A Personal Best! And a little vacation

Dear Kate and Riley,
What a week! We have been on the go for over a week now and I'm happy to be home. It started with a drive to Phoenix so I could run in the Rock N Roll 1/2 marathon. It was by far the biggest race I have ever been a part of (something like 30,000 people!) so that was crazy. But it was exciting and a flat easy course. I was hoping to better my last time but never imagined I'd knock 16 min off of it! I came in at 2 hours 8 min which I'm sure is really slow to some people but was speedy for me! I felt great and like I really raced and gave it my all so I was happy.

We spent the weekend in Phoenix with beautiful weather at a beautiful hotel (I am getting so spoiled, dad better not ever get a different job!). Then we left the sun and headed to cold, smoggy Utah to see Uncle Bret off at the MTC. We got to spend some time with the Hansens and play with "aunties" Liz and Michelle. Zach had fun playing with Henry, Owen and Taylor! So many new friends. And I decided that even a huge house with a basement wouldn't be worth leaving our California sun! (I still don't understand what people do with kids all winter)

We are excited to get back into a routine and be boring for a while. I'm training for another race in April and am hoping to get just a little bit faster.

Love,
Mom

Swimming with Dad in Phoenix

The best support crew (who had a hard time finding mom in the crowd!)

Mom and Zach at the finish line

Uncle Bret with Zach

The "O-H" original Hansen family at the MTC with Uncle Bret

Zach and his new best bud Henry at the children's museum
Zach LOVED the water and was soaked!

Zach and Henry

Zach snuggling with Taylor, I wanted to bring her home with me,
she was GREAT with Zach!

January Surprise!

Dear Kate and Riley,
What a fun surprise to have an 80 degree weekend in January! Even for the spoiled Californians that is a treat. Combine that with a visit from Uncle Andrew and fam and you have a perfect weekend! Zach hadn't been down to the beach really since he could walk (at least not when it was warm!) and he thoroughly enjoyed himself. In fact I would venture to say it was one of the best days of his life so far. Combine sand (yes he's still eating it by the handful), water (another of his favorite things) and older cousins and he was in HEAVEN! We had a blast too and it made me really excited for this summer. We are headed to Disneyland tomorrow and are going to try to enjoy every minute of this warm weather until it leaves us again for a few months.

Love,
Mom

Dad's future quarterback?

Zach and Camryn

This is my favorite, it totally captures how much fun he was having!

Happy New Year!

Dear Kate and Riley,
Happy 2009! We took it easy with just dinner and hanging out at home with a few friends. We did make it to midnight though which I have to say I was pretty surprised about!

2008 was a good year for us and we are hoping for an even better 2009!

Love,
Mom

Merry Christmas!

Dear Kate and Riley,

Merry Christmas a little late. We just got back from Christmas in Houston with all the Hansens. It will be our last time all together for at least two years since Uncle Bret is leaving on his mission in just a few weeks. It was fun to be with everyone, Zach, Summer and Ali are just a handful all together but I think that a good time was had by all. We survived both 3 hour plane rides with only minor melt downs and one "poop incident" which left some of Zach's pants in the trash can of the Houston airport.

Zach was spoiled by grandparents and aunts and uncles, mom and dad had some wonderful nights out (and even an overnight away!), we got to take Uncle Bret to the temple for the first time, hear his very funny and touching farewell talk, take Zach to see his first real live alligator, dad got to "golf" with Zach for the first time, we all ate lots of fattening food and just appreciated being together.

Being in the temple with all of my siblings and my parents was a really special moment. I really felt your presence that night at the temple and felt that you got to be there with us. I knew that if it was a touching day for me it must have been 100 times more special for my parents. I would imagine that was a very proud moment for them to have all of their children together in the temple and I'm sure there were times when they wondered if it would ever happen. I was so glad we got to do that before Bret left.

Reading with Grandpa Ross

Christmas Eve "bells" our favorite tradition!

Christmas Eve pj's. They say "What Santa doesn't bring me, Grandma will!"
So true. And seriously, will I ever get these three to look at the camera!?

Christmas morning

I love this picture, the Christmas morning overload. Dad had a good fro going on.

Overwhelmed by presents galore!

Uncle Bret after his farewell talk

Dad finally got to take Zach golfing!

Brazos Bend, the alligator park. The kids loved the bridge, moms and grandma were a little nervous about it.

We actually saw a bunch of alligators. This was a little one but still pretty cool!

Love,
Mom

Nightmare before Christmas!

Dear Kate and Riley,
Zach had a traumatic morning today at our ward breakfast with Santa. It really wasn't a bad morning, just a bad 30 seconds or so when Dad set Zach on Santa's lap. His friend Will quickly made up for it by letting Zach play with his car out in the parking lot, far away from Santa and that scary red suit!

Other that traumatizing Zach with Santa, we have been having fun getting into the season. We had to forgo our usual tree for a small one on the table that Zach couldn't destroy. But we made up for it by going to a tree lighting ceremony with some friends. We have hit up some ward holiday parties and have done a little shopping, we even caved and let Zach open one present early that was too big for us to bring to Houston. Hopefully the season hasn't been ruined for Zach by his little visit with Santa. Maybe when he realizes that Santa is the one to bring him all of his goodies on Christmas morning he'll have a change of heart.

Love,
Mom

Tree lighting ceremony in Laguna Niguel

Making up for traumatic Santa visit by playing with Will.
They're both SO happy!

Taking a turn in the car, Will was much more keen on being pushed than pushing

Happy Birthday!

Dear Kate and Riley,
Happy second birthday. I cannot believe two years have passed. The one year mark seems like yesterday. Last year it was cold and gloomy on your birthday, this year it was warm and sunny. I felt like it kind of reflected a change in me as well. I was happy last year too but time does wonderful things for healing hearts and this year celebrating your birthday did feel a little more like celebrating instead of grieving. I did have myself a good cry last night but I also actually enjoyed shopping for your gifts that we are going to donate and buying pretty things to bring to the cemetery today.

Dad, Zach and I headed to the cemetery this afternoon with balloons and flowers and got such a nice surprise when we got there to find that Grandma and Grandpa Hansen had already sent a big huge arrangement and balloon that was on your headstone already. It was much more beautiful than the flowers we brought and it was just a great surprise.

Zach is still a little too young to understand but we told him that his sisters are here and that the balloons and flowers were for your birthday. We had him wave goodbye as we left and that just really touched me. I know that someday he will understand and then going to the cemetery will have more meaning for him. Today he was just excited about balloons.

I hope you have a big celebration in heaven. We got to go to a musical at the church last night called Savior of the World. It was all about the life of Christ. I was glad that we got to go the night before your birthday so we could be reminded of the wonderful gifts of the atonement and resurrection and know that we will see you again some day. We love you so much. We remember you in our prayers always and you are such an important part of our family.

Love,
Mom

Happy Thanksgiving!

Dear Kate and Riley,
Happy late Thanksgiving! We spent the week in Utah with ALL the family. It was crazy to have every member of both my side and Dad's side of the family in town and it made for a fun and crazy week. Zach had SO much fun with all of his cousins and aunts and uncles and grandparents, he was spoiled all week and by the end of the week he was a very tired baby.

I just love the holidays and with Zach getting older they are even more fun. We are blessed to be able to travel and see everyone. Aunt Stacy and I were talking one night about how lucky we are to have married into such a great family. The O'Farrells are a wonderful family and I am so happy to be a part of them, I love all of dad's family so much and have so much fun hanging out with them. Stacy and I also decided that we married well. Dad and his brothers are all great husbands who take great care of their families. I am so grateful for Dad!

I am also grateful for my family, it is so fun as we grow and add new people like Uncle Christian and it is SO much fun to watch Zach with Summer and Ali. Christmas is going to be chaotic but fun with those three all under the same roof, I can't wait! We are thinking of you as your 2nd birthday nears. Dad and I have found a great opportunity to donate your birthday presents to Concept 7 which is a local foster care agency. If any of our family or friends want to donate in your behalf they can bring toys to me or drop them off at a toys for tots or other donation place. We would love to get other people to do some donations in your honor and send in pictures that I could post on your birthday.

Love,
Mom

Zach and Grandma Janice, aka "Granice"

Ali, Zach, Summer. Ever tried to sit three one year olds on a wall and take their picture? It doesn't work. Swimming in Park City where Grandma and Grandpa stayed.

Cousin bath time! Summer, Ali, Zach

Zach and Granpa Ross, aka "Gross" at temple square. Mom and Dad got a night off!
Notice the socks on this poor child's hands. I really did have gloves for him but I didn't bring them for him that night because I didn't think they would dare to go out with all three babies.

Everyone kept telling us how warm it was in Utah. Zach and I disagreed.

This picture got distorted in the upload but I couldn't leave out your cute new cousin Jake! He's adorable!

Dad and Zach making a card for Great Grandma Gen at the O'Farrell family Christmas party. Zach LOVED doing the stamps with Dad.

Getting creative...

Dear Kate and Riley,
Your little brother is the busiest kid I have ever met. He is really NON stop. Plus he seems to get bored very easily these days. It makes my life challenging and keeps me on my toes. Whoever said that staying home all day doesn't work your brain certainly never had a kid like Zach. Today I was desperate to get him out of the house but knew there wasn't enough time to go anywhere before he needed to go down for his nap. Three tupperware containers, one wooden spoon and a faucet of water later we were having a blast. Why I didn't think of this three months ago is beyond me! I've been wishing a lot for a big Utah basement to play in but really on a beautiful November afternoon I wouldn't trade my 900 sq feet for a pile of snow even if it came with a basement!

Love,
Mom

How has that faucet just been sitting there all summer unused!?
Look at him, he's enthralled!

Even Bella got in on the fun

Halloween 2008

Mmmm, candy corns!

Dear Kate and Riley,

What a fun Halloween! I remember that last year we couldn't even get Zachary to wake up and his costume was about 10 times too big for him. It was much more fun this year but still probably a little more for ME than it was for him.

We had some friends over on Thursday to carve pumpkins and I realized that our house just isn't really big enough for three very active one year olds! We still had a lot of fun though and it got us all in the mood for Friday. We headed to Disneyland for a few hours and then came home and met up with some of the neighbors for trick or treating. Zach didn't really get the concept and after dragging him away from two houses screaming (he didn't want to leave once he realized they were giving away free candy!) I decided it was a little pointless to do it this year so we went home and handed out candy. Zach would SQUEEL and RUN to the door every time it rang so that was a little bit more fun for him.

Love,
Mom

Pumpkin Carving day with friends (and I thought it was hard to get ONE baby to look at me!)

Disneyland with friend Addie

Trick-or-Treating!

Isabelle had fun flashlights (which took Zach about 5 min to break)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

More to follow...

Pumpkin Patch!

Dear Kate and Riley,
We are loving fall, ok extended summer, around here. Zach is just at this stage where everything is exciting and amazing and that just makes everything that much more fun for us! This weekend we took him to a pumpkin patch by out house. He was so overwhelmed that it took him about five minutes to even MOVE once we set him down. Then he walked around pointing at everything and jabbering all about it. They had animals like goats and chickens and pigs for the kids to feed and he was enthralled if a little scared. We were too cheap to actually pay for him to do anything (or even get a pumpkin for that matter), but that's another fun thing about this age, he didn't care! It was pretty much impossible to get a picture of him LOOKING at me but I work with what we have...
Love, Mom

Riding on the giant tractor

I'll look at anyone but the one with the camera!

He was obsessed with this wheel, and when I say obsessed I mean he screamed, kicked and cried when we took him away from it.
Why you ask?

Well that would be because there was HAY inside. Apparently Zach is a horse. He tried to eat hay all night long. Must not be very different from sand. Or dirt. Or dog food.

Loving the bubble machine with Dad