Baptized

It is hard to believe that we've already gone from this..

to this! 8 years old!!

Zack is such a great kid. We are really proud of him. 

Except for the grandparents, all of these people live in Vegas. It's so great to have so many family members live nearby. 

We were having camera drama so I didn't even get a picture of our family alone. Ben finally got to wear his jacket for a baptism. I sent his out to be dry cleaned when he was baptized and it wasn't ready on time. This is the same one--it still fits!?!

Grandma & Grandpa McGarry:

Papa & Nana Francis:

This is Zack and Henry when they were just a few months old.

They are the funniest little friends. I love to listen to their conversations. Henry is wearing his "tux" and Zack was loving his dressy pants. He wanted to wear them to play in at the park because they are so comfy. 

 After the baptism, we enjoyed a picnic at the park complete with custom cupcakes for the baptism boy. Thankfully the weather was beautiful. It was a really great day all around. We are blessed to have this little guy in our family. 

Zack Turned 8, Let's Celebrate, and Celebrate and Celebrate!!!

The birthday festivities started on Friday with a class pizza party. Zack made these notes to send home with his classmates so they would know not to bring a lunch. 

I was planning on bringing in a little treat. Zack, as usual, had bigger plans. He also had a co-conspirator: Julia. Her birthday is the same day and these two little cuties decided to go big. (This is not the first time the two of them have made plans, they also put together a little party for their teacher's birthday). 

Pizza and birthday cupcakes. FUN! 

On an even year (when there is no friend birthday party) we let the birthday boy pick a place to go eat. Zack wanted to go to Yard House. It's an excellent choice, especially considering that he earned a free kid's meal. There was only one problem, we were going out on St. Patrick's Day to a restaurant that boasts one of the largest selections of beer in the world. Not a good idea. Instead we ate pizza and went bowling.  Cosmic bowling. That was the first time the boys have glowed and bowled at the same time.  

After two days of pre-birthday celebrating, it was time for the real thing. (We really need to quit with this multi-day birthday partying!)  HAPPY BIRTHDAY Zack!!

Ben was really excited to give him his old bike. He cleaned it all up and added some new stickers. 

"More paper" was the #1 item on his birthday list. 

What could this giant present be? 

The traditional turning 8 electric guitar, of course.  This one is a flying-v style rocker with the cutest mini amp ever. It's wear-able, how convenient. 

When I asked Zack what he wanted his cake to look like, I got the above sketch. This is definitely different from his previous cake requests. One of Zack's favorite things to do is write books. (He will go through that 800 pack of paper quickly).  I was not sure where to begin to make the cake he designed so I came up with a much simpler one. 

He rated my work a 7 out of 10, until I told him that was a C. He changed it to a sympathy A.  He wrote and illustrated a 41 page book, called "Timmy Tales" that he took to school and read to his class. His most recent book is "Baby Joe on the Go." It's about a baby who gets put into jail, repeatedly.

Here are a few words to describe my 8 year old:

Phone Photography

 I am currently in between cameras. This would have been a desperate situation a year ago, but I use my phone for pictures a lot anyway. It's super convenient. Maybe a little too convenient because I tend to take a lot of random pictures too. For example: 


Ranch dressing. It's so delicious why not? I took this one because we are fans of Greggs Ranch. Try it and you will find it extremely difficult to tolerate any other brand of ranch salad dressing. 

So when Costco quit selling it and no other grocery store in Las Vegas stocked it, life got rough (no more salads or carrots!). And then one day, I am in Costco and I see it in someone else's cart. It's back!! I had to text Noah a picture because his vegetable consumption was impacted the most.

Too many fish in a vase= too many dead fish.

For pack meeting our ward held goldfish races.  That's right, all you need are a couple of rain gutters, bendy straws and goldfish. We ended up bringing home a whole bunch of little pets. Two were dead by morning and the rest were gone by the time I got back from helping in Zack's class that same day. I took the picture to get Matt's permission to flush them before the kids got home. Permission granted. 

Imitation isn't always flattering. I found these sad, sad bunnies

Four attempts to turn this the right way. I give up!

and chicks at the dollar store. Who would spend $1 for these when you can spend $1 for the real ones...located at the end of the same aisle? 

Pick up your danged picks!!

I sweep on a regular basis, like multiple times a day. And yet, one morning, I swept up all of these guitar picks. Matt got a "these are all going in the garbage/quit dropping your picks on the ground" text from me. The tone was a little angry. Also, after sending the text I found another one on the laundry room floor and one upstairs on my bedroom floor. Sometimes threatening texts work though, I haven't found one since. 


During my bread search I came across this bread. It amused me. Bimbo bread. In Vegas. Get it?? Oh and you pronounce it BEE-mbo. Sure you do. 

I will not purchase Noah Hunger Games "capital colors" nail polish. But I will send him a picture of it. 

I take a whole bunch of auto related pictures. Besides all the shots of my fuel costs and super cars I took these. 

There was a low tire pressure warning in my car. It might not be a big deal, but it made me nervous, like I am going to lose control of my car at any moment nervous. It didn't bother Matt so much since he wasn't in danger of losing control of his car at any moment. After days of begging him to go put air in my tires, I did it myself. And I got all messy. I wasn't happy about it. 

I left Costco (where parking spaces are really large and luxurious) to find this parking situation. There was PLENTY of room on the other side of that Hummer. 

Unbeknownst to me this happened at either the post office or Fresh & Easy. It looks just as bad in real life. I noticed the scratch when we were leaving to go see The Zookeeper. I will forever associate the two. I hated The 

Zookeeper almost as much as I dislike the person who keyed my car.

   

Imagine what it must be like to be Matt. He is almost always the recipient of these pictures. Noah just informed me that this is what Facebook is for. My apologizes for using the wrong social network for my phone photos. By the way Noah, I think this is what Instagram is for. 

Boys Who Like Girls

Matt & David love Girls. They love them so much they drove all the way to LA and back in one night to see them. They love Girls so much, the wanted to see them again in San Diego. They figured the best way to go see Girls again was to take their girls. A smart move, I wasn't going to turn down a little California getaway without kids. 

A few things about this night. 
1) When we got in line to go in, I felt like I was transported into a John Hughes's film--pegged jeans, blousy shirts, super styled boy's hair. It was kind of bizarre. 
2) It was poor strategy on my part to take a Dramamine before we left. The theory was good, I have been car sick on my last two California drives, but for some reason the less drowsy-version of Dramamine makes me super tired about 6 hours after I take it. I was falling asleep during the concert! 
3)Turns out, I like Girls too. They are a talented band (definitely the best, lead singer was born into and left a crazy religious cult band). Although if you are a little drowsy some of the songs could put you to sleep. This could be a good thing if you aren't driving and are trying to get some rest. Not so good if you want to fit in with all the hip teenagers. Thankfully the too loud and overly enthusiastic keyboardist kept me from dozing off for too long. 

Really cool venue. All the youngsters were standing in front of the chairs, so you will have to take my word on the interesting fashions. 

Before we drove home, Emily & I seized the opportunity to go to the Container Store since we don't have one here (yet).  Matt & David took the opportunity to go to a Guitar Center because there are two in Vegas. Two. 

February 29

Once, every four years, you can have fresh from the oven cinnamon rolls for breakfast. (Or a donut if you don't like cinnamon rolls.)

Once, every four years, I will deliver McDonald's for lunch. 

Once, every four years, you can have some of the treats that are never allowed. 

Once, every four years, let's do something fun. 

Like a scavenger hunt, with some puzzles to solve. 

The Activity

The additional participants: Aidan, Sam, Henry, Ethan.

Once, every four years, let's eat some place fancy--

and bring the kids.

Happy Leap Day!!