whatever happened to that baby . . .

some of you may be wondering what ever happened to that cute baby we had about six months ago??? this blog has been sadly lacking in updated pictures, cute tid-bits, etc. of said baby for which i apologize, especially to long-distance grandmas. so i offer up the following pics & tid-bits, which in no way correspond to each other. grandma lounsbury & grandma doris, these are for you. and for anyone else who would like to comment on what a cute, sweet baby we have :)

tidbit #1: weighs 17 pounds & is 26 1/4 inches

tidbit #2: is the king of slobber/spit up.
i'm sorry enoch, but it's true

tidbit #3: can sit in his high chair & pick up cheerios.
from the amount of slobbery, gummed up cheerios that i pick up
off his bib & high chair, i'm pretty sure
he's never actually digested one!

tidbit #4: LOVES to watch caleb, isaac & noah jump up and down.
laughs his little head off. thinks they're hysterical

tidbit #5: also LOVES to watch zack dance.
also thinks this is hysterical.

tidbit #6: not sleeping through the night yet, but that's ok :)

tidbit #7: rolls over, enjoys playing with toys on his blanket, and
will soon be sitting up without help

tidbit #8: like every other baby i've ever known,
LOVES to be outside.
we go walking about three times a week
and he sits perfectly contently in the baby bjorn
while i push noah in the jogging stroller. he doesn't make a peep!

tidbit #9: he recently started making his first consonant sound.
"da da da da da" (of course)

tidbit #10: the upside to #9 is that he can answer
perfectly clearly when i ask,
"who do you want to change that stinky diaper?" hahaha

he's 3

noah turned 3.

we seem to have two very different perspectives on the big event.

me: "I can't believe my little baby's growing up so fast" (sniff sniff)
noah: "this CAN NOT happen fast enough!!!" now I confess he's never actually said those words, but he is quite determined to be a grown up. I guess that's what happens when you have 5 older siblings. I offer up the following evidence:

1. top on his birthday list was a wallet, keys, and a "purse." (we went with a backpack instead)

2. he carries around & has frequent conversations on his "cell phone" (old calculator)

3. for fun, he "practices the piano" and "does homework"

4. this morning he made his own sandwich (peanut butter and . . . yogurt) to carry in backpack

5. frequently announces--with keys and cell phone in hand, of course--that he's leaving for work ("ok honey, have a good day at work!")

6. and finally, he recently came to me, took my hand pulling me toward the back door, and said "you gotta show me how to work your car." he was TOTALLY SERIOUS.

of course, there are other times when he bonks his head or stubs his toe and with tears streaming down his face insists that I kiss it "right there." and then I know he's still my little baby for a little longer.

AWESOME 3000

so the awesome 3000 was last saturday and it was . . . well, AWESOME! this is the 26th year of the event which has become one of the largest, timed, children-only races in the nation. it started off in 1983 with 350 runners and has grown to around 3000 participants! caleb & isaac donned their official shirts & fastest running shoes and they were off. caleb finished 4th in the 3rd grade boys & isaac finished 2nd for 1st grade boys! WOW! and to top it all off we had beautiful weather. not bad.

the little speedsters

with their biggest fans

"i'll hold those for you . . ."

of course, we had to walk up to the bush park playground

all in all, it was a great day & we were especially glad grandma "papwuff" (as noah lovingly calls her) could join us. we love having her around!

my baby's growing up

well, my baby girl turned 14 this month. what fun :) she is still the fun, creative, curious, happy, independent, and sometimes feisty little girl she's always been except, well, not so little anymore and a little more into boys and shopping than she used to be! I thought I'd let her tell us herself what she's into these days:

favorite food: Chinese sweet & sour chicken
favorite dessert: brownie sundae
favorite thing to do: "probably shopping" (this was said with slight one-eyed eyebrow raise and voice inflection = duh)
favorite song: break your bones by kill paradise
dream vacation: cruise to Europe w/ cute guys w/ English accents
favorite hymn: sunshine in my soul
favorite scripture: D&C 18:10 "remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God"
favorite tv show: mentalist or heroes
favorite thing about our family: "the fact that I always have someone to chill out with"
what I want to be someday: mother (of course) and designer of some sort

if ya gotta go . . .

imagine emma's surprise when she returned from soccer practice to find . . . a dozen roses in her toilet???

teagan's unusual prom invite gave us a good laugh!

emma has such wonderful friends & their group had a ton of fun celebrating prom!

teagan & emma

the big kids' beach trip

I just love watching my kids enjoy each other . . . especially knowing there's so little time they have together before Zack is off to school. This warm, spring day they loaded up their blankets, makings for s'mores, and a little ben & jerry's for the road, and took off for Lincoln City.

madeline, paige, & emma

hip hip hooray

for the Oregon coast

he's alright

happy 18th birthday zack!

it's hard to believe we've had this guy around for 18 years! and we still can't get enough of him. we've laughed at his childhood antics/ mishaps like the time we caught him skinny-dipping in the pond with emma, or the time he gave himself a pretty good shock trying to disassemble a blow dryer. (yea, gotta unplug it first.) we've seen him through his first day of kindergarten all the way through early graduation this january. (and acceptance to byu. yeah!) we loved the enthusiasm of our 8-year-old cub scout (he offered to sew on his own patches when mom just wasn't doing it fast enough) and now bask in the relief that his journey to eagle is finally over! and we've definitely enjoyed watching him play a little basketball, a little t-ball, a little flag football, and a WHOLE LOT OF SOCCER.

we couldn't ask for a better first-born. zack's been very patient with his first-time parents because we've certainly made our share of mistakes. he is truly a peacemaker in our home. don't get me wrong. he's not perfect. we've had to shake our heads during the 14 - 15-year-old bad hair years (very long & very bushy); at his very strong aversion to stake dances; and his not-so-discreet attempts to text during dinner, family night, and even sacrament meeting (YIKES). but all in all . . .

we think he's alright