All in White

This was the day Kirsten's been looking forward to for months.

Her baptism day!

My parents, Grandma and Grandpa Weller, drove here from Idaho to witness not only Kirsten's baptism, but David's baby blessing as well. Their presence, along with Grandma and Grandpa Zinn's, added a sweetness to the day.
Before leaving to the stake center (Comanche Building), the family met at our house to eat KFC and some yummy ice-cream cake that Grandma Zinn made. With our stomachs full and our spirits uplifted by the togetherness that being a family brings, we were off.

An older couple greeted us as we entered the church and helped Kirsten and David pick out their baptismal clothing. I was surprised to find that they had a white dress for Kirsten to wear (I was expecting a jumper). She was so excited to put it on and model it for all to see.

The baptism was scheduled to begin at 7pm, but a prior baptism and a last minute change of rooms due to too many people, caused it to start late. There were two other girls being baptized with Kirsten. One was a girl from a different ward that we didn't know. The other was Elizabeth Jenkins, Kirsten's friend from her primary class.

The most special part of the evening for me was being able to greet Kirsten with a towel and a hug as she left the font. I was able to express my love and excitement for her as I dried her off and helped her get dressed in her dry clothes. Though the moment was short, I will never forget it. She had a smile on her face that could not be erased. She wore that smile for the rest of the evening.

James gave a wonderful talk on the gift of the Holy Ghost. He used the present that Grandma and Grandpa Weller gave to Kirsten as his inspiration. I was so impressed with his ability to deliver the talk with little signs of nervousness. He even had it entirely memorized.
Afterwards, our family met with Bishop Hardester in the Relief Society room for the blessing of our little David Milton. Of course he cried through the entire prayer, but you can't him. After all, it was his bed time and he was hungry.

I am so proud of Kirsten's decision to become a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I can't wait to raise my hand in sacrament meeting this Sunday in welcoming her into the church. I am also blessed to have a wonderful husband who is worthy to perform these two priesthood ordinances.

English Ivy

In my last post, I mentioned that I had a reaction on my arms after cutting down our ivy. Well, over the past couple of days, it has gotten much worse. Both my arms and hands are covered in bumps. Bumps never developed on David's skin. He was just itchy for the one day.

What could be causing this severe reaction?
Could it be my medication (yes, I have another urinary track infection)?
Was there Poison Ivy mixed in with the English Ivy?

Both David and I came to the conclusion that it must be poison ivy. While at work, David researched it in more depth. He emailed me a link this morning saying that he found the cause of my rash. And it wasn't poison ivy. Here is what I read:

English ivy has caused severe dermatitis to sensitive persons. The hardiest, most common and most popular of the ivies. All Hedera pose serious allergy potential unless controlled in containers. The sap causes severe skin rash and the pollen may bring on sudden intense allergic reactions.

Lesson learned: I must be a sensitive person.

To keep my mind off the itchiness,I keep my arms lathered with calamine lotion. Ahhhhhhh! Relief! It's a good thing the lotion is cheap because I'm going to go through many bottles of the stuff.


AND



I also re-covered Kirsten's school chair with left-over fabric I had used on her quilt. Now, Steven wants me to bring new life to his chair. Looks like tomorrow we'll be going to the fabric store.

The Irritation of Work

We finished cleaning up the side
of the house yesterday!
Look at the BEFORE and AFTER picture.

We added about two feet of space by trimming the ivy.

We also discovered a few things:

1. The fence is in worse shape than we thought. There are a few places that it leans toward our neighbor's yard. The ivy hid a LOT of imperfections.
2. It would've been wise to wear some sort of mask while clearing it all away. We are now suffering from itchy eyes, sneezing attacks, and respiratory discomfort. There must've been a lot of pollen and who-knows-what buried away in the ivy.
3. Some plant or bug caused David and I a lot of irritation on our arms and legs. It almost looks like I had been bitten by a swarm of mosquitoes.

Even though I am itchy and sneezy (I sound like one of the dwarfs in "Snow White"), the experience felt good to get done. Now, I won't be afraid to walk on that side. Now, we have an area to store the kid's bicycles. And I'm sure the PG&E guy that reads our meter will be happy with the change as well.

Two Months

David is two months old today. It's amazing how much love radiates from his little body. I think that's why everyone wants to hold him. A battle usually occurs over who will hold him first in the morning. And in the evening, David belongs to his daddy. No body can pry him away. At least once a week, David will come to me with a crying David Jr. wrapped tightly in a receiving blanket (burrito style) wearing a too small cap on his head (the one from the hospital). It's quite a site. I think he's having a hard time letting David grow up.

David never ended up sucking his thumb or any of his fingers. The pacifier doesn't even pacify him that much any more. But, give David a pinky and he'll suck away. I also notice that when David sleeps, he sucks on his tongue. Whatever works, right?

After David's first all-nighter, he went a few nights of waking up once. But, the last two nights, he has slept all the way through again. If he keeps this up, I'll be able to put him to bed at 8pm.

Two months is a short amount of time. But in that time, this little boy has stolen each of our hearts. He fits perfectly in our family.

The 24th of July

I took on a daunting task of cutting down the ivy that has overtaken one side of our house. Because of the vast overgrowth, the walkway is dark and creepy. It gives me the heebie geebies each time I have to visit the place, which is not often. I'm afraid of spiders dropping down on my head or rats scurrying around my feet. When we first moved to this house, we stored some of our bicycles on that side of the house. Now, a year later, they have been swallowed up in the monstrous ivy.

Well, no more! I threw aside my fear of hidden creatures lurking inside the ivy and got to work. Kirsten, Steven, and James helped me by raking into piles what I cut down. Seeing the ivy fall to the ground and the piles grow larger by the minute was a high for me. The change that was occurring before my eyes was incredible.

We spent a good three hours on this project and it still isn't done. I have about another couple of hours left of work ahead of me tomorrow. I hope I'll be able to lift the hedger. My arms are so sore right now.

I also spent the day preparing for our little celebration of the 24th of July (Pioneer Day). Each year, our family makes homemade butter and rolls. Shaking the jar of cream and watching it turn into butter is everyone's favorite activity. Well...I take that back. Probably eating the hot rolls with the homemade butter is our favorite part.

Yummmmm

Coming Soon

COMING SOON
to a "Youtube" near you.

Justin and his friend Noah have spent the past few days making a movie about a man who is learning how to control his new found ability to teleport. He uses this power to stop evil.

Justin even does his own stunts, like, running into trash cans and cars.

It's a great way to avoid summer boredom.

Similarities

People are always asking,

"Who does David look like?"

or

"Which of the boys does David look most like?"

So, I looked through my scrapbooks and was amazed at the similarities between all of them.
Who do you think David looks most like?

I think he looks most like his dad and Justin.

David Milton Zinn

1.David (Daddy) 2.James 3.Justin 4.Steven

Note: Doesn't David Sr. look like Popeye in his baby picture? It looks like he's sucking on a pipe.

Going Green

From the moment Steven could answer the question, "What is you favorite color?" his response
has always been "Green".

When I take Steven clothes shopping, he picks out green outfits.
His favorite holiday is St. Patrick's Day.
His bike is green.
He wants a green monster truck when he's older.
When given a choice, green wins hands down.

So I decided to do a little research on the meaning of the color green. Here is what I found:

Green is the color of nature, fertility, life. Grass green is the most restful color. Green symbolizes self-respect and well being. Green is the color of balance. It also means learning, growth and harmony.

How the color green affects us physically:

• Soothes

• Relaxes mentally, as well as physically

• Helps alleviate depression, nervousness, and anxiety

• Offers a sense of renewal, self-control, and harmony

After reading all of this, I no longer question why Steven picked green as his favorite color. Steven is full of life. He loves to make people laugh. When a person is upset in any way, Steven has a gift of changing the person's disposition. He has amazing self control (with the exception of food) and is harmonious.

Then I read this:

Green is the color of the Heart Chakra, also known as Anahata.

This chakra is located at the center of the chest area and is linked to the heart, lungs, circulatory system, cardiac plexus, and the complete chest area.

The Heart Chakra bridges the gap between the physical and spiritual worlds. Opening the Heart Chakra allows a person to love more, empathize, and feel compassion.

This describes Steven perfectly. He allows all who around him to love more and he feels compassion more than anyone else I know of.

One Path

Our gospel doctrine teacher made an analogy regarding Lehi's vision of the tree of life that left me pondering my own life. Sis. Smith commented on how interesting it is that the

"iron rod...extended along the bank of the river, and led to the tree..." (1 Nephi 8:19)

and

"on the other side of the river of water, a great and spacious building (pride of the world)...stood as it were in the air, high above the earth." (1 Nephi 8:26)

She went on to explain that the two (the iron rod and the spacious building) don't connect or lead to each other. In fact, they are separated by a river. It is so with our lives. Satan will and is trying to make evil seem good and desirable. He and individuals may come into our lives and try to deceive us; try to convince us that our choices and our decisions won't effect our eternal salvation. But there is no connection between the word of God (iron rod) and the pride of the world (spacious building). They are separate. One leads to happiness and eternal life. The other leads to misery and outer darkness.

Unfortunately, I often find myself rationalizing a choice to meet my own immediate pleasure, knowing that it really wasn't the best decision.

Now, whenever I am at a fork in the road, and don't know which way to go, I will remember Sis. Smith's tree of life analogy. There is only one path to take.

Heart Attack

This is the look of a baby who slept through the night for the first time.
From 9:30pm-6:30am

HOORAY!!!!

I awoke at 6am amazed that David still wasn't up. So I got up to check on him. That fear that every mother has when her baby sleeps through the night for the first time was keeping me from going back to sleep.
What I saw when I looked in David's crib freaked me out. His face was white. I touched it and felt coldness. After regaining consciousness, I shook David's head and was relieved when he breathed loudly and moved around.

Phew!

Relief!

Then happiness!

What caused him to sleep through the night?
Was it the cute sleeping bag pajamas?
Was it the bath he had right before bed?
Was it because I didn't snap up his too-small and too-tight onesie?
Was it because we let him cry himself to sleep?
Or was it the chocolate satin pie that I ate an hour before nursing him for the night?

It looks like I'm going to have to have chocolate satin pie every night before putting him to bed.

NORM

James never ceases to amaze me. His creativity goes beyond my understanding. How James comes up with his many creations, I don't know.

Here is one of my favorite Lego inventions that James dreamed up and built.

Meet Norm the swimming robot.

This Girl Can Fly

This girl can fly!

(In fact, I find myself closing my eyes or turning away for fear she's gonna crash and burn.)

Kirsten loves her new bike. She is so excited to be able to keep up with the boys now. Kirsten's old "Dora" bike was too babyish and too small to go as fast as her little heart desired. Her new bike, purple and blue (Kirsten's favorite colors), allows her to fly. She loves pedaling fast to feel of the wind on her face.

Yesterday evening, Kirsten challenged Steven to a race.

"To the van and back" was the course.

Steven was the winner, but only by a nose.

Watch out boys...Here she comes.

Happy Boy

Here is a video of David smiling and cooing. He's always happy when laying on his changing pad. Go figure.

Birthday Girl

Part 2: Kirsten awoke at 7:30am to find this contraption outside her bedroom:The note reads:

I hope ya have a good birthday! But let's get right down to it; the present. Here's what you do.
1. Gently lower me down
2. Look in my pouch
3. Have fun

Inside the pouch was a candy whistle, from James.
Steven made her a picture frame out of popcycle sticks and Justin gave her a pelican stuffed animal.

Kirsten and I then went out to get some doughnuts (her favorite is glazed without a hole in it).

After filling her body with sugar, Kirsten played her new video games (a gift from Grandma and Grandpa Zinn) with her brothers.

When it was time for lunch, I told Kirsten that I wanted to take her out to McDonalds. (I was really taking her to have lunch with Dad). We, along with David, hopped in the car for a 20 minute drive to Micrel. Kirsten talked away not even realizing that our usual 1 minute drive to McDonalds was a lot longer. Finally, minutes away from David's work, Kirsten commented on how long it was taking us to get there. She then looked out the window and figured it out. Dad took her to the Great Mall food court, while I parked in the shade to wait while David slept in his car seat. Kirsten had a great time eating lunch with her Dad. (David later told me that she talked non-stop.)

Once we were home again, Kirsten played some more and I decorated her cake.

At 5pm, we picked up two of Kirsten's friends (Jessica and Elizabeth), where they spent the evening at Golfland going down the waterslides.

The water was a welcome relief in the 94 degree weather.

Kirsten's Heffalump cake didn't fair too well in the heat. It began to droop.

Kirsten said that it was the best birthday ever!

She especially loved getting her very own scriptures.
Isn't the case adorable! It was a gift from Grandma and Grandpa Weller.

Tomorrow we'll be taking her out to get the other half of her birthday present...A bicycle.

Eight is Great

Happy Birthday to my special,
eight year old daughter, Kirsten.
I love you!

An Outburst

This was my first Sunday back at church since David was born. The past couple of weeks I stayed for sacrament meeting only. It felt good to finally attend all three hours. Especially good to be in Relief Society again. I entered the room with baby in arms and sat next to a bunch of other mothers holding their children. While waiting for the meeting to start,women came over to goo and gaa over baby David. Both of us were enjoying the attention, when in walks David. He held out his arms and nodded while looking at David Jr.

Then he said, "I'll take him."

I said, " Are you sure?"

He smiled and said, "Yes."

As David walked out of the room with little David in his arms, women began to clap. I looked around shocked at the outburst of applause.

At that moment, I felt so proud to be married to David. I held my head high for the remainder of that meeting knowing that I was the envy of every woman in that room.

Pre-Birthday Bash

This begins part 1 of Kirsten's birthday celebration.
What a lucky girl to have "parts" to her birthday! But that's just how it worked out this year. Plus, she's turning EIGHT,(July 13th) which is a momentous occasion.

Today was the start of Kirsten's celebration. We, along with Grandma and Grandpa Zinn, decided to have a beach party. Seacliff was the chosen beach, but it ended up being too crowded. So, we went to Natural Bridges (not a bad 2nd choice). The weather could not have been more perfect. It was partly cloudy, 76 degrees. We even had a light sprinkle that lasted for a minute.

We barbecued.

Made Smore's

Played in the ocean.

David touched sand for the first time.

Played football.

Sang "Happy Birthday", Zinn style,
and blew out candles.

Opened presents.

Took a nap.

Searched the tide pools.

And enjoyed every minute of it.

Eye on the Ball

Justin has been playing with balls since he was a baby. When he entered the phase of crawling, he would throw a nerf ball and crawl after it. This kept him occupied for hours.

Justin's first word was "ball". Not "ma-ma" or "da-da". "Ball"!

Today, football is his love. Justin can't get enough of the sport. It has been this case for years. He loves playing and watching the game. Getting some neighborhood boys together for a quick game is his kind of fun.

When football season starts, I go crazy with all of the football talk. He seems to know the stats of every football player and team. And he's not shy about sharing his knowledge. Justin loves watching college football and during halftime he'll go outside to play the game. What's his favorite team? The Texas Longhorns! They reign supreme in his eyes.

So, it's no surprise to us when Justin expressed an interest in trying out for the high school football team. We said, "Go for it!" And he did. The coach has put him as a receiver, which is his favorite position. We're now anticipating an exciting football season. It will be fun attending his games cheering him on.

Go BRUINS!

Taking My Meds

This is the last day on my second round of penicillin for my urinary track infection. Last Monday, (only two days after I had finished my first round of medicine) I awoke to that all too familiar burning feeling. So, I went to the doctor and was told that I tested positive for another infection. If this happens again, I will be sent to a urologist. I am hoping and praying that it won't come to this.

I've had my fair share of urologists. When I was younger, I had to have my urethra tube stretched. Each year following this procedure (until I was 16), a urologist checked to make sure everything was still functioning properly. The method of doing this was extremely painful.

Worse case scenario, if I get yet another infection, I will be prepared with:

A Not-So-Planned 4th of July

On the 4th of July, we planned to watch the Redwood City parade.

But we couldn't get out the door in time.

We planned on attending a festival.

But on the way there, a one sided water bottle fight erupted in the car, causing the driver of the car to turn around and head for home.

We planned on going to Morgan Hill to watch a firework show.

But, at the last minute decided it might be too loud for little David.





So, what did we do on the 4th?
In the afternoon, we went down the street where our neighbors were throwing an all day party.
There was a pot luck BBQ (we brought chips and cupcakes). Then a HUGE water balloon fight (I was told there were about 1000 water balloons). After that, the neighborhood kids all ran back to our house and jumped in the pool. We hung out there for a while letting David take some much needed naps. For the rest of the day, the kids went back and forth between our home and the party until the fireworks (ground fireworks).

Kirsten, Steven, and James waiting for the fireworks to begin.

David keeping warm with Daddy.Fun with sparklers

Justin's in the red

Our day didn't go as planned, but we were together.
And it ended with a BANG!