Z Sisters update - and still that's all the blogging I've done

SARAH

Last (2) week(s):

• I feel like this pregnancy is affecting me hormonally more than my others have and I've found myself feeling more down and unmotivated and generally unenergetic than I'd like. So there was far too much moping around and taking mid-day naps, not working and not doing anything fun with the kids. Gotta get a handle on all that.
• Executed Halloween - June wore her BYU cheerleader costume for the "real" Halloween on Monday night, but refused to before that to her school party or the elementary school parade. Huck made a very cute BYU football player and Oliver was a total nerd. In true 12-year-old form, Brenden wore the tshirt that says "this is my costume." The boys went off with neighborhood friends, and Huck and I answered the door for a while before joining Scott and June for a short walk around the cul de sac. We made way too much chili for the ward party but it was the cheap canned kind so I didn't feel too bad when I poured two huge pots worth down the drain.
• I did make it to yoga once and ran on the treadmill twice. How much is 8K anyway? I've done 5 miles - does that mean I can do 8K? Will they shut down the finish line if I take more than an hour? I'm not very fast
• Took Brenden to an indoor skatepark in Midvale, and took advantage of being north to bring home Pei Wei for dinner. I sure love that place.
  
• Caught 4 mice. Well actually I had nothing to do with the actual catching except maybe I was the one who saw one first (I was just sitting minding my own business in the living room when a tiny mouse popped out from behind the couch) so I made Scott set the traps and clean them up. The kids think dead mice are NBD and that it's so funny mom won't even look at them.
• Man I really haven't done much the past couple weeks. See point #1 above, I guess.
  

This week:

• Get my hair cut! This is long overdue and I'm hoping will help lift me out of the doldrums a bit. Maybe time for something more dramatic.
• Get the Lower Lights Christmas CD off to duplication and set it up for pre-orders on the website. I'm really excited about this album - it turned out great!
• Get our cub scouts pack re-chartered with the BSA. Not sure why this arduous process must be repeated every year. I guess it's an excuse for them to collect fees more frequently.
  
• I need to take June shopping for some new clothes. She has gotten so picky about what she'll wear. I'm totally dreading this, but seems the only hope to getting her some seasonal clothes that fit her if she's the one who can pick them out. I have to be very careful about where we go, though. She needs new long pants, jeans, long sleeve shirts, dresses, a sweatshirt, and shoes.
  
• Grocery shopping - it has been far too long. Dreading this too.
  
• More yard work - I'm making slow but sure progress to prep the yard for winter. Need to pull out the vegetable garden next.
• Run a couple more times?
  
• GO TO RICHMOND!!! I'm so excited to see everyone this weekend. It will be a whirlwind I'm sure, but super fun and just what I need to look forward to.
  

ANNEE
(you all remember what she looks like, right?)

Last Week

• Halloween! The kids didn't have school on Monday. But I was so happy they didn't. We needed a morning to sleep in and do nothing. I rolled out of bed around 9:30, and got them to agree that I should go for a long run. Got home around 11:30, made pancakes and eggs, which qualified as breakfast and lunch! Spent the afternoon running errands with four kids, which included getting some Papa Murphy pizza's for Halloween dinner night. Did you know they make a jack-o-lantern pizza on Halloween every year? And it's only $6. We've been buying them every year since moving to Colorado.
  
• Subbed twice. Got called in at the last minute for a job on Tuesday. I had a long ago agree to a job on Thursday, subbing for Ruby's teacher. At one point in the day Jane come into Ruby's class too. I have to give my kids tons of credit for being super mature about handling it when their mom is their sub. It makes me proud that we can all act appropriately in those types of situations.
• Spent all day Friday shopping with Darin. I think what prompted the trip was new church clothes for Henry. He's been wearing the same navy blue khakis since last November. With his new ordination as a Deacon, it seemed a good excuse to spiff up his church wardrobe a bit.
  
• Piano started again! Our teacher has been out on maternity leave. We love that she's back, but MAN it's a lot of work to have four kids taking piano lessons. It's my greatest challenge of persevering! I hope I triumph in the end.
  
• Spent a whole lot of time wearing my running shoes with jeans. I got new shoes just over a week ago. I know they are going to be great shoes. I know they are! But they are making my toes numb for any run longer than three miles. I'm kind of nervous about the situation.
  
• Darin and Henry went on an 11 year-old scout camp out. They thought they were freezing. I tried reminding them how much more freezing they would have been if we still lived in Colorado!
• Busy Sunday as per usual. Totally awesome to have Henry passing the Sacrament for the first time, with his dad. That was a great Sunday. He looked super handsome too. I had early morning meetings, followed by sharing time. Came home, to start getting ready to host the missionaries for dinner. This included taking down our Halloween decorations. They were good while they lasted. Lucky for me, Darin let me sneak off for a long nap while my rolls were rising. I don't think I would have made it through the day without that nap!!!
  

This Week:

• Monday morning 6:15am call to be George's sub. I said "yes" only for the novelty. Otherwise I probably would have said no. Ruby was up in the night. Then Jane was up in the early morning. I was tired! Let's hope we have a good day here in the 4th grade.
• MARATHON!!! I'm running a marathon on Saturday?!?!! Ready or not...
• My upper hamstring is still bothering me. I'm wondering if I should buy the groupon for the massage and hope that I can cash it in sometime this week?
  
• Subbing for Jane's class on Thursday.
• Driving to Richmond on Friday. Can't wait to see everyone. The excitement over the reunion is helping me not worry so much about the race. It's going to be fine, right?
• I'd love to start a quilt this week. I have this great idea. I really want to see it come to life. I doubt there is time. It's a dream, on the wish list for this week.

IE LI

Last Week:

• Did my 9 mile and 5 mile runs. I will have to do my 10 miler on Monday.
  
• Trick or treating.
  
• Took Stephen and Mi Na to the farm while Mei Li was at school.
• Didn't do any laundry. Our washing machine is still broken and we're waiting for the replacement part to arrive. I have never craved doing laundry as much as I do right now.
• My visiting teacher took our family pictures on Saturday.
  
• Helped with an Eagle Scout project.
• Had our first parent teacher conference. Mei Li is doing great and we are so proud of her. We also saw the picture of Mei Li's admirer. For some reason, I was relieved to see that he was little and wore glasses.
• Went to my optometry appointment. My prescription has improved since my last check-up.
• Had my Chinese neighbors over for dinner on Saturday. They helped me translate the characters on the headstones of my ancestors. As soon as my neighbors left, I entered all of the information into Family Search.
• Had Sunday dinner with Rachel, Ken, and Christine.

This Week:

• 10 mile run
• Mi Na's doctor appointment
• Mei Li and Stephen don't have school Monday or Tuesday so I'm thinking of taking the kids on another fall drive.
• Start planning Stephen's birthday party.
  
• Make some headway on Christmas presents and advent calendar.
• Richmond half marathon! Can't wait!
  

RACHEL

Last Week:

• Had training offsite all week. It was a nice change of pace. One of the instructors was a retired PwC partner who reminded me so much of dad. One day he asked how many of us change our voicemail message every single day. Everyone was SHOCKED that someone might actually do that. It reminded me so much of dad who might continue to change his voicemail recording every single day until his last.
• Helped CZ rent a car on Tuesday night at the DCA airport.
  
• Wednesday night I fell asleep for the night at 9pm before Ken even got home from work. Oops.
• Thursday our friend came over who was in town for another accounting firm.
• Friday I had to get to training super early to turn in our final paper. Ken went to court officially representing me as my lawyer and got a parking ticket dismissed. How exciting!
• Bday dinner at J. Gilberts. It's a great local restaurant which is always PACKED.
  
• Friday night we made the turkey brine. Saturday at 6am we put the turkey in the brine.
  
• Saturday we went out to Lucketts to see their holiday display and browse for xmas decorations.
  
• Attended a technique class at William Sonoma where they taught about turkey prep. Used the extra discount for attending the class to FINALLY pull the trigger on our knife set (Wusthoff Classic Ikon). It only took one full year!
• Sunday dinner at Steve's house. The chili was delicious!

This Week:

• Continue with the Thanksgiving practice and make an apple pie for Thursday's enrichment meeting.
• Organize the guest room. It needs some serious attention. I'm tired of it being the catch-all.
• Clean everything in preparation for visitors.
• Buy the last pot I've been planning to buy for the last year. It's 25% off, so time to pull the trigger.
  
• Work diligently each day. A full week out of the office has me feeling behind! Need to get everything from fall busy season wrapped up and filed away.
• Mom comes to town!
• Caravan down to Richmond with our friend Severin, in town for another interview.
• Sarah comes to Richmond! And Dad comes to Richmond!
  
• Run the Richmond Half Marathon!!! Cheer on Annee in the full marathon! I'm getting really excited about it all. I printed out the course today and planned everything out. It is going to be so great!
• Celebrate ONE YEAR OF MARRIAGE. Wow. Think of a gift or something?
  
• Say bye to Sarah and drive back up to DC.
• I'm so excited for this week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CHRISTINE

Last Week:

• Started work! I made it to my first day despite my car issues and made it through the whole week. It's definitely going to take some discipline getting on a good schedule so that I can get sleep while also having a life outside of work. Thinking back to last week I feel like I really didn't do a whole lot other than work as I was getting used to the new schedule. My first day of work seriously felt like my birthday with all of the messages and calls I was getting from people, it felt so nice to be remembered and to realize how many people are interested in and following my life. Ben and Ryan came and picked me up from work at the end of my first day since I was stranded with no car and took me out to dinner to celebrate the new job. It was all very nice and fun.
• Spent a lot of time trying to decide what to do with the Jetta. Friday we successfully got it towed from Morgantown, WV to Vienna, VA by combining the resources of Geico and AAA. A Geico tow truck driver picked the car up in Morgantown and dropped it off at a McDonald's 56 miles away in Granstville, MD, leaving the key on the driver side wheel. The AAA driver then picked the car up from the McDonald's and towed it the rest of the way to a garage in Vienna. I was glad it all went smoothly and worked out despite the actual Geico and AAA people telling me that it couldn't be done and that the car couldn't be picked up or dropped off with no one with it. I knew that if I could just get to the actual tow truck drivers and explain the situation to them they'd be totally fine doing whatever. Luckily I was right. The car is now at the shop and luckily the issues don't seem to be as bad as I had originally thought them to be so it shouldn't be too bad to fix.
• Friday after a full day at my real job I went and worked the closing shift at Anthropologie. Yes, I do still officially work there and haven't told them I'm planning on leaving anytime soon. Luckily for some reason they're willing to keep me on the schedule despite my requests to work no more than one night a week and to have at least a couple weekends off each month. I'm not really sure why they're ok with it, but as long as they are I guess I'll stick with it. It was actually kind of nice working there and being on my feet after having sat at a computer all day, but I was ready to go home by the time the store closed and ended up having to stay until midnight, so that was a little rough.
• Saturday I took advantage of the weekend and had a fun day playing mini golf, going to Cafe Rio, and finishing out the day at the Sounds concert at the Black Cat in DC. It's funny how all the sudden now that I'm working full-time the weekends have taken on a whole new meaning. They're actually significant and much more appreciated now.
• Had a delicious Sunday dinner at Steve and Ie Li's. It's always so great and fun to be with family and see all the kids.

This Week:

• Continue to work on getting into a good schedule. I need to be sure to go to sleep at a decent hour because that really determines how the next day will go.
• Figure out how to make time for exercising. Last week I just gave up on it while I was dealing with car issues, but this week I need to be much better about at least running or doing something.
• Try to bring a lunch to work everyday. Getting lunch everyday is definitely expensive and not in the budget, so I need to plan ahead each night so I have something to take the next day.
• Go to dinner with Melissa. It's crazy that even though we're in the same city now it's nearly impossible to have time to see each other.
• Go to the DMV to renew my license. I actually made it to the DMV last Saturday morning but unfortunately the system was down so no DMV anywhere in the state of Virginia could help me get it done. Totally lame.
• Drive to Richmond Friday after work for more family time! I'm totally excited and still committed to running the 8K, although I'm totally ok with walking part of it. I'm mainly just going for the family aspect and I'm so excited for that!

Z Sisters update - again

I hate getting out of order here and so far hosting the sisters update once every 6 weeks has been an effective way to force me to catch up before each one. But alas not this time. I have to move on even though I still haven't written about the end of summer, or the first day of school, or Brenden's 12th birthday, or many other things. Some of that stuff is covered in my past entries to the sisters updates here (Annee's 8/21), here (Ana's 8/31), here (Ie Li's 9/6), here (Rachel's 9/12), or here (Christine's 9/26).

Maybe I'll get back to blogging one day. In the mean time, here is an update from several of the sisters...

Christine

Last week:

• My pod arrived on Monday with all my stuff! I was so excited to finally get everything, especially my bed. Monday night Ben and Josh came and helped bring everything in from the pod. Then I spent a few days unpacking and deciding where I wanted everything to go, then Ryan and Ben came over Thursday night to put all the big things in place. It's slowly all coming together, definitely a process, but I'm happy to finally be feeling settled somewhere.
• Worked Tuesday and Saturday. I thought I was scheduled to work Friday and went in ready to work, but apparently there had been a miscommunication and I wasn't working. Things have been kind of crazy and the store and I guess some girls have been quitting or just not showing up so the schedule is getting all messed up.
• Went to Truckeroo Friday afternoon. This is an event that happens once a month through the summer where about 30 of DC's food trucks gather together in one place for the day so you can come in and try whichever ones you like. Thanks to the advice of Rachel I went and it was actually pretty cool and fun to try some of the different foods.
• Went karaoking with a group of people from church. It was pretty fun and good to meet some people, but I have a hard time getting really into karaoke.
• Enjoyed conference from home on Saturday and from the church on Sunday. I loved it all.

This week:

• Work. A lot. Basically everyday. They keep calling and asking if I can come in for more shifts, I guess I'm reaping the benefits of some girls quitting or disappearing?
• Continue to unpack and get everything in place. It's a process.
• Study. Somehow October is turning into my busiest month, but I'm still determined to take at least a couple tests before I start, so I will study.
• Run. These past couple weeks I have not been running nearly enough, time to get serious about the November race.
• These are the only things I'm allowing myself to do this week, I have to stay focused.

Ie Li

Last Week:

• Ran three times. My Saturday rainy, 4-mile run was my first run without any significant foot or hip pain. I am hoping and praying this continues as I have a lot of work ahead of me. My plan is to increase my long runs by two miles each week from here on out. I'm looking forward to it. I remembered that I actually like to run.
• Mei Li's farm field trip on Thursday. Loved it.
• Excused Mei Li from school on Friday so we could to go to Mount Vernon with Michiko and the boys. The weather was perfect, and of course, Mount Vernon was amazing.
• Our whole family plus Michiko and boys, drove down to Charlottesville to tour Monticello on Saturday. Monticello is breathtakingly beautiful. I want to go back and spend more time there.
• We had this great idea that we would listen to the first session of Conference on Steve's phone on the way to Monticello, and the second session on the drive back. It only kind of worked. The signal was only strong enough for us to listen to two talks. It was disappointing. And now we are catching up.
• Went to a thrift store, and purchased two large beautiful mirrors for $30 total. Both need to be painted. I think they are going above our couch and above our mantle. Finally.
• Made two batches of cinnamon rolls on Conference Sunday for the little army we have here. I've never made cinnamon rolls before, but they turned out great. They are definitely a once, maybe twice a year indulgence.

This Week:

• Run.
• Join Michiko on a couple of adventures. You can read about her adventures here.
• Steve and I are going to LA for one day. I know it's crazy, but we're leaving the kids and we really wanted to be at Will K's wedding.
• Sand mirror frames.
• Choose a paint color for the living room mirror!
• Get a new nephew? We love you, Ana!

Sarah

Last week:

• Potty-trained Huck. You'll notice this wasn't one of my goals last week, and was quite a spontaneous decision on Monday morning to tackle this project. On Monday I took his pants off and didn't leave the house and I just watched him like a hawk all day. Everywhere he went I'd follow him. Everywhere I went I made him come with me. When I'd see it coming we'd run to the potty so by the end of the day he pretty much got the picture. He was not used to my undivided attention, though, and it was starting to bother him that he never had any alone time, so a couple of times he tried to tell me "Mommy stay here, I go downstairs". I don't know if that's a good or bad thing (for him to not be used to so much attention) but either way it worked. By Tuesday he was starting to tell me when he needed to go beforehand. We've had a couple little accidents but nothing too major. There is serioulsy nothing cuter than a new toddler in undies.
• Brenden and Oliver babysat until midnight on Friday night - this is major and opens up all sorts of options for us. We had put Huck & June to bed first, although Brenden did have to read June one more story and sit with her until she fell asleep. Oliver fell asleep on the couch and Brenden stayed up watching TV later than he usually gets to. Wins all around.
• Re-potted a bunch of plants - moved the lemon tree up a pot size and finally gave Rachel's orphaned plant a permanent home in one of my favorite pots.
• Finally got back on the treadmill a couple of times.
• Finished George's xmas stocking (take 2). Hope this one isn't too small now.
• Started a knitting project to keep me awake through conference - made it halfway through (the project, not conference). Not sure if/when I'll ever finish it.
• Took Oliver & June to their first day of gymnastics and they both loved it. Need to figure out a better way to entertain Huck for 2 hours while we sit and wait. It is very close to the Springville Antiques Mall - so that would entertain me but probably not do much good for Huck.
• Got June's painted dresser back and it's super cute. Unfortuantely I didn't precisely measure the spot where I was going to put it - need to figure out a new arrangement now.
• Watched General Conference - tried to find "quiet" activities (jigsaw puzzles, k'nex, legos, etc) to occupy the kids in the room so they could at least absorb some of the spirit of the messages. Unfortuantely they all needed so much hands on help I was pretty distracted much of the time so I guess it sort of backfired.

This Week:

• Figure out a rain-out plan for the Rooftop Concert Series final show with The Lower Lights on Friday. The forecast is looking rather bleak which is very disappointing. I'm still hoping for a miracle too.
• Otherwise get ready for the final Rooftop Concert Series show on Friday. I'm excited for the show, but ready to have a bit of a break for a few months.
• Sew living room curtains. I got my fabric in the mail - the in-laws come on Thursday so unfortunately there's no longer time to have someone else sew them. That's ok - nothing fancy - pole pocket & a hem. I can do it. (psyching myself up)
• Celebrate Mom's birthday - I really love living so close to them and getting to see them easily and often.
• Work
• Run
• Sleep
• Probably give up on the thought of getting out to delivery thank you notes to the businesses who donated to the silent auction. That's probably ok, right?

Rachel is excused due to BUSY SEASON (i.e. 90+ hour work weeks)

Annee is excused too (can't remember her reason right now)

Ana is excused due to HAVING A BABY
(hope it's ok to post this picture of beautiful William Todd Zackrison & mama)

Sisters update - welcome Mom!!

MOM (woohoo!)

Last week:

• We bought a new house! We're happy this will give us more room to have friends and family over. It's 521 W Riverwood Circle, Provo. That's just north of 3700 N (Will's Pit Stop St) and about as far west of University Ave as we are now. Closing is in a week, Monday Aug 15.
• I signed up as a temp cashier at the BYU Bookstore. I'll be helping during the Book Rush at the start of the semesters only. I'm pretty excited about doing this. I think it will be fun and invigorating.
• Climbed to the "Y" four times in the morning. The idea is to improve my health.

This week:

• See if any of my tomatoes start to ripen.
• Enjoy some days with the Wiley kids while Sarah and Scott get away. Win-win.
• Climb to the "Y" a few more times.
• Organize for a move. Thankfully we aren't giving up the townhouse immediately so we can take the time we need.
• Get cash register training. I'm also excited about having a discount on books and things, including framing.
• Continue my reading and studying of Mosiah. The timeline takes focus.

CHRISTINE

Last week:

- Spent a few relaxing days in Morgantown to start off the week.
- Ran twice. I'm becoming familiar with the nearby high school track. I really don't like running on tracks, it gets too boring pretty quickly, but I am liking the convenience of it and since I prefer running at night I think it's probably safer running there than on the streets.
- Worked at Anthropologie on Friday and Saturday. I was lucky enough to be visited by Rachel on both days, it's always fun to have family around. It's interesting getting to know this new store and noticing the differences between it and Salt Lake. I literally just showed up on Friday and without any introduction or tour around the store was just thrown in.
- Looked at a few apartments. I'm slowly narrowing down and hopefully will pick a place by the end of this week.
- Didn't study, not good.

This week:
- Jon's finally actually getting a small summer break before school starts back up so he's in town for a few days. We are exploring DC and finding some fun activities.
- Look at more apartments and hopefully pick a place!
- Work Wednesday and Saturday.
- Go to Uncle John's lake house? I'm still a little unsure if this is for sure, but we've all been talking about going for a few days to enjoy some lake time.

ANNEE
[insert imaginary picture of Annee]

Last Week:

• We went to the beach for a day! It was so wonderful to see that it's an option. I want to go back once a week from here on out. But Darin says we can't go this week. In the end, it's still a lot of driving for one single day. But in my opinion it's totally worth it!! We found a public beach parking lot that had showers and bathrooms. We brought a cooler full of drinks so that we'd stay cool and hydrated. The kids swam in the water for nearly three hours straight. Bliss.
• Poor week of running. I don't know what happened. Except to say, even getting up by 6:30 or 7 means it's still hot and muggy. This sucks the running life right out of me. I was confined to the treadmill for most of the week, and just generally uninspired to run.
• Re-connected with the sewing machine, and it was totally worth it. The quilt is seriously within view of the finish line. I'm more excited than I can express.
• Was in charge of primary sharing time on Sunday. Had to help George and Ruby write talks.

This Week:

• Start thinking about what the kids actually need before they go back to school. I know the girls at least need shoes. It will still be unbearably hot when they start school, so new clothes seem superfluous. But maybe a single new outfit? We found red TOMS in Jane's size at Nordstrom yesterday. I couldn't resist. They will be her back to school shoes. She loves them as much as I do. I shouldn't be so excited about it, but I am! Discovered that Ruby's foot is a half-size smaller than Jane's. Jane said this is because she is eight minutes older!
• Let the girls have their dance-show here at the house with the neighbor down the street. Invite their whole family to come and watch.
• We're going to Atlanta! Leaving Thursday. Coming back Sunday. I'm excited about seeing a couple of different friends while we're out there. Darin's mostly excited about the Braves game. The kids think the Coke Museum will be amazing. The motivation to go was a wedding reception. We shouldn't forget about that!
• It's looking like another poor week of running. I might be missing another long run this weekend! This is not turning out exactly how I had planned. Need to figure out how to get it done on Thursday morning before we leave?!
• The usual pre-trip prep, laundry, cleaning, eating at home more than not, etc. etc.
• Long live summer!!

RACHEL

Last Week

• Met Ken for lunch at Maggiano's on Monday which was a special treat.
• Visited CZ working at the Tyson's Anthro. It's really fun to see her there. Considered buying a cute skirt but it's just way too long. The search continues for a soft pleated skirt...
  
• Saw Crazy Stupid Love on Saturday
• Painted my nails with OPI's You Don't Know Jacques. Highly recommend.
• Decided I still do want china and scoped out different patterns at the department stores. Haven't decided what yet but the current favorites are Lenox Iced Pirouette and Wedgwood Gold Vera Lace.
• Successfully skipped treats every day. And movie popcorn. And all things delicious. The scale is responding thank heavens.
  
• Bought a new external monitor so I can set up a complete work station at home. I'm going to try to come home earlier each night this busy season.
• Played games with the fam + WV Jon at Steve & Ie Li's house.
• Did everyone see the article about Sarah in City Weekly this week?
  

This Week:

• So excited to see The Help!! Comes out Wednesday. I can't decide which day to go.
• Costco run for water bottles. We're on our last flat.
• Get my rings cleaned and inspected.
• Schedule a haircut
  
• More resume changing and help submitting job applications.
• Our paychecks arrive Friday which means I get to update our budgets and envelopes! Have I expressed my deep and undying love for Mvelopes? I love that program!! Let me know if you're interested and I'll try to convince you fully.
• I guess we're going to Uncle John's Lake House in PA this weekend?? Flex at work on Friday. Come back Saturday.
• Try to find someone with Harry Potter 5 & 6 audiobooks to borrow/download.
• PSA: The price of oil per barrel is dropping like a rock so avoid buying gas until the end of the week.

IE LI

Last week:

• Swam
• Took the kids to the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum on Wednesday
• Had a piano delivered to our house on Friday
• Summer school
  
• Played in puddles.
• Played in the sprinklers.
• Had dessert and played a game with Christine, John, Rachel, and Ken.
• Mei Li had princess ballet camp, which afforded me a few hours in the week to take two children to stores instead of three. It makes a big difference. I think Stephen enjoyed being the big boy.
• Got up at least a half hour before the kids woke up everyday. I am hoping to make this a permanent habit.
• Made whole wheat bread with my new mixer. The results were less than stellar. I need to practice some more.
• Made pretzels as a family on Saturday.
• Attended the Redskins fan appreciation day on Saturday.

Next week:

• Go to Cafe Rio. As much as I love Cafe Rio, I haven't been to either of the DC area ones that recently opened up. I think I'll do that tomorrow.
• Search for a mirror and artwork.
• Another trip to the Air and Space Museum?
  
• Summer school
• Swim
• Get up early and go to bed early
• Pack and go to the lake house in Pennsylvania with Rachel, Ken, and Christine (maybe John?)

SARAH

Last Week:

• Updated my blog
• Put on another great Rooftop Concert - 2000+ people attended, the weather was perfect, and music was great. So fun.
• Let each kid choose a new toy to open when we left town, which ultimately made them so excited for us to leave they were literally pushing us out the door.
• Drove to Capo Beach with 3 other couples. Spent the weekend doing NOTHING which was sublime. I really love my kids but man oh man is it ever nice to get away once in a while.

This Week:

• Oliver goes to chinese camp - it's our first step back to the regular scheduled life of the school year.
  
• I really need to clean and move the postal box cabinet into the house this week. It's really in the way in the garage. I think I've figured out where to put it, but it's going to require moving 2 other big pieces of furniture too.
• Settle finances from last rooftop show - send out checks
  
• Better get back to work this week - I've slacked quite a bit
• Yardwork
• Exercise

I took 4 kids by myself to California

Scott had to work, and that's ok. Dads do that and I think it's a good example for the kids to see. We've gone on 2 fun vacations all together already this summer, in addition to endless fun times in between, so it's not like the kids were being deprived or anything. Of course it's always more fun when Dad's around, but I was unapologetic that it just wasn't an option this time. So our choices were either to stay home in the boring dead heat of the Utah desert, or go to the beach without him. Being that Zackrison women can do anything, it didn't really occur to me that I couldn't or shouldn't try to do that drive and trip on my own. Of course it would be hard, but I was being careful not to call it a "vacation" and rather think of it as a "change or scenery". Besides, there are almost no circumstances where the beach isn't better than the desert. So, that being said...

I spent Friday doing laundry, packing, and cleaning. We loaded the bikes on the back of the van and set off bright and early Saturday morning. The kids slept for a long time, and we didn't stop until St. George! We got breakfast at Jack in the Box and got back on the road and didn't stop again until Barstow. We had one other mini-bathroom-stop and made it to the beach while it was still light outside.

The kids immediately got to work playing together in the sand while Stephanie BBQ-ed hotdogs for us. It was so nice to be out of the car.

The next morning we woke up and Huck and June and I set off on our bikes to get donuts. Bike riding at the beach is pretty much heaven on earth to me, and it's fun to have June such a willing and able companion. Huck loves riding along too.

Huck was blown away by the train that goes by about every 20 minutes right in front of the house. He set up shop to watch it up close, and when not in his position here would run out as soon as he'd hear it to try to catch a glimpse.

The ocean was rough at that particular beach spot - rockier than I've ever seen it. Brenden and June had such fond memories of swimming in the waves at the beach in North Carolina, so they were anxious to try it out here. I went out with them the first day and they were both quite disappointed. So we did a lot of hole digging and playing around the house and bike riding instead.

Not having Scott there probably made it more boring for the kids and certainly more work for me. Huck and June were having trouble taking turns playing baseball, so came up with an obvious solution when they found 2 bats and 2 balls - I could just throw to them at the same time.










Riding to the end of the street is an easy excursion - we did that a couple times each day. We also rode to the harbor to get ice cream and around the parking lot to jump over the speed bumps.





One day I took the kids down to San Clemente beach to try to find some more swim-friendly spots. It was much less rocky, so the older boys spent a while out in the water, but the current was strong and waves were kind of scary, so pretty soon they were all on the shore riding in the white-water as the waves crashed.

We got fresh chips and salsa from Island Style Tacos every day. I did a little shopping and the kids played some video games. Laurel was there a few days, Brett was there a couple days, Webb and Truman came for one day and a night. We celebrated Laurel's birthday with an ice cream cake.























On Tuesday we went on an excursion to get out of the house and ended up at the petting zoo in downtown San Juan Capistrano - right by their cute old train station. We called it Huck's Birthday Party to justify going in and doing something he'd enjoy even if the rest of the kids weren't that excited. In the end I think everyone had a good time. This was a funny place with few regulations and lots of hands-on opportunities with the animals. They sold bowls of carrots and lettuce at the front gate and you could go in the bunny or goat pens and feed and pet them or feed the llamas and ostrich and horses and cows through the fence. They had a mineral mining activity the older kids enjoyed and a playground for the younger ones.

The kids took a train ride around the circle, and they even all went on pony rides too. We got frozen yogurt afterward - it ended up being a great outing and I'd say a great way to celebrate Huck's birthday.

We slept at the beach house 4 nights and then packed up and headed up to La Canada. I had to go on a one-day business trip to northern California, so Laurel graciously accepted the challenge of watching all the kids for the day. She was still smiling when I got back that night, and the kids were all still alive, so I think it all went ok.

Brett invited the boys to go to the X Games with him on Friday. They were so excited when he called, having just been watching it on tv and dreaming of going in person, running around the house singing "we're going to the xgames, we're going to the xgames". Sounds like they had a great time watching everything up close with the great all-access passes he had. Having such a cool Uncle Brett comes with a lot of perks for young boys who love extreme sports.

While the boys were gone, I took Huck & June to spend the day in South Pasadena (after the requisite stop at Green Street to restock our Dianne Salad Dressing supply). We went on a train ride, got cupcakes, went to garfield park, and did a little antiques shopping. We drove through our old neighborhood and past our old house 3 times, and went to Trader Joe's. I sure love that town. I had a great time hanging out there all day (plus came away with the cutest little side table and a stack of old books and hobnail pots - that's about all that would fit in my car).

Unfortunately I don't really have any more pictures. I was doing pretty well remembering to pull my phone out at first. But I'm sad to not have documented the next part of the trip.

Friday night we headed down to San Diego to visit Zack & Ana & Jack in their new home. I was excited to have family back out west with us so didn't want to miss the chance to get together with them. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of our day with them. We got there late Friday night and slept at their house, then woke up Saturday morning to cooking bacon & sausage, chocolate croissants and chocolate chip pancakes. After breakfast we headed out to the beach. After seeing the cruel beach in Capistrano I told Zack we needed to get a taste of a nice gentle California Beach. They took us to La Jolla Shores and it was indeed the perfect swimming beach. Unfortunately the sun never decided to come out, so it was a little chilly, but the kids played out in the water for a long time, and when they got tired of that we went over to the beach playground and played there for a while.

While Zack & Ana had the boys at the beach, I took June & Huck to the nearby Aquarium. For some reason June had gotten it in her head that while we were in San Diego she really wanted to go to Sea World. I wasn't about to tackle that one on my own so we found a different aquarium to visit. It was fine and seemed to satisfy her need on a much more manageable scale for me.

After the beach and aquarium and playground, we headed back to Zack & Ana's for delicious take out chinese and the kids played outside in the cul de sac with some neighbor kids. June and Jack saw some wild bunnies hopping around and spent the next hour or so building bunny traps. Ana promised them that if they caught a bunny they could keep it as a pet, which really motivated them to work hard. They build 3 traps for their soon-to-be-pets Butterscotch,
Buster, and Love, they found some carrots to use as bait, and spent about 10 minutes out watching and waiting. They came in to report that catching bunnies is really hard and then we went to bed with the promise that Jack would send us a bunny if he was able to catch one after we left.

We packed up the car and headed home bright and early Sunday morning. The drive home was pretty much as uneventful as the drive there - we made one long stop in Vegas to find a roller coaster - ended up at Circus Circus at the world's only indoor double loop double corkscrew coaster, after having been turned away at New York New York's roller coaster since Oliver was 1/2 inch too short. Huck and June and I rode the merry go round while we waited. We got home while it was still light out and everyone was so excited to see Scott - and discovered that he'd installed a projector and screen in the basement while we were away.

3 more weeks until school starts.

Summer 2011 - is it really almost over?!

[Insert lame excuses about not blogging forever being so far behind and how time flies and we're so busy blah blah blah]

Here are a few fun highlights from our summer so far (and by "highlight" I mostly just mean "something we have a picture of")

June

When we got back from our big East Coast trip, we got the kids signed up for swimming lessons at the country club - I was excited about this since this is where I'd like them to eventually do swim team, so it was a step in getting them acquainted and familiar there. After lessons they got to spend some time going off the diving boards, which was a highlight. All the kids have made great progress, and really it's just a matter of practicing the strokes more at this point. June needs to be willing to practice with no goggles in order to progress to the next level - her goggles have become a real security blanket for her so I'm not sure if/when/how that will happen.

On June 20 we sent Brenden off to Camp Big Springs - week-long sleep-away camp for all 5th graders in Provo. We missed him a lot and his absence left Oliver more freed up to pick on June, but are glad he had a good time. He came back very dirty but excited to have made some new friends and had some fun experiences.

Looking back at the calendar reminds me that Oliver had a day of cub scout day camp in June, we celebrated Father's day for both Scott and Grandpa Z and Grandpa Z's birthday, Brenden & Oliver both had some dental work done, and we listened to the Beatles Abbey Road album a lot.

July

by Justin Hackworth

July started off with a bang when on July 1st we had our next Rooftop Concert which featured The Abbey Road Show - a group of local allstar musicians who got together to play the Abbey Road album from start to finish. Scott played guitar with a group of about 15 other musicians and singers and the whole thing was truly magical. The music was great, the camaraderie visible on stage was fun to watch, and the fireworks during the encore were epic. The crowd was amazed and the whole evening went over very well. So fun.

by Justin Hackworth

We hired a security crew this time so I got to wear this nifty walkie-talkie headset which felt pretty silly but very official.

by Justin Hackworth

It's kind of crazy to see how big this whole concert series has become. But Provo is a gentle place so the crowds have been manageable and so far it's still been really fun to work on.

After the show on Friday, we spent the rest of the weekend celebrating the 4th of July. We watched the Stadium of Fire fireworks on Saturday night, did our own fireworks with friends on Monday night, watched the hot air balloons (not) launch on Monday (it was too windy but that was kind of dramatic too), and watched the parade. It was fun to have Brett in town for the festivities.

The boys have spent a lot of time this summer riding their bikes and looking for good spots to jump and do tricks. We discovered a bike park in Eagle Mountain, have gone to several different skate parks, and the boys go out "street riding" sometimes (i.e. riding around town looking for different curbs and cracks in the sidewalk to launch jumps over).

In fact, we took advantage of the fact that Brett was in town and put him to work operating heavy machinery.
We rented a mini-excavator and built a little bike jump park up in the vacant land above our house. The boys worked on that in the dead heat of summer every day coming back dirty and hot and sweaty, but the outcome has been great.

We've ended up with a ton of these types of movies from Brenden's Go Pro camera - this is him riding the jumps we built by our house. I think he was out there by himself this day.

IDAHO

On July 7 we packed up and headed to Lake Pond Oreille in Sandpoint, Idaho with the Wileys. We stayed at this amazing house right on the lake with it's own doc and rolling hills and glass doors and windows from floor to ceiling. It was breathtakingly beautiful and peaceful.

We watched bald eagles swoop for fish and played checkers and ping pong and went boating one day. We ate good food and everyone made a little progress in their respective books/work/knitting projects.















The kids spent PLENTY of time in the jacuzzi, and we took advantage of the grassy hill and built a super slip-n-slide.

We went exploring a few times into the cute town of Sandpoint wherein we discovered this beautiful bank of old postal boxes that I just couldn't live without.

Most importantly the kids got along well together and made memories together and we enjoyed each others company. Thanks Grandma & Grandpa Wiley for making it all possible!


What else?
We've been to Seven Peaks a few times - a couple times with Scott

and once even with June's best friends who used to live next door (Raeanna is 2 years older than June - they get along very well in spite of their huge height difference).

The boys went to rock climbing camp again this year for a week. Their leader took me aside afterward to tell me he thinks they're great climbers and suggested they join their competition team. I'm of course proud of them and happy for them to find a physical activity they enjoy and are good at, but the idea of them getting really good at rock climbing frankly scares me a little too much. That might sound funny since I don't really ever worry about them bike riding or motorcycle riding or jumping off the high dive, but somehow rock climbing seems different. Maybe I've just seen too many movies. In any case I'm sure we'll continue with it a bit and see where it goes.

The Lower Lights had a show up in Logan - beautiful area, great show, funny crowd.

Huck had his 2-year well baby checkup and passed with flying colors (65% weight, 98% height, 94% head). His speech has really exploded the past couple of weeks which has been fun to watch. I think he is further along at this age than my others were, which makes me hopeful maybe he'll pass through the "terrible twos" a bit faster too. He still has a ton of energy and screams more than I'd like and can be rather intense, but he is very funny and cute. He has started to express interest in potty training, and even been successful a couple of times, so maybe I'll take a stab at it early with him.

In a desperate attempt to facilitate some at-home outdoor entertainment, I bought this "super fun" backyard slide/pool. It took a long time and a lot of pumping to get it all setup and the whole time I was sure the fun it would enable would last all of 5 minutes. But to my surprise it lasted for a couple hours that day and a couple hours the next. For the next 3 days it sat out there unused and killed the grass underneath it, and now it's all deflated and crumpled on the side of the house pretty much forgotten. So that's about $10/hour for fun, which I guess is about the same as any other activity we could have thought of, so I shouldn't feel bad about that.

So long for now, partner.

P.S. For anyone who's following our "weekly" sister updates, you can find them here:
June 28 at Annee's
July 7 at Ana's
July 14 at Ie Li's
July 24 at Rachel's
August 1 at Christine's