Sunday, April 10, 2016

Birthday Boys!!

 The beginning of April always signals spring, General Conference, aaaaaaand our most wonderful BIRTHDAY BOYS!! Too much fun to have two birthdays in two days. This year we even got lucky and they didn't fall over Conference (it makes it really hard when you're trying to celebrate two birthdays in between 10 hours of meetings). Our birthday celebrations kicked off on Friday night when we took Zach out for dinner at Texas Roadhouse. Yeeha! 
We told the waitress and she made sure to put him up on the birthday sawhorse and announce it so the WHOLE restaurant could sing to him. Ha ha! He was super embarrassed.
I'm pretty sure the free birthday brownie more than made up for it though. We knew Jon would be working late on Zach's real birthday plus he'd be gone that weekend in Chicago for his implant seminar, so it was a perfect night to squeeze in a pre-birthday dinner!
Our not-so-little man turned SEVEN on Wednesday, April 6th. I probably could have been persuaded to let him skip school if he hadn't just had two weeks off for spring break, but we decided he'd better go for at least the morning. Here are his seven presents for his seventh birthday!
He got the big-sized Fin and Kylo Ren lego guys, a soccer ball, Flash Justice League lego set, new shorts for summer, Pokemon cards, and his favorite chocolate bars. Man, we love this kid!
For his special breakfast he requested bacon, donuts, and smoothies. Mmmmm.
All set for school. Here he is-- looking very handsome and grown-up. I can't believe how much he's grown and matured since kindergarten. A cross-country move, a challenging first grade curriculum, and a new sibling will do that to a boy! Even though his teacher has been strict, he has become an excellent reader, and way more confident in math. It's also been great to see his little testimony develop too. He told me that when he gets nervous about math, or scared during tests, he closes his eyes and says a quick prayer to help him. 
He wanted to be taken to lunch for his birthday just like Lucy, and even picked the Cheesecake Factory, which was just fine by me! We picked him up at 11 and got him the hamburgers and fries, and chocolate cake for his birthday dessert. We let him play hooky the rest of the afternoon, so his class had his birthday treat of rice krispie treats the following afternoon when he was back to the grindstone.
That night as soon as Jon got home from work around 8 pm, we cut into his Yoda cake. This was his pick, and man! I had THE hardest time trying to make the mouth and nose look right, but whatever. ((Yoda!! You tease.)) He was thrilled with it and that's all that matters!
Singing Happy Birthday to our sweet birthday boy!
Blowing out the candles and making a wish! 
I can't even begin to express how thankful we are for this boy. With three super-girly sisters he helps bring balance to "the force." He will forever and always be our little "Mans" wanting to "wessle." Besides always making us laugh, I think what I love best about Zach is that he's always had a very tender heart. I hope as he grows up he always keeps it. He loves babies, is a sucker for his sisters, and fiercely protective of them. He told me the other day that he was walking down the hallway at school with a little girl from his class, and this big 5th grader bumped into her and yelled, "Why don't you watch where you're going??" Well, Zach did not like that, so he said he defended her and yelled back, "Why don't YOU watch where YOU'RE going??" Ha ha.  Lucy, Leah, and 'Lizbeth are lucky girls to have a brother like him!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY ZACHO-MAN!!     
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 Fast forward to the next morning, Thursday, April 7th and Jon's 34th birthday!!! 
His special day started off by sleeping in (a little), and waking up to homemade granola and berry parfaits for breakfast!! He is a man of simple pleasures, and homemade granola is one of them.
He is SO hard to give presents to because whenever I ask what he wants, he always replies, "Just to pay off my loans.":( Poor guy. That mostly translates into, "Don't buy me anything." So, the only thing I can truly give him is permission to do his favorite thing in the whole world and take a weekend away to go backpacking!! I also made him a "gift certificate card" (kind of like a candy bar card) so at least he'll get some Indian food and a chance to see the new Avengers movie "Civil War" in the near future. 
He had to work the afternoon/evening shift at work, so we just had time to workout at the gym, and take a picnic lunch to the park. It was beautiful sunny weather!! Leah and Elizabeth and I sure loved getting to help celebrate his special day.
We met just after his 22nd birthday, so I've officially known him for 12 years now, and for 11 of those birthdays he has requested this no-bake cheesecake with strawberries. Easy to please!
I am SO thankful for this handsome, kind, patient, fun, husband and father. He is an amazing provider and tireless worker. He is truly selfless. Let me share a story that will probably embarrass him, but frankly, it is the stuff of legend!! Back when we were living in Philly, maybe a month or two after Zach was born, Jon got super, super sick. Ever heard of the expression "as sick as a dog"?? I can only imagine it was designated to describe people as sick as Jon. Nonstop vomiting, severe nausea, high fever, aches and pains, you name it.  We thought it was most likely a really stubborn 24 hour flu bug, but it ended up lasting for daaaays. We figured he was just immuno-supressed because he was finishing up that brutal 2nd year of dental school and had been burning the candle at both ends by serving as Young Mens president too. He ended up having to travel to Washington DC for some Air Force requirement that he absolutely could not miss, and could not reschedule due to school conflicts. So we drove (stopping for him to vomit along the way) the 3+ hours to DC with 2-year old Lucy and 2 month old Zachy and stayed the night in a hotel. Zach (and Jon for that matter) both had terrible nights sleeping-- Zach because he was a fussy newborn, which meant I was up too trying to keep him quiet in that little hotel room, and Jon because he was sick. Operating on like 2 hours of sleep and super dehydrated, Jon headed to his AF interview and then we turned around and drove home. Well, to be specific, Jon drove home. JON!! Sick-as-a-dog-Jon. So I could then sleep in the back. He was thinking of me, and that I was tired, and he wanted ME to sleep. I think it was about a day later that we got a phone call from his doctor who'd run a few lab tests that he had indeed been battling SWINE FLU (H1N1) all week. Ha! Can you believe that?? He should have been in the hospital. Thats just him though-- he puts his head down and powers through and gets done what must get done. He is my dream guy. HAPPY BIRTHDAY J-MAN!!   

Baby Magic

 Here are my favorite Elizabeth shots that Sarah P. took while we were in Boise. I absolutely love them. They are SO Elizabeth. She's not very smiley yet-- so she just kind of stares at us with her big blue eyes. I'm so glad I have these to help me remember what she looked like at 2 months old!










 My absolute fav. This is totally "her." Very serious, very pensive gaze.  She is an "old soul" like her sister Lucy.