Wicked-ly Fabulous!

One of the things I am most thankful for is some great friends. What a great evening with many good memories! Luv Ya Girlys!

Zaner's Ragnar Del Sol

Zane's Ragnar team...and some of our besties...Jenny, Jenny, Becca, Shannon, and Chris.


Pretty funny. The "kills" documented on the mini van. "Kills" for non-runners such as I are the people you pass whilst running. So, Jenny R. pick's up Zach from school one day and she is explaining this to his little 6 year old brain. Zachary proceeds to tell her she should clean it off before a cop sees it. THEN, he tells me a few days later that he hoped a cop didn't see Jenny's van cuz it says the word "KILLS" on it. Love him!

Look at all your "KILLS". You guys did awesome! Just glad the kills are not people that Zane ran over!

Some of my girlies that Zane ran with.

The team was electrify-ing!

Zane had a great time! Thanks for putting up with my hubby, friends!

Project week!

I really hate blogger sometimes. Why does this picture copy sideways everytime? I thought I would be tricky and put it sideways and blogger would flip it back the right way, but NOOO. It will only copy it like this. ARRRRGHH!

I am back. No promises to be regularly updating this. My life is spinning out of control in the busy-ness category.

There are mixed feelings about project week. It was a lot of work. It was spendy getting supplies for the projects. We worked hard. I was happy to work hard thinking maybe this would help Olivia along. Maybe a great grade would help pad her grade for a test she did not-so-great on. She is struggling with the pace of this intense school. AFTER the project was turned in there was rumor that the projects were not for grades. They were just so the kids would learn for the sake of the "love of learning". HUMMM. The only problem is I may not have spent a week on them if it was "for the love"!

My kids were very proud of their projects and did both feel quite accomplished. That makes a parent feel proud. That (maybe) made it all worth it!

Special thanks to our good friends the Updike family who came to see Olivia's project on project night. It made her feel so special to have you guys there!

La Loma Daughters Sang as they Walked, and Walked and Walked ....and Walked

Olivia and her youth group completed a 22 mile walk to the site where they are going to build the Phoenix temple. Her youth group took their inspiration from the story of John Rowe Moyle, a pioneer and master of stonework who came West with the earliest handcart companies in 1846. He settled in Alpine, Utah, which was nearly 22 miles away from downtown Salt Lake City. He was called to be a stone mason on the Salt Lake Temple. In order to fulfill his calling and to be to work by 8:00 in the morning, every Monday Brother Moyle would wake up at 2 a.m. and begin his long walk over the hill and through the valley to the temple of the Lord. Like Brother Moyle, who carved the words "Holiness to the Lord" on the Salt Lake Temple, these young women also wanted to keep their focus on being worthy to attend the temple by doing a similar walk. They had trained as a Young Women group and individuallyand leaders during the HOT Phoenix months. For Mutual activities, they walked and talked about the temple. They followed a training schedule which if they were diligent would prepare them for the 22-mile walk.

I will admit I had some reservations about my daughter walking 22 miles in early Oct. Early Oct is still HOT in Phoenix. Heavenly Father blessed these girls with beautiful weather that day.

I knew this walk would be challenging. Olivia was a trooper. I had SEVERAL of her leaders tell me Olivia kept up great and NEVER had a SINGLE word of complaint.

Love Her.

My Daughter. A Beautiful Young Women.

It seems like just yesterday Zane and I took our precious baby girl home from the hospital. I can't believe that baby girl is 12 years old. Olivia is growing up to be a beautiful young woman, on the inside and out. I am so thankful I get to have a daughter. I am so glad that daughter is Olivia.

I pray that all of the girls and leaders in Young Women's treat Olivia with respect and care. I hope she will be taught with love and good example. I have heard the youth leaders in our ward say they teach the kids through failure...."we are going to let them fail, and that is how they are going to learn." This will be new to Olivia. I am the kinda mom that tries to avoid my kiddos feeling like failures. This could get interesting. It is taking every bit of self control I have not to go to Young Women's with her. I guess I am going to have to step back and let her get a taste of the real world. My daughter has a lot of self confidence and great self esteem. I hope this teaching through failure method doesn't change that.

Olivia has already been assigned to speak in Sacrament Meeting. WoW! She didn't even make it two week. I hope she has a good experience. Not a failure. LOL!

Happy 4th Birthday Jacob!

Jacob's cupcakes he took to school. They are all frosted together. HE LOVED IT!

Yes, slightly obsessed with Thomas the Train. He is sleeping in his new Thomas tent, on top of the bed :) So cute!

The smallest cake. ever.

Happy Birthday to our little Jacob. We are so thankful to have you in our lives, little buddy.

I had to fill out a questionnaire for the developmental doctor he is seeing in a couple months. I realized as I was filling it out I have not kept track well of developmental milestones in my children's lives. I am going to try to do better. Here it goes...these are some of the things that I want to remember about Jacob this year...

There are so many things I love about Jacob! I love how he adores his brother and sister. I love how they love him back. I love that when I get home from work in the mornings, Jake comes and lays down in bed with me. He always says "tickle". Jake loves "tickle". Which is to tickle his back.

Lately Jacob tells me several times a day one of two things. "I like your hair." or "I don't like your hair." Either way I laugh every times he says it. I think it is funny he notices my hair.

Jacob hates seeing me wear my glasses. He always says very sternly to me "glasses off!" Usually it is accompanied by a grunt.

This year Jacob's speech has improved dramatically thanks to the wonderful speech therapy program he is in through our school district. We can now figure out most everything Jacob is saying. He is finally putting his words together in sentences.

Some of Jake's Favorites:

He loves when Zach gets home from school. He asks several times a day if we can go get him.

He loves playing with Zach. He just wants to be with him. Zach can be in charge of the activity. Just tell Jake what he is supposed to do and he will do it.

Jake loves snacks. He prefers them to meals.

He loves "boney". It is Chef Boyardee Ravioli.

Jake's favorite color is orange.

Jake loves Sponge Bob and Thomas the Train. There is a Sponge Bob Doll wearing tighty whities at his preschool. The teacher gives it to him to make him happy or to distract him. After summer break, Jake was so happy to see the beloved Sponge Bob Doll.

Jacob still loves his "gown gown" which is chocolate milk. He can now say chocolate, but prefers to call it "gown gown" which is what he has alwaye referered to it as.

He loves to go in the car. He always wants to go when someone is going. He tries to go with me to work every time I leave.


Jacob is very social. He loves to talk on the phone. This can be tricky, his speech is very difficult to understand over the phone. He doesn't care. He just keeps talking.

I love how patient Jake is. I know it must be frustrating to him that we can't always understand him. It never seems to rattle him. He will keep saying over and over what he wants until we figure it out.

Love you so much Jacob. You were the best surprise in our lives...
Life doesn't always turn out how you expect it to. Sometimes it turns out ever better.

Jake's First Day Back to School

Very excited about going back to school.

Jake packed the essentials for school.

Jake was so excited to return back to school and see "Mamos" (Mrs. Ramos). He talked about school nonstop for days before it started. On the first day he was a little nervous, and he cried as I was leaving. Mrs. Ramos handed him his favorite Sponge Bob Doll. She was his teacher last year also. She said he only cried for a few minutes. There has never been another tear since.

JACOB LOVES SCHOOL! Yay. I am so thankful for the blessing of the speech therapy program he is in. I am seeing huge improvements in his speech and vocabulary. Almost daily.