Happy Birthday Zach!

JUST WAIT ONE MINUTE!!

Who was the clown that told my kids they could grow up? I've been telling them for years to stay small, and for some strange reason, they keep getting bigger on me. The nerve.
Could someone please explain to me when my cute little chub turned into a handsome teenager? The years fly by too quickly!
As you may have guessed, Zach turned 13 this past weekend. THIRTEEN... a teenanger.
Happy Birthday Zachary!!!

We are so lucky to have Zach in our family. I don't know that I could have asked for a better son. He holds such a special place in my heart that only sons can touch. He's always been such a good, kind kid and we're so lucky to have him in our family. His sisters are lucky to have him as a brother and Brook and I are truly lucky to have him as our child. Many times he's been the one to teach US lessons in life. We just love him. He makes us laugh. He looks after us. He keeps us entertained with his many activities and friends. He demonstrates responsibility both at school and in his church obligations. He wants to be good, and he succeeds. We've thoroughly enjoyed watching him grow from boyhood into the strange land of teenage-hood. We're excited for the future and we know that it holds many good things.

He;s grown quite a bit in the past 6 months. He's not quite as tall as his old mom YET, but Caitlyn's on her way to getting passed up unless she grows a couple inches quickly.

Brynn and Bailey's Great Adventure

Brynn and her cousin Bailey had the most wonderful adventure last week. They got to go to Disneyland with G'ma and G'pa Allred and be spoiled rotten. How fun is that? G'ma is an assistant principal at a high school and had to travel to Anaheim for a cheerleading competition. She, along with my dad, decided that Disneyland would be a LOT more FUN with someone besides the two of them (not that they're not buckets of fun all by themselves, mind you). They decided

to ask if Brynn and Bailey could tag along for the ride. I doubt that either of the two girls slept a wink before the trip. They were so excited. It was dream for the two of them, to go to Disneyland for three days and NOT have a single older sibling or adult boss them around or tell them what the agenda was. They went where they wanted and rode the rides they wanted to and they loved every minute of it. They ate with princesses and rode the storybook boat which older siblings always refuse to go on. They skipped down the streets and danced during parades and ate at McDonald's every meal outside the park. They got to watch CHEERLEADERS (heaven help me now) and visit the grounds of a beautiful temple. And most special of all, they got to spend one-on-one time with G'ma and G'pa.The girls were so fortunate to have this time with their grandparents and we are so glad that they had the opportunity. Thank you Mom and Dad for making their little girl dreams come true on such a special vacation. We love you!

For the past two Saturdays I've found myself at the U of U in a class to update my Utah teaching license. I'll be taking some additional classes in the near future, but it was fun to start with this one. The class was called Digital Photography in the Classroom and basically taught us different ways to use digital photography for our curriculum. Our final little project required that we use a software called PhotoStory to compile a lesson. I demonstrated an example of an "I am From" poem. The poems use descriptions, foods, names, places, etc. to describe where a person is from. I had written this poem five years ago about my family when we were living in Pleasant View and I just put images to it. I don't even know if this will work, but I tried posting it anyway. I'm hoping the sound works. Warning: It really isn't ALL THAT. It was basically assigned to us so that the instructor could walk us through the program and let us monkey around with it.