Birthdays!

We just celebrated a couple of birthdays this past month: JD and Sam. Sam is now 3 years old, but if you ask him, he'll adamantly tell you he is 2, and he's "not a big boy, I'm just Sam". He's my rough and tumble, destructive monster. Yet he is so sweet with Alina, who adores him. He loves to play with cars, trucks, trains, dinosaurs, play-doh, blocks, dogs, dirt. He especially likes to take things apart then ask me to fix them. He is obsessed with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Transformers are not far behind. He's definitely been the easiest of my children, starting right from the beginning. I think for that reason, he is not given as much attention as the other two--he doesn't demand it like they do. Sorry, Sam!! Lately, he has been wanting to help me in the kitchen with the cooking. He stirs and dumps in ingredients. He vacuumed the playroom all by himself. He'd love to eat pb sandwiches for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. (Too bad he can't!)

Eight Fantastic Years

JD and I recently celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary on August 12th. We didn't have a babysitter for that day, so we took all our kids to dinner with us, and then we went to Cold Stone Creamery for ice cream. Very romantic!! Ha ha! With three young kids, one of whom is still a baby monstrously attached to mommy, I'll take any outing I can get!
We did go out on a date the previous Friday without the kids, so I count that as an anniversary date. (Even though JD's siblings and parents were there too.) We attended a Brian Regan comedy show at Thanksgiving Point. It was hilarious. I had a stomach ache from all the laughing.
I love you, JD! You're my best friend, you make me laugh every day and make me a better person. I'm extremely lucky and blessed to have you!

Mario what??

Maybe some of you have noticed I had put a game called Mario Rampage on the sidebar (now at the bottom) of this blog. When I chose to put this game there, I just thought it would be something my kids would be interested in. They like Mario from Nintendo. I didn't test or play the game at all before adding it to our blog. Last night, I was showing JD some of my new posts. He noticed the game, and I suggested he try playing it. I was shocked! Mario carries a shotgun and blasts away the enemies, who splatter red blood all over when they are hit. This was not what I expected. I suppose the title of the game should have clued me in a little bit. Mario on a rampage. Not suitable for 3- and 5-year olds!

All Caught Up

OK, I think I am all caught up posting the major events of our summer for which we had pictures. You'll probably notice a general trend in my posting. Feast or famine. I usually wait until the camera video card is completely full before I upload the pictures to the computer. At that point, I can post pictures to this blog. There are still several videos I would like to upload, but I plan to do those later. (Danny's singing program from preschool, Alina's birthday cake and song, Alina playing with a balloon, Sam dancing, etc.)
We had a fun labor day weekend, but I didn't ever get out the camera. We went to a Sheepdog Festival in Soldier Hollow near Heber. The kids enjoyed watching the dogs herd sheep and ducks. They particularly liked the splash dog jumping contest. I'd try to explain it, but I am too sleep-deprived right now for my brain to function properly. When I can think better, I'll come back to this posting to edit and add an explanation.

Sprinkler Time

My kids decided to play in the sprinkler while I was watering the lawn. Danny was out there, too, but I couldn't get a picture of him. Sometimes he gets in moods when he doesn't want me to take his picture. The boys got soaked. Alina just poked at it. Pictures taken September 4th.

First Day of Kindergarten

Danny's first day of kindergarten was on August 25th. He attends the morning session at Challenger. This is him in his uniform that morning. He's all smiles here, but that changed when I took him to school. He hasn't been thrilled with the idea of going to school every weekday. Sorry, kid. It's a long, long road ahead. His ideal day would consist of playing games and, uh..., playing games! Since he has such a great love for playing games, I use it as a motivation for him to do his homework, chores, and whatever else I can think of that he needs to do.

Top of Utah Half Marathon

I ran the Top of Utah half marathon near Logan on August 23rd. It was a scenic route, and the temperature was perfect. I would recommend this race to anyone who runs. I met my goal of completing two half marathon races this year! Yippee. (I trained for 3 of them. There are pictures posted in April from the first half marathon race I did this year.) I put this picture of Alina instead of one of me, because I looked like a DORK in all the pictures with me in it after running the race. (Sweaty, red face.) Alina was waiting for me at the finish line as well as JD and my Aunt Karren with whom we stayed during the weekend. (Thanks Karren!) Alina's holding two essential items: some food (given out after the race) and her puppy dog that we call "Wolfie". (She loves that stuffed puppy. Thanks Grandma Weber for getting it for us.)

Primary Activity

Just a fun morning of games with the ward primary. Pictures taken August 22.

Electrical Engineering Work Party

We spent a lovely evening in park in the Big Cottonwood Canyon for JD's work department family dinner party. Danny and Sam were delighted with the giant bubble wands. Sam later took a "bath" in the buckets of bubble soap. He reached in his arms to his shoulders then proceeded to spread the soap all over his legs and rear-end to wipe off the soap from his arms. He then started playing in the dirt, so it stuck all over him. I don't have picture of him at that point, but I wish I did have one. This picture of Sam was taken before the bubbles.
The boys helped JD with a little competition, too. The employees had been asked to create a contraption using a mousetrap and other materials to see who could send a ping pong ball flying through the air the furthest. Danny helped JD create theirs, and they ended up getting a 3rd place prize! Not bad for a 5-year old.

Fun with Paint

I have a couple ideas how Alina got this purple paint dot on her nose. Was it Sam or Danny? The boys created their masterpieces while Alina watched (and ate her lunch). Pictures taken August 18th.

Alina's 1st Birthday

My baby girl turned one on August 5th. She's grown so much in the past three months, putting on nearly 6 pounds, which is fine, because she was only in the 25th percentile for weight at 9 months old. This 6 pounds puts her into the 90th percentile. She's also in the 99th percentile for height. She's not walking yet. To be honest, I don't mind that. I know I'll have my hands full when she does start walking. For now, she is content to scoot around on her bum. It's a very slow method for getting around. (Again, fine with me. It's easier to keep track of where she is. I hope I don't sound like a lazy mom, but most of you know what it's like once your baby is walking.) She is a good girl most of the time. She does seem to get frustrated occasionally at Danny and Sam when they are in her face too much or in her way. She's even bitten them!! Luckily, her teeth did not break skin. Speaking of teeth, she now has 7 of them with one more starting to poke through on the top. She only had 2 bottom teeth as of 2 months ago, so it seems they've all come in at once. The pictures were taken on her birthday. Her Aunt Angie is holding her in one of them and helping her open a present in the video. I made from scratch a double layer round carrot cake (sans nuts) for her birthday cake. It had a cream cheese frosting which I had added a little bit of orange juice and zest. Very tasty! I didn't decorate it, though, so I feel a little bad about that. Even so, I think she liked the taste of the cake. She also liked eating her birthday dinner. I'd like to post a video of us singing "Happy Birthday" to her while she is looking at her cake, but the video would take forever to upload.

Lagoon Day

On August 1, JD's work had their annual Lagoon Day. The kids had a blast. We started the day off in lagoon-a-beach playing in the water. Afterwards, we spent hours at the kiddie rides. Sam's favorite was driving the cars. I think he was a little scared of any other ride than cars after he went on the helicopter ride. While JD and his sister ran off to ride an adult roller coaster, Sam did this ride over and over and over, dragging Danny along with him. We were able to persuade Sam to go on the river rafting ride. We all got soaked, which the boys thought was hilarious. Danny was a little more adventurous than Sam. JD even convinced him to go on one of the tamer adult roller coasters, since Danny is tall enough for most of them now. Alina loved her flinstone push-up sherbet treat as you can see on her face. She also enjoyed the train ride, on which she got to see animals.

I just love this outfit for Alina. Even the shoes match! Thank you to Aunt Lindsey for giving it to her. Picture taken July 30.

Weekends in the Mountain

JD's dad has been building a cabin this past summer. We like to go up there to spend our weekends while JD helps his dad. This is how the kids typically spend their time: Sam plays outside, rolls around in the dirt, and teases the dogs; Alina begs to get out of the playpen, which she has to be inside of to keep her safe when nobody is holding her; and Danny plays a game on the Playstation 2.

Pioneer Day Floats

Alina, Sam, and I went to a local convention center to see the floats that would be in the 24th of July Pioneer Day Parade in downtown Salt Lake City. The public was able to see the floats on the 22nd for free. Sam and Alina really enjoyed getting up close to them. Plus, there was some candy being passed out.

Dirty Laundry

You'd think Sam made this mess on these clothes, but it wasn't him. It was my 5-year old. I wish I had posted something right after Danny got food all over his shirt, because now I can't even remember specifically what he was eating. The pants are covered with a red Crayola twistable crayon. (BTW, the twistable crayons are really great. I received a couple of sets for my birthday, and the boys love playing with them.) Both messes happened on the same day.

Horse Ride

In the middle of June, our family went to Lava Hot Springs in Idaho for a family reunion on JD's mom's side of family. During that time, we all went on a horse drawn wagon ride to a canyon where we had a BBQ dinner around a campfire. Danny got to sit up by the driver for part of the time. Sam enjoyed sitting on one of the horses for a brief moment.

Dinosaur Museum

You'd think I asked them to make silly faces for this picture, but I didn't.


We're visiting the Dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point near Lehi, Utah. The boys love it here. There are some interactive galleries, which make the museum even more fun. They are brushing away the sand to find dinosaur bones. Pictures taken July 1, 2008

Mommy's Princess

These pictures were taken at the end of June.

Monkeys at the Zoo

We celebrated Danny's fifth birthday at the Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City. Danny likes to play on this elephant statue, which squirts water out of its trunk.










All my kids are seated on the zoo train ready for it to start going. JD's parents came along for the ride, too. Thanks to them for their help on that day!










Sam poses on the alligator (or crocodile?) in the playground area of the zoo.

Another Dr. Zimmerman in the Family?

I just thought this was cute. Danny received this outfit from a parent at Challenger who brought outfits in for every child in his class during Career Day. Picture taken in May. For those of you who don't know, JD's dad is a doctor...now the title of this post makes sense.