Temple Trip

"I can't wait till Wednesday!"

"I can't wait!"

"I'm so excited!"

"Guess what I'm excited for?"

 

This is what Kirsten has been saying for the past couple of weeks. Yesterday, she was able to enter the temple for the first time to join her Grandma and Grandpa Zinn, father, and two brothers in performing Baptisms for the Dead. She took great care in her appearance that day; wanting to wear all white. While the gang was getting wet, I was able to do other temple work. Then we met up in the cafeteria for dinner. It was such a special experience to witness the joy and reverence in Kirsten as she wandered the halls of the House of the Lord, taking in it's beauty.

September Dads

Both my dad and father-in-law have September birthdays. Sadly, my father lives too far away to celebrate his special day in person. However, our family is blessed to live close to my in-laws. After church, we were able to help Dad Zinn celebrate his birthday.

(Melissa and Lily....Michael, Owen, Dave-o, and David)

 

Thanks for the fun party!

The Redhead

Steven is in love. It wasn't love at first sight. There were three other contenders to choose from. But in the end, Steven chose the redhead from Romania named Dunov. The German blondes sang beautifully, but they were a bit too uppity for his pocketbook.

 

After two years of playing the violin, Steven has proven to us that he is serious about the instrument. I've never had to tell him to practice; and he never complains. It was time to take the plunge and buy a student violin for him. (We had been renting one.) We invited Grandma Zinn as another "ear" to pick out one with a good tone. Kamimoto, located in downtown San Jose, carries a large variety of handmade violins. We had been renting from here and were able to apply some of that rent towards the purchase.

 

To say Steven is thrilled would be an understatement.

Ancient Egypt

 Ancient History is my favorite time period to teach. It's fascinating to see how civilizations lived thousands of years ago. Kirsten is enjoying it as well. Last week we studied in depth the mummification process. This week it was pyramids. Kirsten built her own model using sugar cubes and royal icing.

She calls it the Zinn Pyramid.

(A pointed gold cap is in the process of being built to go on top.)

Pregnancy Happenings

(Me at 26 weeks pregnant)

 

I am so tired. Last night I was very close to going to the hospital. Contractions that were 10 minutes apart plagued me for over 5 hours. The labor and delivery nurse told me to drink a lot of water and relax. Drinking the water? Easy. Relaxing? Impossible. I was of course in a state of fear and anxiety thinking about the possibility of delivering a 31 week baby. Thankfully, the pains subsided and eventually went away completely. I never drink enough water on Sundays. This is obviously something I need to change.

 

This afternoon, Kirsten came with me to my last ultrasound appointment. Lonnie's head is down and she calmly sucked on her hand throughout the entire ultrasound. The two vessel cord is giving her ample of nutrients. She is measuring almost 4lbs and is in the 55th percentile. Everything looked great.

Birthday Boy

Michael started David's birthday on a "sweet" note, by bringing a box of doughnuts to our house. This made my morning easy as I was no longer needed to make french toast.

David opened presents and cards with a four year old boy disclosing what each gift was before it was opened. It was really cute.

Then we drove to Santa Cruz and spent the afternoon at Seabright Beach. Melissa, Parker, and Lily were supposed to join us, but there was a mix-up with which beach to meet at (as well as some other problems). The boys spent hours "ottering" in the waves. Kirsten and I stayed dry, ate, and took cover each time the countless flocks of seagulls flew overhead. Our beach blanket however, took a lot of hits.  

Dave-o enjoyed chasing the gulls and throwing things at them.

We returned home to BBQ prime ribs and eat a cake courtesy of Cold Stone.

Happy birthday David! You don't look 42!

Street Food

Our family loves watching Food Network's "Great Food Truck Race". The food that they sell always looks so good. I recently learned from our homeschool network that a bunch of food trucks gather in one area every Friday night. I thought this would make for a great date night.

 

David and I took our time looking at each menu. It was hard to decide what to eat. There was Texas BBQ, seafood, lots of Asian cuisines, Indian food, and dessert trucks. We decided to be adventurous and settled on a waffle and chicken wrapped burrito with garlic pork fries. The burrito was stuffed with chicken, bacon, eggs, syrup, and ingredients I couldn't figure out. But it was AMAZING! Probably one of the best burritos I have ever had. For dessert, we ordered from a frozen custard food truck. It was so creamy. 

 

It was a great experience. One to be repeated. Only next time, we will bring fold-up chairs and friends.