We're having a.......

GIRL!!! And we are super excited. Zachary has been saying for a while that he was going to have a little sister, and he proved to be right.

We are already very prepared in the clothing department. Whenever we would go shopping for Zachary, I would find myself more drawn to the baby girl's clothes, so I would of course buy some. I think we would always come home with more girl clothes, than clothes for Zachary. Curtis would always laugh at me and say, "what if we don't have a girl?" Well, fortunately we are, so I didn't waste all the money I have spent on girl clothes.

We are due March 21st, but my doctor said if everything goes well, he will induce me so I don't have another nine pound baby. Thank goodness!!! I do not want to live through that again.

I am so grateful that we are blessed to have another baby, and I cannot wait for her to be here!!!

Zachary's Adventures

We went camping a few times this summer with our families, and I am way behind in posting pictures. Over the 24th of July we went to Tony Grove with Curtis' family. We do this trip every year, and I would have to say that this year was fun but also not fun at the same time.

Here is a picture of Zachary sweeping the dirt. I think this was his favorite thing to do while we were there. Last year was easier for me because he couldn't walk yet, but this year he got SSSSOOOO DiRtY!!! and I hate him being dirty. It was quite disgusting.

The night that everyone is up there together, the boys hike up to a place called White Pines. The next morning the girls who want to, hike up and enjoy a few hours up there with the guys, and then they all hike back down and we eat lunch together.

This picture is of Curtis, Zachary and me right before the guys left to go on the hike. You will notice the bandage on Zachary's hand. You may be asking "why does he have that on his hand?" Well, I will tell you.

Curtis brother Brandon had gone fishing and caught some fish that he of course decided to cook over the fire on one of those metal grate things. (I have no idea what they are called). Anyway, we were sitting by the fire and Curtis got up to do something and didn't know Zachary decided to follow him. Zachary tripped and fell over the fire and put his hand on the grate. Here are a couple pictures of the result:

I was scared to death and Zachary was screaming like I have never heard before. A man from another campsite came over with some burn spray and we had ice on it trying to cool it down. I felt like such a horrible mother and could not stop crying. We gave Zachary some IbUprofen and Curtis, his dad and his brothers gave Zachary a blessing. Zachary continued to cry so Curtis and I took him on a walk down to the lake and we threw rocks in the lake and that helped Zachary calm down a lot.

I am so thankful for the power of the priesthood. I am grateful that Curtis, his dad and his brother's were worthy to give my baby a blessing.

Zachary now knows what the word "hot" means and whenever someone asked him to show them his "owie", he would look at his hand and say "ow". It was kind of cute.

We were really afraid that he would have scars from where he got burned, but his hand is perfect again. You cannot tell that anything ever happened, and I know that is because of the blessing Curtis gave to him.

I love this gospel and my family and feel so lucky to be so blessed.

Tarra's Wedding

Wow! I cannot believe it has been two months since I posted anything. What a slacker. I definitely have a lot to post about, but I will start with Tarra's Wedding.

Tarra married Dane Strader on July 18th in the Draper temple. It is really hard to believe that my little sister is married. Seven out of the eight of us kids are now married, and it's really cool because we have all been sealed in different temples. Imagine that!!!

It was a beautiful day for a wedding, and things couldn't have gone better. Here are a few pictures I thought I would share. Curtis' brother Daniel was the photographer and he did an amazing job.

These first two pictures are of my Zachary and I couldn't help but post them because he is so CuTe!!

The picture above is Tarra and Dane with my parents and

my Grandma (mom's mom).

All eight of us kids. My sister and her family were able to drive up from Nevada

for the wedding, so that was really special.

The above picture is of both families who were at the temple.

This picture is one of our favorites. This is all of the grandkids.

Aren't they cute?

This is the picture that meant the most to my mom. This is the first family

picture we have had in who knows how many years where all of

our family is together. Mom has wanted one of these for a long time.

We are so happy that Dane is part of our family!! We couldn't have found anyone better for Tarra.

HaPpY 4th of JuLy

I know that the 4th of July was almost two and a half weeks ago, but what can I say? I am a slacker. This year we spent the 4th with my family. Curtis, Zachary and I started the morning off by going to Denny's for breakfast. It was YuMmY!!!

That afternoon my family came over to go swimming in the pool at our apartment. We have not taken Zachary swimming since last summer when he was about five months old so we didn't really know what to expect. He LoVeD the water!!! We have a turtle tube that we bought for him last summer, and we tried to put him in it again this time, but he was having none of that. He wanted to be out of the tube............jumping into the pool. It was so cute. We would put him up on the edge, and he would jump to us without any hestitation. It was so fun!!!

This is Zachary trying to get out of the pool by himself.

That night we went to my brother's house for dinner and fireworks. Zachary loved the fireworks too!!! It is definitely a lot more fun to do these kind of things when your kids are older. I loved seeing his face when he watched the fireworks. This is him doing sparklers. The only problem was, he wanted to do it himself, and he kept trying to touch the fire.

These last two pictures are of the fireworks that we did. We had some pretty SwEeT fireworks!!!

I am so grateful that I am able to live in this country! We are so blessed to live here and have the freedoms we have. I hope we never take for granted the blessing we have of living in our country.

Happy Birthday to my Hubby!!

Today is my Curtis' 26th birthday. I told him this morning not to be too sad that he is now closer to thirty than twenty....what a scary thought!! The following are twenty-six things that I love about Curtis:

1. His smile
2. His eyes
3. This kind of goes along with #2, but I love the fact that he can never lie to me because his eyes give him away every time.
4. He can always make me laugh.
5. He makes me feel safe.
6. He always dishes my dinner first.
7. In the first two days we owned "Twilight", he watched it with me three times and didn't complain once (at least not out loud).
8. He understands my love for Edward. (Hee-hee)
9. I am definitely a "dumb blonde" sometimes, but he never lets me know it. He just laughs at me. (I guess in a way that is letting me know it, isn't it)?
10. He is terrific with kids.
11. His spirituality
12. His love for our Savior.
13. He sacrifices so much for our family. Not only does he get up at 5:00 to go to work, but he also goes to school full time.
14. He is truly a "kid at heart."
15. He watches chick flicks with me, even though I won't watch scary movies with him.
16. He lets me pick the ice cream.
17. He takes care of me when I am sick.
18. He doesn't get bored with me, even though at every restaurant we go to, I always order the same thing at that particular restaurant.
19. His "big" brains.
20. He truly listens to people.
21. He has a gentle and forigiving heart.
22. The fact that he tends to tell me the same stories over and over and over and over again.
23. His sense of humor.
24. He lets me tease him all the time. (He makes it SO EASY). Especially about the face that I asked him out on our first two dates.
25. He is the perfect daddy for our Zachary.
26. He was worthy to take me to the temple so we could be sealed for all eternity.

HaPpY bIrThDaY cUrTiS!!! I LOVE you!!!!

Happy Father's Day!!

I would like to say "Happy Father's Day" on Sunday to all the wonderful father's in my life. There are many of them, but I would like to focus on three.

First of all my wonderful husband Curtis. This guy is awesome!! I knew from the first time he came around my family he was going to be an amazing dad. When I met Curtis, he hadn't been around little kids much, but when we started dating I had six little nieces and nephews. They all fell in love with him instantly. He gets on the floor and he plays with them, and throws them in the air, and spins them around and they love him!!!


Curtis was amazing with Zachary right from the start. Zachary is so much like his daddy, and I cannot wait for him to get older and truly appreciate his dad for what he is.

Curtis, I love you with all my heart. Thank you for giving me Zachary and I cannot wait for more just like him. I am so blessed to have found you. Heavenly Father knew I needed you, and I am grateful to him for sending you to me. Thank you for being a great daddy to our Zachary!!

Next comes my dad. I think the greatest thing my dad ever taught me was the value of hard work. He has worked SO hard for most of his life. He would leave for work at seven in the morning and not come home until seven at night. This made him not be home much, but he provided for his family. I bet he will be the first to tell you it isn't easy to provide for eight kids, but he did it without complaint every day.

Him and my mom have also taught me something else these past few months. My dad is in construction and we all know how good that is doing in this sucky economy. Well, he has been without a job since February. There has hardly been a morning when I have dropped Zachary off at my parent's house that my dad hasn't been on the computer looking for a job. I know my parent's are scared about what the future holds, but they have FAITH that everything will work out for them. They have taught me that during the hard times, all we have is FAITH, and we need to hold onto that. I love you, Dad!

Last, but certainly not least, is Curtis' dad. He is my wonderful "second" dad. I am thankful to him and Debbie for raising Curtis to be the person that he is, and I am grateful Zachary shares a birthday with his Grandpa.

I also want to say Happy Father's Day to my Grandpa Sirstins who passed away October 6th of last year. I miss him terribly, but I know he is watching out for us.

Family Pictures

About a month ago, Curtis' family had pictures done at the International Peace Gardens downtown. Each "family" wore a different color and ours was red; although, Curtis' and Zachary's shirts look more like orange. Our photographer was Curtis' brother Daniel, and he does AmAzInG work!!! (If anyone needs a good photographer, I can hook you up). It was a lot of fun and we had a picnic afterwards. It was really great spending the evening with our family

This top picture is my favorite. Zachary is so

photogenic and Curtis looks HoT!!

And here is the whole family!!