see her, he begs her to make them, so he was happy!
I love this picture of the kids with Grandpa sitting on the front porch of their house. They love their grandparents!
Ashley and Natalie felt sorry for Zach that he would spend his whole birthday in the car driving back to Michigan, so they planned a little "car party" for him while we drove, complete with confetti (we're still finding remnants!!) They made up a game they played with him and then watched "National Treasure II" on the DVD player.
We're so glad that Zach is in our family. He definitely adds a mischievous spirit, but also a sweet one. We needed a boy in the family with all these girls. He keeps the girls on their toes with his teasing!

Our Fun Fourth of July!

A vacation with the Herveys just wouldn't be complete without Robert making us his fantastic ribs! We went to Meramac State Park where Robert and Amy were great hosts. They knew just the right places to go and what to do. Roberts ribs were heaven, even for me (and I'm not a big rib eater) and Zach couldn't have been happier.

Has anyone seen Glen or Zach!?
The kids had so much fun playing! I loved just hanging out with family and talking with mom and dad, Amy and Robert and Will. Elise is a mommy's girl and never strayed far from my side.
Afton and Ashley made a very cool fort, but come to think of it, I never saw any kid ever actually go inside it. Of course we had to make the best of the typical brother/sister rivalry and play boys against girls in capture the flag.
We brought our stomp rockets, and I don't know who had more fun doing it- the kids or the adults! I think that Ashley was the best at getting them to go really far, but I think that there at the end Will was catching up. Grandpa liked the hand-held rockets, and Mom and I had a good laugh acting like kids and shooting each other with the squeeze rockets.
We ended our picnic with a great game of softball, and it was fun to see that I could still hit the ball. Will and Grandpa hit home runs every time. We had to remind Ashley and Zach that it was all in good fun when they got a little too competitive!
We all watched fireworks together in a little tiny town and loved spending time together. We sure wish we could see the Herveys more often. It was a great 4th! Happy Birthday America!