Moving Right Along...to Clarissa!

Shortly before the 4th of July my sister Clarissa came to visit us! She came for a whole month and we all had a fantastic time during her visit. She got to watch our spectacular neighborhood fireworks and light a few of her own. Fireworks are against the law in our hometown, so this was a new thing for her. She really loved that! This picture was taken at the zoo. We have a family pass for the zoo and we had a really good time there with the kids.

The Point Defiance Zoo has a room full of parakeets. You can purchase a popsicle stick with bird seed on them and feed the birds. Sammy actually held onto her stick while this bird had a snack. The kids love this stuff!

We also went strawberry picking with Clarissa. I try to go every year and make freezer jam from the berries. We had a good time and Clarissa had never been berry picking before, so it was a good out door activity.

We also went beach camping at Pacific Beach while Clarissa was here.
Pacific Beach has a small camp ground and a quiet and remote little beach. It is the perfect place to go camping and have some beachy fun with the kids. We had a great time. Our good friends the Roeths came with us, which made it super fun! We all got sunburned, as you can see, because as I completely forgot, you get the worst sunburns in overcast weather! Ahhh...


Clarissa and Jake getting ready for a hot dog over the fire.



Sammy with Becca, Eleanor, and Rachel Roeth



The whole gang roasting hot dogs with sand on them. Not the finest meal I've ever had, but definitely the most challenging. We should have gone to the hamburger stand in town! The kids had a great time though and thought our many mishaps were funny, until they had to eat crunchy hot dogs!

Back Again! A Summer of Fun!

After a very long hiatus, I have decided to start blogging again. I have had several requests and will try to do some catch up. My first effort will show the super fun weekend I had in Cali for my birthday.

Baby sis Clarissa and I on the train to the Getty Art Museum in LA.

Mom and I in the gardens at the Getty. It was a really beautiful day!

My sweet little neice Jillian in her blessing dress. She was blessed while I was visiting and I was extemely excited to meet her and be there for her special day. She is my very first
neice and a special little gal!

The Many Costumes of Jake

I have recently been going through all of my digital pictures in an effort to try and complete my boys' baby books. Whilst making that effort, I have stumbled upon a wide variety of pictures of Jake dressed in strange and wondrous costumes. I thought you might enjoy the trip down memory lane with me.

Sammy's Baptism

So, here are the pictures you've all been waiting for. The day that Sammy has been waiting for finally came and she was baptized. We had a whole bunch of family come from So. Cal. for the blessed event and it was a really fun week. Granny arrived first and kicked off the festivities. The kids love having her here and spending some quality Granny time!

Then my Dad, brother Chris and sister Clarissa joined the group. We spent Saturday in Seattle at the Science fiction museum and EMP. We also hit the Crab Pot on the water front for a little crab cook goodness, as you can see below.

There was much tickling to be caught up with. As you can see Papa was a primary target. Even during his nap. I admit, I suggested it, but the boys thought it was a great idea. They tickled my Dad for a good 5-10 minutes before he actually woke up!

My inlaws arrived Friday night with David's brother Ben and David's sister Erika rounded out the party goers on Saturday morning. Saturday evening we had another pizza party and opened presents from all of the family. Sammy got her first set of scriptures with her name on them from David and I. She loves them and spent the entire 2 hours of stake conference reading them and pointing out scriptures to me. Love that girl!


This funny little picture of Clare was taken after she opened her present from Granny. She got Abby Cadaby from Sesame Street, which she loved, but she hates the flash on cameras and always closes her eyes (just like her Granny), so I caught her winking in this picture and thought it was too cute to exclude!


Here is the family gathered before Sammy's baptism. The baptism was fantastic. David is a great dunker and got that girl completely under on the first try. Grandma Z. gave the baptism talk, Grandpa Z. gave the opening prayer, Uncle Chris sang Baptism accompanied by a harp (very cool), Papa gave the Holy Ghost talk, Granny directed the music, and Aunt Biss gave the closing prayer. It was very fun and a really nice afternoon!


Here are Sammy and David in their white clothes. Sammy is wearing a replica of my baptism dress. She tried mine on and decided that she wanted one just like it for her own. So I made her one. Luckily my mom had given me the pattern years ago and pack rat that I am, I still had it! She looked beautiful and told me after the fact that her soul felt sooo clean. I can't believe that my baby has gotten baptized, but here we are. She did a great job and is a wonderful girl!

Sammy's 8th Birthday

Sammy's Birthday was a day to remember. She is such a crack up! She wanted French toast for her special birthday breakfast and wore her old soccer t-shirt because it has an 8 on the back. Here she is after breakfast with her brothers, wearing the birthday head piece she made out of pipe cleaners in the shape of an 8. She did alot of fun things for her birthday. She and her sister got their ears pierced. We have been trying to talk her into it for years and this time when we paced the store at the mall that pierces ears they had Hello Kitty piercing earrings. That apparently tipped the balances and so it was done. She cried more than Clare, but she is very excited about it.

Since her birthday was on a Friday she got to have her birthday party on her birthday. We invited 10 friends over for a Dinosaur themed birthday party. Leave it to my 8 year old girl to pick a dinosaur themed party! So here is the cake I made, which she and all of her friends loved.

We had a really good party and I got alot of feed back from parents saying that their kids had a really good time. The boy sitting next to Sammy in the picture below it Hunter. He is in her class at school and she has promised to marry him when she grows up. He followed her around the entire party. Really cute stuff! Anyway, we had pizza, a pinata, pin the tail on the dinosaur, a dinosaur egg hunt, and a find the dinosaur game. All in all, I think it went pretty well!

Clare's First Birthday

Clare's first birthday was a fun time. Here she is holding her favorite birthday gift, her baby from Granny. She sleeps with it every night and loves it all the time. Baby was her first word after Mom and Dad.

We had a party on New Years day for her birthday and had some friends from our ward over. I made her our favorite 4 layer lemon cake and she loved it!

Over all it was a fantastic day for our girl Clare and she had a really great Birthday!