Sharp Shootin Tex!

Spencer went shooting with his dad and a few other boys (and their dads) to finish off the requirements for their Rifle Shooting Merit Badge. When they first got there, Spencer shot 5 shots in the bulls eye, with no wandering shots, 75 feet away! Way to go Spence! That's awesome for even an experienced shooter!

4 Wheelin!

First of all, I am very proud of my Calla Lillies! I love these beautiful flowers and I didn't think I could grow them. I saw the bulbs at Costco and decided to try it. These are the two blooming right now. Fabulous!

I took John and Molly up to American Fork Canyon for a fun 4 Wheeling ride. Molly ran the whole way and loved it. Most of the time she was up front. We picked a bunch of cherries off the tree in the back yard (way too many for us to eat, so if you want some...) Turns out Molly likes cherries. I was sure she would get diarrhea from it, so this run was a good way to clean her out!

I don't know why these pics are coming out so dark. I guess you'll have to click on them to see the detail. This is John, waiting for me, on the way back.

There was a cool stream that followed the road all the way up!

I think Molly is in this picture somewhere. We sure had fun! It was a perfect day for a ride. It had just rained the day before so the dust and mud were minimal. It was a little busy because it was Saturday. I never knew so many people camped up that canyon!

Washington Pics

I don't think you want me to bore you with all the pics, but here are a few to give you an idea.


Cool silhouette of a crane in the pond by the memorials.


Lincoln Memorial


The White House


The Capital in Washington


Gettysburg


Cousin Mike, Mary and Keith Ingram, Ellicott, MD


Cousin Fran with Dave and Jake in front of her cute home in Frederick, MD


Cousin Joe and Ellen Ingram, Frederick MD

Inner Harbor in Baltimore

DC Weekend

Here is the weekend update:

Dave and I got up early Friday morning trying to make it to the 8:00 a.m. session at the Washington DC temple. Our gps tends to get a little confused, telling us to get on the freeway when there is no freeway entrance, or sometimes there is an entrance, but it is closed. Anyways...missed the 8:00, so we did sealings. We met a very nice couple from New Jersey in Zack's mission district. They said they would watch for him and give him a poke for me. We took a short tour of the Visitor's Center (more cool than I expected) and then we headed back to the hotel where we left Jake sleeping. We checked out of our hotel and went to Arlington Cemetary.



This temple had one of the most beautiful celestial rooms I have ever seen! No huge chandelier in the middle. Very exquisite!



We made it just in time to see the changing of the guard and the presentation of 2 wreaths. We also saw Kennedy's burial place. The house of Robert E. Lee was in the middle of the cemetery. Someone decided to bury all these people on his land since he was the one responsible for their deaths.

We found our next hotel and the guys found a 5 Guys Burger place to eat at. I just got a salad and some fruit.



Saturday, we got up early and met cousin Mike Ingram, who drove us to Gettysburg. Bob loaned us his CD's from his trip there, so we took the auto tour and had our own personal tour guide on CD. Jake liked this much better! It was very interesting! Jake loves golf, so Mike took us to hit a few buckets of balls after our tour! Jake was in heaven! Mike gave us all some good golf pointers. I told him I was only there for comic relief. Mary fixed us a very nice dinner and invited cousin Joe and Ellen Ingram over for dinner. We had a great visit! We really enjoyed catching up and getting to know the Ingrams again! They sent us home with some great left overs!

Sunday we got up early (again, much to Jake's demise!)and went to church with cousin Fran. It turned out that was her first time, so I introduced her to the bishop, the missionaries and the RS pres. She said, "Have you met the bishop already?" I told her no, but that doesn't matter, strangers are just friends I haven't met yet! She couldn't believe how "Not shy" I was. In my book, I don't have time to be shy.

Fran made us a lovely lasagna dinner at her lovely house. Then we went over to see cousin Joe and Ellen at their house. They fed us dinner and it was fun to get to know Angela and her three boys (another set of twins in the family). I got lots of fruit and I was loving it! (3 home meals in a row...SWEET!)

One more full day here, then back to Utah!

Cool DC sites!

Carma suggested we go see some of the memorials at night time. We got some really cool shots of the Jefferson and Washington memorials at night time (sorry, pics to come next week). It was the perfect time to go because there was lots of parking and we didn't have to walk so far. The weather cleared up and the sites were awesome!

Our legs and feet are very stiff from walking all over for two days. Dave & I are going to the temple tomorrow morning, then we will pick up Jake and go to Arlington cemetary and the Holocaust Museum if we have time.

So much to see, so little time!

DC Museum Day

Well, today we wanted to visit all the museums we could in the DC Mall. We made it to the Castle, The Air Space Museum (very cool, very Big), and the Natural History Museum. Very, very big and lots of cool stuff to see. We walked around for 4 hours and we were sooo tired, we couldn't move another step, so we returned to the hotel to rest. Who knew walking around could make you so tired!

DC Trip

I don't know how to download the pics to go with this because I forgot the card reader, but I thought this pic was a good one to share.

Jake really enjoyed his first plane ride! I started getting a little air sick towards the end.

We had a hard time getting Jake out of bed this morning, but we finally got him moving and figured out how to get to the metro. We rode that into DC, then we walked, and walked and walked. It was cool to see all the memorials and we toured the capital, but we were pretty exhausted by the end. The funniest thing I saw was that they charge you $1 to get out of the Metro, after they charge you to ride the Metro. Weird!

Did you know that there is a statue of Brigham Young in the Capital? And they built a tomb to bury Washington in 5 years after he died and his family would not let them take his remains there, so it remains empty?

The architecture of these buildings are amazing and beautiful! I wish I could download some, but I left my card reader home.

Most of the people here are very nice. I would have to say that from what we have seen so far, the Caucasians are definitely the minority here. It seems like 20% or less.

The gps is a life saver, but the only draw back is you don't talk to as many people this way. Well, let's say "I" don't talk to as many people. Jake and Dave would be happy wondering around for hours, "not asking anyone for directions"!

More update to come...

Happy Birthday Spencer!

Spencer Just turned 12 on Saturday. He spent the first part of his birthday at scout camp. The camp report was that it rained most of the time and it was very crowded because all the scouts from the Payson camp moved in to their camp (Swine Flu scare). Spencer was at a brand new camp in Fairview. They were not ready to have campers. The staff was poorly trained and they didn't have use of the pool because people were paranoid of catching the swine flu. I wouldn't recommend it this year.

Spencer was made a deacon today, so officially I have the most priesthood in our ward: deacon, teacher, priest X2, elder (on loan) and high priest.


Spencer got a new scooter and his other request was for one of these foam pads for his bed. He was very happy for this gift (funny kid!)! He wanted Kraft Mac & Cheese for his special b-day dinner and mint frosting brownies. John spent Saturday fixing up his bike so he would have one that the brakes worked on. Dave and John put the wheels on that never pop and Spencer was a happy birthday boy!


Jake finally let me cut his hair: Before


After!

Cousin Visit

Dave's cousin, Fran, came to visit us from Maryland (no, this is not a picture of her). She was a delightful person to get to know and I am happy to have a new friend! We are going to visit her when we take our trip to DC. We went to Joyce's cabin and this deer stood nearby for a long time, licking the salt lick.

This is , Fran, Gennie (Dave's mom), and Joyce (his sister)

There was a big rain storm on the south of the temple and we hurried to snap these pics before it got us!


I love to see the temple, I'm going there Wednesday!

Time for an update!

Mike and his friends playing Rockband. Mike decided to throw himself a little belated b-day party with his friends. Did I ever mention how noisy 15 year olds are? I tried to sing along, but Spencer decided he was better than me and stole the mic. (His little friend, Bethany Rocked on the guitar! Who knew!)

Jake tried to get a pic of my crazy hairdo with the blondy highlights. I just couldn't get a good pic to show how blond my hair looks. Maybe it's all in my imagination and it's not as blond as I think! I'm tired of the hair style I've been using the past 20 years, so this is the real update.

This is my favorite Jake in the whole world, giving his mom a little snug! I was feeling a little blurry that day. I can't wear those pants anymore, they are way too big for me!

And now a word from Zack...

Hey Mom!

My birthday dinner was pretty dang good! We went to Tony Sopranos and we both got a large Stromboli and we both finished it before we left. Thank you from both of us!

We set a baptismal date with Randy for the end of the month. He seems pretty excited and he loves what we teach him. They're changing the key indicator protocols a little bit 'round these parts. We don't report other lessons and all member lessons are combined and we plan for 3 week periods instead of 6 weeks. And we also have to report the number of hours we tract.

I got my hair cut today at the barber shop down the street. $18 dollars! Great Gravy! That's kind of expensive for a 20 minute haircut. But I look better. Better than I would if I had cut my own hair.

So I just realized the other day that I'm starting to get a "farmer's tan". And I've got a ring around my neck where my collar is. I'm going to look rather peculiar when I start wearing t-shirts again.

WOO! Go mom! Keep up the good work!

Well that pretty much all I have that is note worthy.
Its good to hear from you!

Much Love,
Zack

Shoot!

I have been so busy, but didn't give and update here. I finally figured out how to get pics off my phone so here are a couple.

This is proof that my cousin Dennis Jackson did not fall off the edge of the earth. I attended his nephew's wedding in Bountiful. This is my Aunt Betty, Dennis and two of his grandsons.

This is my cousin J.L.! He has been in rehab for nearly 4 years. I couldn't get a full pic of the two of them, but J.L. was standing on his own, giving Aunt Belva a hug! He has since had his trach removed and you can understand his words much, much better! Awesome J.L.!!!This is my cute friend Emily! She had just finished her final performance in gymnastics. I was excited that Emily invited me to her program! I got to go to her practice and see how much she had improved, just in a couple weeks! Good job Em!

Last, here is my weight loss update: -16 lbs!!!
Woohoo!!!