First Fish!

So as a dad you get some moments that you love and look forward to.  I am not a huge fisher myself.  I loved to go fishing with my stepdad growing up and have plenty of great memories with him.  So the other day Zachary and I got to go fishing for USSynthetic fishing day.  The company puts together a day each year for people to go fishing and have some lunch.  Rachel was tied up with Youth Conference for her calling so I decided to just go and I take Zachary along for some father and son time.  I figured that we maybe would get all of 20 minutes of fishing before he gave up but oh well, right?

So we drove down to Salem Pond and I casted out.  Not 10 seconds later I had a bump and Zachary got to reel in his first fish.  He was excited and kept telling it "Hello Fishy!"  We took some of the obligitory pictures that ended up being cute.

When it came time to leave Zachary wanted to hold his fish for the ride home.  Luckily our lunch came in a box so I threw the fish in for the drive home.  

Back home I explained to Zachary that we needed to gut the fish so we could eat him.  He was a little worried about me cutting his fish up but in the end he was okay with it.  We will probably cook the tiny fillets tonight and split it between him and I.  Rachel still won't eat trout.  

Ahh.  The joys of being a dad.  I love it.

Seriously.  Look at that kid!  He was so happy!  I am so blessed to be able to have these little moments with him.  They remind you why you suffer through sleepless nights of crying and tantrums.  I love this kid.

Starting Summer

Uhh, so I guess this blog is supposed to be closed but I still think that we will post occasionally. Or maybe just me. Either way I am posting again so here we go...

So we have been having fun this year as summertime slowly comes around.

So of course I have to talk about Zachary.  The kids is stinking cute.  This was his favorite sitting/hiding place for a little while. 

It has also been quite a while but I should probably also mention this next picture:

This is Tori from my work's cafeteria.  Yes, Zachary is buddies with everyone there and he had quite the friendship with Tori.  He used to always find her when he came to lunch and would help her hand out change from the register to people paying.  Unfortunately she is no longer there (she had another baby and wanted to be a mom full time) but Zachary is still buddies with Luis the grill chef and also love to stop buy and visit Shuryne and Lacy from HR when he comes and visits me.  They make sure to load him up with obscene amounts of candy before he leaves and he absolutely loves it.

Yes, this picture looks random but I just had to comment.  This was done by Zachary as he was playing one day in the kitchen.  What is this?  He told me that Ramone is "pooping."  I loved it.



This is Zachary's favorite activity.  Occasionally I will bring home some liquid nitrogen to make ice cream (which is awesome by the way...) and we always end up having to play around with it a bit.  He loves watching it disappear into the carpet and then running around over it and feeling his feet get cold.  He actually remembered the name of it this last time too.

So Memorial Day weekend we went up to the "Day out with Thomas" up in Heber.  I swear to it Zachary was SO excited leading up to it.  He constantly was asking Rachel and I how long he had till he could go see Thomas.  If nothing else the anticipation was worth every penny we shelled out for the tickets.  So we got to take a "ride" on Thomas.  I use that term loosely because really we kind of rolled down the tracks some 300 yards or so and then went back.  Zachary loved it though and he loved seeing the trains.

Here is Zachary stuffing his face with cotton candy (he loves the stuff, what kid doesn't?!?) and showing off his Thomas tattoo on his face.  He also was sporting a James tattoo on the other cheek for the next couple days and he absolutely loved them.  In the end we had to take him swimming at the pool to strategically remove them. 

We had an awesome time.  Zachary's love for Thomas the Train has been fun and it is perfect timing for this thing.  We will see if he even cares for it by next year...

Every year we get hooked up by Rachel's sister Andrea with tickets to the Shriner's Hospital Dreamnight at Hogle Zoo.  It is super fun to go each year and we really have started to look forward to it.  This year Rachel's other sister Cheryl and her family went along too.  As you may know Zachary loves Cheryl's kids so it made for a fun night with them.

This is Zachary in his "Shoot Shoot" pose.  He occasionally thinks he has a laser in his arm like Buzz Lightyear and goes around shooting people and things.  We really need to get it on video.

Untitled

We are unsure how to title this post. We have several options, and you can choose the best one:

#1 - Why We Shouldn't Share Walls with Neighbors (we need a real house on 10 acres of land)

#2 - You Think Your Kid is Stubborn?!?!?!? Be Comforted.

#3 - Zachary - The Untold Story

Zachary. Really, we love him to bits and pieces.

Seriously! Look at this kid!!! He is a super cute little boy and we would not trade him for anything in the world. There is not a day that goes by that I do not love coming home from work to see him or have Rachel and him visit me at work for lunch. He is the highlight of my day. Of course, every parent knows that there is a LOT that goes on behind the scenes that not many other people get to witness (except anyone in a 100 foot radius of our house...) But you do need to remember what color Zachary's hair is after all. That and his parents aren't exactly wishy washy in their commitments to anything....

So the last couple of nights Zachary has been waking up in the middle of the night. He never has been a great sleeper and we have constantly battled to get him to A- Go to sleep without crying, and B- Stay in his bed until a reasonable time in the morning. Anyone who has been at our place around Zachary's bedtime can attest to the first part of these two ideals. Yeah, for a couple of nights he has ended up sleeping in our room on his little Lightning McQueen bed/couch by the side of our bed. He has been cutting his molars and hasn't felt great so we bent and let him sleep there to feel better when he wandered in crying at midnight......Big mistake.

Here is a timeline for last night:

1AM - We wake up to hear Zachary crying in his room. I go check on him and he is crying because he cannot find his Thomas the Train bathtub toy that he sleeps with (Thanks Andrea :) ). So I find it and give it to him and he calms down. I go back to bed.

1:17AM - Zachary is crying again. I go to check on him and the door runs in to his little couch/bed that he is trying to push to our room to sleep on. I tell him that he needs to sleep in his own bed. The sky falls down and chaos ensues. He starts to scream. I tell him to calm down and put him in bed. Still screaming. "I want to sleep in your room." I crack and tell him I will sleep by his bed. He calms down.

2:30AM - Zachary is still wide awake. He tells me that he needs to go potty. I pull off his pull-up and find it soaked already. He goes potty (kind of...) and then goes back to his bed. I tell him that he needs to go to sleep and walk back to our room. Silence.

2:45ish AM - Screaming starts again. We are talking full out yelling. Sounds that would make the crypt-keeper on HBO proud. Rachel and I resolve to have him stay in his room or this will never end. More screaming. Clearly heard through a closed door, down a hallway and through our closed door.

3:50 AM - Still screaming. I have gone to his room and put him back in bed at least 5 times now. He will not reason. All he says is "I want to sleep in your room" and then continues screaming.

4:30 AM - Wondering if DCFS or our poor neighbors are going to end up on our doorstep. More screaming.

4:52 AM - Dad gives up and wonders if the compassionate love of a mother will work. Rachel goes and puts Zachary back in bed. Screaming again. Lower volume but still audible anywhere in Gateway Village.

4:57 AM - Rachel goes in a second time and talks to Zachary. He seems to have worn out but still is not happy. She tells him he needs to stay in his bed or we will just keep putting him back in. She also informs him that he is keeping the neighbors awake. He still cries. She retires to bed.

5:10 AM - Zachary falls asleep.

8:30 AM - Zachary wakes up singing songs and as happy as a lark. Dad gets up and makes German pancakes. Mom sleeps in.

11:50 AM - After braving most of sacrament meeting with a exhausted little boy who is ornery Rachel heads home to put Zachary to bed. See attached video footage......(you get a teeny tiny clue as to what the previous night was like).

After this he took a three and a half hour nap.

We are getting ready for bed here in a bit and Zachary is asleep in his room.

Wish us luck....

Easter 2009

This past Easter was really fun. Easter is right up there with one of my favorite holidays. We had lots of things going on and it was especially nice to have a little almost 2-year-old who actually got the concept of Easter Egg Hunting. Holidays truly are so much better with kids! Here are the things we were able to do.

First, my mom always has an annual Easter Egg Hunt for her kids and grandkids. She hides eggs, and everyone else also brings eggs to hide. When people find each other's eggs, they exchange them for prizes. It is a tradition we have done since childhood. We love it.

Here are my two oldest brothers, Darrell and Jason. My mom made them wear these goofy bunny ears for a game. I don't think they minded too much.

Next, we had a neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt. Daniel and I decided to carry on my family's tradition and do it with friends from the area. The weather that spring was amazingly rainy, so we ended up hiding the eggs in the Clubhouse. Bummer. But the kids had fun nonetheless. Here they are after the hunt with the prizes they have claimed. We have such cute kids in our neighborhood!

Zachary isn't smiling, but he really did have fun hunting for the eggs and getting prizes.

Justin Martin, Brandon & Bridger Mecham, Andrew Martin, Heather Mecham, and Megan Martin.

Candace and Hudson Haws (Andrew and Ethan are MIA), and me, Daniel & Zachary.

Karen & Nate Pusey.

Aaron, Addie, & Wendy Glass, Mandi & Browen Taylor, Tia & Benji White, and Tyler Pusey running out of the picture.

Calder, Raven, Bryce & Amelie Haymond, Lexi, Brandon, Cassie, & Laney (in the carseat), and Daniel with Zachary in the background.

It was also fun having Zachary help me with dying the eggs. I am pretty sure he liked the stickers more.

Last, I took Zachary to Pleasant Grove's Toddler Gym. They had their Easter Egg Hunt (after all these hunts, how could Zachary NOT get the concept of egg hunting???) along with games and lunch. The Cheetos were a big hit with Zachary. Mmmm, fake processed cheese . . . he loves anything with that on it.

Playing with the parachute is one of his favorite things to do at Toddler Gym.

So much to talk about....

So here we are, half way through summer and we have posted virtually nothing. Sad I know. I guess that is what happens when you get busy. Anyhow. We have definitely had fun this summer. In June we took a trip out to San Diego with Rachel's mom. It was a great time and we enjoyed taking Zachary to Sea World, the San Diego Zoo and the Wild Animal Park. He absolutely loved the zoo and Sea World. Grandma Sharee bought him a little Shamu stuffed whale that he called "Shampoo" for some time after the trip. Even now he still sleeps with it every night.

We loved the trip and had tons of fun.

So Zachary also turned two in July. It is really crazy just how fast he is growing up now. We had a little party for him during singing time on his birthday and that night we had family over for cake and swimming. Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate so we scratched swimming and just did cake. Rachel made this AWESOME "Cars" cake as Zachary is currently loving the movie. Thanks Cheryl for generously donating your Cars characters to help out with the cake. It seriously turned out awesome and Rachel was up till 1:00AM finishing it up to perfection.

It is crazy just how fast Zachary is growing up now. It is so fun to see him learn new things and play and interact in different ways now. It is strange to look at him and think just how much he has developed in the past two years!

Other than all of the forementioned stuff, we have just been having fun this summer and playing as much as we can. We will try and keep updating the blog where possible and let you know what is new in our lives!

Hanging out at the Cabin!

Alright.....I am off to bed!

-Daniel

Zachary's Skills

So Zachary is making his mom happy and sings all of the time now.  You will catch him singing "jingle bells", "abc's", "twinkle twinkle little star", "head shoulders knees and toes", "ring around the rosies" (thanks grandma sharee!), among other things.  It is enough to crack you up or at least leave you smiling.

As soon as we get a good video of him singing we will go ahead and post it.

Zachary has also taken up dancing.  As you can see by the videos, his skills are pretty incredible. He will take a live dance partner when he can get one, but if not he will track down his robot or just go it solo.

Fortunately for me, he doesn't care for any country music, nor line dancing.  I can only hope that holds up for a while....