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Kirsten LOVES elephants! 

Her latest wish is to have a stuffed animal elephant the size of her bed. 

Of one Heart and one Mind and one Voice

"Endure to the End" is the theme for this year's Zion Choir, which Justin is now a part of. Practices last two hours every Sunday evening and they are only allowed to miss two rehearsals for the rest of the year. It will be quite a commitment on Justin's part. We are proud of his choice and acceptance into this choir and pray that he will indeed be able to "endure to the end". 

I love you Justin!

Jaws Trailer

Justin's friend, Noah, directed and shot this clip yesterday.
The actors are, Justin, Steven, and Ben D.

The Cosmic Cassowarys

 James' and Steven's NXT group is gearing up for Moonbots second annual contest of designing, programming, and constructing robots to perform simulated lunar missions. Right now, they are in phase 1 of the competition where they wrote a proposal, filmed a video about how robots help space exploration, and set up a blog called The Cosmic Cassowary's. James and Steven commissioned their dad into designing their logo (seen on the left). I think it turned out awesome. They are very excited about this and hope to make it to round two.

Back: Matthew S., Jason T.,
Bottom: Josh S., James, and Steven

The Joy of Fatherhood

Hey you! Daddy! Happy Father's Day!

David enjoyed the kid's rendition of french toast and bacon to start his day off with. For presents, he received a new kick pedal for the Wii drum set, Portal 2, and a Glenn Beck book. Then, we attended Stake Conference where the Youth Choir sang some musical numbers. Justin, James, and Steven at first were excited to be able to sit in the cushy seats on the stand. When it was over, they sang a different tune. They were being recorded so that conference could be broadcast in different rooms throughout the stake center. Being conscious of this, the boys sat very still and claimed it was no fun at all.

A funny story that David shared with me:

While laying on the bed with some of the kids, David let one rip. Everybody, but Dave-o vacated the room. Dave-o looked at David and said, "Stinker! Stinker" while pointing at his own bottom. Then Dave-o let out a MASSIVE stinker along with his well-known, mischievous laugh.

Boys! Gross! But we'll allow it on Father's Day.

Happy Father's Day to David, Dad, and Dad Zinn. I love you all!

Sorry...More Pool Pictures

 King David has recently hired a rower for his boat.

 Steven's strong biceps and obedient personality earned him the job. 

 Dave-o's subjects also set up a little pool equipped with a slide. He prefers to be naked when playing in the water. The feeling of wearing wet clothes sends him into a tantrum. This nakedness makes James' friend, Andre, VERY uncomfortable. He begs me to PLEASE put some clothes on Dave-o. I think it's cute. 

Not so Convenient Anymore

These two girls have been friends from the moment we moved into our tree-lined neighborhood. Their friendship has been one of convenience; they are the only girls on our street and if they want to see each other all they have to do is step outside and wave.

Today Fiona's family moved. The owner of the house that they rent gave them 90 days to move out in order for his son to live in the property. We share Kirsten's sadness in seeing them go. The good news is, their new rental home is only five driving minutes away so I'm sure the girls will be able to see one another often. It just won't be a hop-skip and a jump away.

Hey... Batter Batter! Swing!

This boy LOVES to throw balls...still! 

For being only two, Dave-o has a very strong arm and good form when he pitches the ball.

Look out Lincecum! Your replacement is in training.

One Size Fits All

Dave-o loves wearing his brothers' hats.

The Pool is Officially Open for Business (or pleasure)

The temperature today actually hovered around 90 degrees. 

This morning James, Dave-o, and I went to Target to pick up a few items such as diapers, milk, shampoo, etc. I let Dave-o chose some new shoes (he's one whole size bigger now-size 6). James and I gave him two choices and Dave-o chose the gray ones that look like what James wears (which I thought was so cute).

Then, Steven went to his violin lessons. Afterwards, James, Steven, and I spent a couple of hours visiting with Mom Zinn. Once home, the kids kept cool in the pool.

 Dave-o stayed cool and wet while playing with the sprinklers. He was so funny to listen to and watch. Here was his conversation with the sprinkler head.

Dave-o: "There!" (as he covers it up with his hands)

Dave-o (when he removes his hands): "No water! No! No! No! Stop it! Stop hitting me!"

He repeated this game over and over and over....

A Park a Day Keeps the Boredom Away

 A perfect day for the park. 

Dave-o, Kirsten, and Fiona had a great time. 

Steven, however, was lonely for a friend and/or older brothers.

Believe...

 Tonight was Justin's, James', and Steven's big night! The rest of us were finally able to witness the many months of practice the Stake Youth Choir spent leading up to this evening's performance.

We were not disappointed! The Spirit was very strong as we heard our youth share their testimony through word and music. They based the theme of their performance on the 13th Article of Faith, which states:

"We believe in being hones, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul-We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things."

Justin had a part where he spoke about using modern-day technology to do missionary work. Here is an email that I received from the choir director:

"Thought you should know...I needed help with the parts (I didn't have enough volunteers) and when he saw I was in a pickle, Justin volunteered. What I REALLY loved though, was that he was just supposed to read the quote, but he came up to me before the concert and asked if he could add his own thoughts to it! I was SO proud of him and grateful for his willing spirit!"

Both David and I are so proud of our boys for their dedication. It was a remarkable evening. One that I will never forget.

Keeping Busy

 What a busy day we had! Justin, James, and Steven had a three hour Stake Youth Choir rehearsal and a graduation party in the evening where they swam, played tennis and basketball at the Call's house.

An Activity Day Girl's daycamp kept Kirsten occupied for most of her Saturday. When I drove Kirsten and her friend Kelli home, they couldn't stop chattering about all the fun they had. A couple of their favorite activities were the etiquette class, and sewing an apron. Both Kelli and Kirsten were naming off all of their holey pillows, stuffed animals, etc. that they planned on sewing up once they got home.

Kirsten showing off her apron.

A side note: The young women in our ward spent many hours cutting the fabric in preparation for the younger girls to make the aprons.

The Zany Zinns Go to the Zoo

Today was our last day with the Shaws. We enjoyed the sunny afternoon at the SF Zoo. Justin's ankle was still too swollen and sore for him to join us.

Dave-o. James, Mary, Steven, and Mark

The petting zoo is always a lot of fun. Dave-o is getting braver with the animals.

James, along with the others, tried their hardest to touch a peacock.

We even saw and held the tail of a giraffe. (I know...gross, huh?)

And if seeing my crazy family wasn't enough; take a look at this goat that cracked me up. He was snippy with anyone trying to pet him and yet sat there in the sun with a grin on its face.

******

In the evening David hosted an Elder's Quorum activity for the men to learn secrets on cooking steak (taught by a culinary professional).
He titled the activity: "Steak Menrichment Night", which I think is clever and hilarious.

Beach Weather

California has had unseasonably cold temperatures. With this in mind, I stalked the weather channels trying to decide which day would give us the best beach experience. Today was the day. Santa Cruz was predicted to be 72 degrees. We'll take it!

Some road construction delayed our arrival time by half and hour, but we finally made it. Justin couldn't join us because he was taking finals on his last day of school. The kids set to work  searching for sand crabs and riding the skim board.

(Matthew skimboarding)

(Dave-o is still afraid to be near the ocean. He was content playing in the sand and eating all of our snacks)

James was nice enough to chase Dave-o around the beach for me.

It was a nice relaxing afternoon for us all except Matthew. After spending an hour or so skimboarding, he decided to go to one of the shops in search of some sunglasses. It was then that he noticed his wallet to be missing from his pant's pocket. We searched everywhere for it. The "Lost and Found" were of no help either. We think it fell out of Matthew's pockets when he was changing into his swimming trunks in the public restrooms...Or while carrying his pants while walking back to the beach. This definitely put a damper on our outing. I was impressed with how calm and mature Matt was during this little crisis. He did what needed to be done (calling his credit card company, etc) and moved on.