surfing

About a week ago, I woke up with a sore neck. I couldn't check my blind spot when driving (though, for safety reasons, I tried) and looking up was near impossible. At first I was confused at what had caused my hurt neck. Not my pillow, for sure. It's old and smushed, but it's been my sleeping companion for years. Then I remembered the night before.

We went surfing indoors with friends and as talented as I was(n't), the board kept finding a way to displace itself from under my feet. When this would happen, I would get whip lash as I fell into the water. I did it over and over again. I have never laughed so hard in my life. Watching other people was the best. I had a certain friend who was the queen of huge falls and quite entertaining to watch.

Here's a quick video of Brandon surfing. Toward the end, we got much better and stayed on for maybe... 8 seconds at a time.


It was SO MUCH FUN! I plan on this being a great activity for when my family visits in December.

The night ended with a voicemail from our babysitter: "Uh... do you think you could come home early? Zach threw up." Uggghhh...

4

I love this picture. It captures Zach perfectly - carefree, happy, and a little bit crazy. He's 4 today - this is the first year he seems "big". He leaves me at home while he goes to preschool and tumbling and Sunbeams. He still plays with me at home, but there will come a time when playing with Mom with no longer be on the priority list. I hope he doesn't get too big too soon. He's my little buddy.

Since Zach is 4 today, here are 4 things I love about him (thanks Kylie for the idea!):

1. He never needs a seat. He is always running, wiggling, dancing, or jumping. Admittedly, at times this drives me nuts (like when he dances in the aisle at church during the Sacrament hymn), but I also love his zest for life. For Zach, there is always something to be done and he's the one that's going to do it.
2. Zach is a good big brother. Halle idolizes him and does everything he does - who could ask for a more perfect hero! When Zach runs, Halle runs. When Zach sings a song, Halle tries to sing it too. Zach always tells Halle how sweet and cute she is in his little baby voice. He loves her to death and will always watch out for her.
3. Zach loves people. He makes friends easily and doesn't get nervous about new people. At the park, I'll hear him say, "Hi, I'm Zach. Do you want to be my friend?" No matter where we go, within a few minutes Zach will find a friend to play with. Zach is also very confident and won't hesitate to give pointers to other kids (even if they're twice his age) at the park when they are attempting an obstacle. His favorite people currently are Brooke (his cousin) and Greg (his uncle).
4. Zach is wicked smart and creative. He is always surprising me with what he has learned. He notices the unnoticed and sees patterns in everything. His new thing is seeing shapes in the clouds. He also likes to find shapes in his food - first it's a triangle [bite], now it's a mountain [bite], now it's a dinosaur [bite], etc.

Happy birthday, Bud! Love you to the moon and back.

preschooler

Zach successfully completed his first week of preschool - phew. Zach has been ready for preschool for awhile and couldn't wait for it to start. He was also excited about his backpack and made sure it was the first picture of took. He did the posing of the picture below all by himself:
Here's what Zach told me about his first day at preschool:

• "I'm sweaty."
• "I had orange juice and cookies."

That's all I got. I hope he did more during his 3 hours at preschool than eat and sweat, but who knows?!?

On Thursday, it was Show & Tell. The night before I tried to help Zach figure out what he was going to bring. He debated between a train whistle and James, the train. He wouldn't decide, so I left thinking we'd worry about it in the morning. Later that night, Zach told me he had picked out something for Show & Tell - his Daddy mask. I couldn't help but laugh - silly, silly kid.

first race

Zach ran his first race this morning and he did such a good job! It was supposed to be a 1K race, but it ended up being the length of the parking lot and back - it was perfect for Zach. He loved being with all the kids and he loved wearing Daddy's race number. While he was waiting for the race to start, he turned around and gave Brandon a thumbs up like he was saying, "I got this in the bag". He ran fast and smiled the whole way. He explained it all to Aunt Chelle on the phone: "Halle was watching me. Halle can't run on the road, but I did."

Way to go, Zach!

Here are some pictures for your perusing pleasure:

Every year, I make a book for my kids that contains pictures and journal entries from the past year. As Zach's birthday is quickly approaching and it is time to make his book, I was reading through past journal entries and came across some gems that I thought I'd share:

Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Zach is an eternal optimist. After church we always run through the good, bad, and the ugly behavior exhibited while there. So, during the car ride home from church, we will discuss his behavior. If it has been a particularly hard week, I will explain how he could improve (getting up off the floor and sitting on his chair, not spitting, singing the actual words to the Primary song and not just merely yelling, etc.). He will then reply, “But Mom, I was almost good.” He’s right and I have to smile, he was almost good.

Another eternal optimist story: Zach had to go to his room last night because he refused to eat his dinner. When I was tucking him into bed, I was re-explaining why he had been stuck in his room and didn’t get to play. I told him, “Buddy, you didn’t eat your meatballs and that’s why you had to go to your room.” He then replied, “But Mom, I always eat my macaroni.” Once again, he’s right. Even though he is a horrible meatball eater, he is a spectacular macaroni and cheese eater.

I love his optimism. It is refreshing.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

One evening, I was trying to get Zach to use the bathroom and get ready for bed. He is a notoriously slow potter-goer and I kept bugging him to get on the toilet and do his business. Zach said, “Mommy, you need to be patient.” When I kept pestering him, he replied, “Mommy, patience means you don’t talk. Be patient.” He eventually did go potty after I decided to be patient.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010
While at the library during Reading Time, the storyteller held up a book about a cat. She asked, “Do any of you have a pet cat?” Many kids raised their hands. Not wanting to be left out, Zach too raised his hand and proclaimed, “I have a fire truck!”

Monday, July 19, 2010
During Family Home Evening Zach said, “I like LOOOOVE Jesus the very best!” Zach is friends with a 5-year-old girl who incorporates ‘like’ into every sentence. Zach has picked up on the habit. He is also very interested in whom everyone loves the best. I guess he chooses Jesus.

Zach is the master procrastinator and is the worst at bedtime. He constantly tries to think of things to ask you so he won’t have to go to bed. Tonight, he came and asked what time he could wake up. I told him 7:00 would be fine, but the 8:00 would be even better. He rephrased, “So 7:00 would be fine and 8:00 would be finer.”

Tuesday, July 20, 2010
The other day, Zach came upstairs to tell me his new accomplishment. “Mommy,” he said. “If I stand on the fridge [meaning the mini-fridge in the basement], I can touch the ceiling!”

Monday, July 26, 2010
Mom: [To Zach and Halle] I think, if you are good kids, we should go to the museum today.
Zach: I’m going to be a good kid!
[pause]
Zach: How do you be a good kid?

I just love this kid!

1st haircut

My kids have weird hair growth patterns. Zach grew a thick strip of hair on the top of his head - people often thought I was trying for a mohawk. Halle, on the other hand, grew a curly tuff of hair on the back of her head, a mullet if you will, while the rest of her head stayed happily bald.

On Tuesday, it was time for the long-awaited first haircut for Halle. Her mullet was beginning to look a little stringy. It took one snip and her first haircut was complete. Bye bye, Ms. Mullet.

triathlon

Last week, my sister, Kimberly, and I completed a triathlon. Not one of those so-crazy-your-muscles-have-to-practically-be-bulging-out-of-your-skin-to-complete-it triathlons. It was just a little, beginners triathlon. Still, I think I can honestly say I'm a triathlete.

I was soooo nervous before the race. I had been thinking I might possibly die during the swimming portion of the race. Death-by-triathlon didn't sound so good to me. Luckily, and yes, it was purely by luck, I did not die. There are no pictures of me swimming. If there were, there would have been several pictures of me side-stroking it through the lake.

Here is a picture after the swim. During the transition, my support group kept yelling questions at me - "How do you feel?", "Where's Kim?" (she was in the next women's wave), "Trish, how do you feel?". I was ignoring them. I was trying to concentrate on tying my shoes and frankly, I felt kinda wet and tired.

Finally ready to bike. I put on someone else's helmet at first and couldn't figure out why it wasn't fitting right. When I finally pulled my bike out, I saw my own helmet hanging on the handle bars. I carefully placed (or maybe tossed - oops) the wrong helmet down and hopped on my bike.

The biking went really well. Here's a picture at the end of the biking portion:

And at the end of the run. I missed the turn-off toward the finish line, so I was extra happy to finally find the end.

I thought this would be my last triathlon, but we had such a good time, I think we're going to make it a tradition. Anybody care to join us?