Saturday, August 18, 2012

Wow!!! I have A LOT to catch up on. It’s been a crazy, busy, fun Summer. I can’t believe the kids start school in 1 ½ weeks already! Here we go… Rhett got a new job!!! We are sooooo excited! He even landed the position he was hoping to get. As of May 7, 2012 Rhett is the new Controller for Thad Ziegler Glass Co. here in San Antonio.
It’s a family owned business that’s been around since 1893. The President & CEO Thad W., his father Thad M. and 2 sons Thad C. (who has a son named Thad) and William all work there. The company welcomed Rhett with open arms and the CEO sent out an email memo to all of the employees announcing the retirement of the previous Controller (who worked there for 27 years), and the news of Rhett taking over the reins. He is excited for this new opportunity, and we love being able to see him a lot more & spend more time together as a family. He is no longer selling life insurance for AIL, so he’s not gone working in the evenings and on weekends anymore. Gotta love that!!! Rhett was able to take the boys in May to the Stake Father/Sons campout for the first time in many years. Rhett was released from his calling as Primary Teacher (he’s been in there about 4 years) and was called to serve in the Elder’s Quorum Presidency as their Assistant Secretary…then a few weeks ago the EQ Secretary was called into our new Bishopric, so this week Rhett is being upgraded from Assistant Secretary to Secretary in the Elder’s Quorum. It’s been nice being able to sit in Sunday School with him again!

Maren - I’ve been trying to do some projects lately (scrapbooking, card making, sewing, craft, etc), but haven’t been very successful at getting many completed. As you can tell from the rest of this update…I’ve been otherwise occupied with 5 kids! I am still the Secretary in the Relief Society, so that keeps me busy also. Now we have 2 Secretaries in our house! After 3+ years of searching for a sectional couch for our family room, we were finally able to get one on Craigslist for a good deal. We LOVE it!!!
Such a change from the uncomfortable, too small couches that we’ve had for many years. I also found a rug I liked online…on clearance I must add. Add some throw pillows (I’m going to be making some more), and once I have the coffee table painted black to match the baskets it’s holding, things will be looking really nice!

Austin got straight A’s in all his classes last year, including his G/T math class…and his English teacher recommended that he be in AP English this year due to his amazing writing ability. He has written an entire book now, which is ready for the Editor (Rhett) to read, then be published and bound (by me). He also volunteered to write a script for his Theater Arts class, and the puppet show that they did. His Theater class put on 3 short Sherlock Holmes plays and Austin played Dr. Watson in all of them. He did an amazing job!…and seemed to be one of the only ones who actually cared enough to memorize his parts and really get into it. Here is a picture of Austin dressed up in his character costume.
Even though he wasn’t quite 12 yet, Austin was able to go to Scout camp in June, and he had an amazing time…even though it was over 100 degrees all week long! Austin again competed on the Stoneridge Shockwaves swim team this summer…and did a great job.
He qualified for the Championships swim meet again, and came in 4th in both his freestyle and backstroke, and his relay team came in 3rd (Rhett and I were unable to be at this meet, as we were in Utah at the time). Austin turned 12 on July 21st
and was ordained to the Aaronic Priesthood on Sunday, July 22nd by Rhett. He hasn’t been able to pass the sacrament yet though, since we left town for a few weeks just after that…but he was able to go to Young Men’s for the first time this week and enjoyed going on his first campout as a Deacon.

Logan earned straight A’s also, and continues loving to work on projects…especially ones that he makes up himself. He has currently been making 3D paper Angry Birds. He will be in 3rd grade this year. Logan turned 8 on July 12th
and was baptized on Saturday, July 21st.
It was a great day! We had a combined “Logan’s baptism/Austin’s birthday” party at the pool with friends and family and LOTS of food! Logan was also a member of the swim team again
and did a great job…also qualifying for his first Championships meet. He swam the backstroke and came in 4th place. On August 6th Logan lost another tooth. The replacement was already in ½ way behind it, so we were glad to see that one come out.

Carson thoroughly enjoyed Kindergarten and is looking forward to starting 1st grade soon. He enjoys learning, and he really became a great reader last year. Carson turned 6 on June 2nd and we celebrated by first attending a free party at our local bowling alley, complete with free pizza & drinks, then presents & cake at home.
He is a big helper around the house, and especially loves helping me with dishes and mopping the floor. Carson loves to swim! He also competed with the Stoneridge Shockwaves again this Summer, and is becoming quite the fish!
Carson is my little buddy…always ready with a hug, snuggle and kiss. I think he really likes his Mom!

Jackson is potty training….again. I think sometimes it’s just easier for me to have him wear diapers, than reminding him every 30 minutes to go. Oh, well. It needs to be done! Jackson loves to be outside with his brothers, and especially likes blowing bubbles, jumping on the trampoline & drawing with the sidewalk chalk. He also loves to get rides in the trailer behind the bike…when someone is willing to give him a ride. He is such a sweet big brother to Hailey, and is always talking so nice to her and giving her hugs & kisses. He’s a big helper too and loves being with Mom!

Hailey is now 13+ months old, and has had quite the Summer of getting new teeth. New ones seem to erupt almost daily. Luckily for us, she isn’t grumpy (for the most part). She is growing up too quickly and is now practically running everywhere. She continues to be the bright sunshine in our family as she is almost always happy, smiling and giggling…and talking a lot. She also loves playing “peek a boo”, climbing on furniture, loves her new freedom of going up & down the stairs unaided whenever she wants…and thoroughly enjoys being the Princess in our house. She pretty much rules the roost! She even recently learned to bat her eyelashes at you when she’s trying to be cute…and she succeeds! We celebrated Hailey’s first birthday on June 28th with a ladybug cake
and presents of course.
My friend Maggie did a “1st birthday photo shoot” with her prior to her birthday and the pics turned out SUPERB! I haven't gotten them from her yet though, so I'll have to update those later... Hailey is constantly showered with hugs and kisses from 4 older brothers, a Dad…and a Mom who adore her. We love our little girl!!!

We had a couple of fun trips this Summer. Firstly, Rhett and I were able to fly for the first time EVER together (along with Hailey)
to Salt Lake City, UT for Rhett’s sister Victoria’s wedding in early July. We had a great time with all of the Zimmerman’s and only wish 2 things…1, that we had been able to bring our boys with us, since they were the only Zimmerman cousins not there…and 2, we wish the trip had been longer and we’d been able to spend more time with everyone! We had a great time however, and it was kind of nice just having 1 child for the weekend. We missed Austin & Logan’s swimming Championships in the process however…

We also went on a LONG road trip adventure to Idaho. And here’s the LONG story about it…
We left on Tuesday, July 24th in the evening, and drove through the night to Denver, CO. We spent the day resting, playing and eating at Grandma & Grandpa Zimmerman’s house, then left early the next morning to drive to my Mom’s house in Rexburg, ID. It was a decent drive, given that we were traveling packed to the gills in a minivan with 5 kids! Lucky for us, the kids only started getting tired of the trip within the last hour. We spent the evening with Grandma Stewart, then got up and left on Friday morning for the Stewart Family Reunion at Cabin Creek Camp near Alturas Lake between Hailey and Stanley, ID. We just had to stop and get a picture of Hailey next to the Hailey sign!
We had so much fun spending time with my Mom & brothers and their families…especially the off road adventure we went on up into the mountain wilderness on the 4 wheelers and Razor’s.
The boys had fun playing on the 4 wheelers for hours…just sitting there. We also had a wonderful time catching up with all my Aunts, Uncles and Cousins that weekend.
And more fun of course!

Then the real fun began…we next traveled to Boise (where Rhett flew home to work) to stay w/my brother Brian for a couple days. That trip involved a 45 minute gas station stop (gas pumps weren’t working, and it was the ONLY gas station around), a shredded tire on my brother’s camper trailer, being within 1 mile of a forest fire
3 simultaneously barfing kids (Carson, Jackson & Hailey…all in the car I was driving), and seeing a lot of beautiful mountains, rivers, etc. I’m pretty sure the barfing kids had something to do with the winding roads.
We then ended up having another barfing child (Logan) the next day, and Hailey got it again…while having a Scentsy Campus tour in Brian’s brand new work truck. He is the VP over Physical Facilities for Scentsy headquartered in Meridian, ID and they are currently in the process of building some multi-million dollar projects that he is in charge of. Pretty awesome!
We spent more time with family that evening, then left the next morning to head back to Rexburg. We had planned to go through the middle of the desert so we could stop at Craters of the Moon National Monument, but at the last minute I decided we should just go on the freeway. It’s a good thing I changed my mind (or my mind was changed for me…) because we ended up with one more shredded tire, this time it was on my mom’s trailer. Luckily we were just a couple miles from a tire store, and we took the kids to DQ for lunch while we waited. When we finally got to Rexburg we took the kids to a splash park
and of course let them ride on the restored Carousel.
The next day (Thursday, August 2nd) we had planned another adventure to go up to Island Park, ID to our family cabin
and spend the weekend there and in Yellowstone NP. However, that morning we woke up to my mom throwing up. We spent that day at home, then the next morning when everyone felt fine, we loaded up the car to head out…just as Austin said that he wasn’t feeling well. This time we were prepared however, so we loaded up with 5 kids and a barf bucket and headed out! Poor Austin was sick all the way there, and the rest of the evening was spent NOT on the zip line at the cabin, but on the couch watching the Olympics with his barf bucket. Austin and I had made a pact not to get sick…and he failed! Good thing he was feeling fine the next morning, because he got his turn on the zip line after all.
Friday morning we were all feeling better, so we headed to Yellowstone
with every intention to make the big loop around the park and see LOTS of cool things and animals. Well, by this time the kids had decided they DID NOT like being in the car anymore and we basically just made it as far as Old Faithful
saw it erupt, had lunch, then got back in the car & headed back to West Yellowstone. T-shirt shopping ensued
and once we had found what we wanted...and of course endulged in the tradition of getting ice cream at DQ
we were on our way back to Rexburg. I texted Rhett & told him that I wish he were there to help with the kids. His response was “I think you should stop taking the kids on adventures”. Haha! Very funny. Most of our adventures were out of the way by then, so the next week we just spent hanging out at Grandma’s house with the kids playing outside exploring her 1 ½ acre yard and riding around on her John Deere
until they were filthy at night. I spent some time cleaning/organizing my mom’s house

Office before...overflowing with books!

Office after
we visited my other brother Gary’s family in Idaho Falls where we all had our first Buffalo steaks & burgers…oh boy, were they good! We took the kids on one more short adventure to show them the Teton Dam site
and Grandma bought us a book all about the Dam and the flood. We then continued on up the road a bit and spent a couple of hours swimming at Green Canyon Hot Springs.


Rhett flew into Idaho Falls the next night (Thursday, August 9th) and we were packed again and left on Friday to come home. We drove through the night twice in a row…which is not recommended, but at least there was little arguing in the car since they were all asleep most of the time. We stopped again in Denver (for the day) at G & G Z’s house, long enough for Rhett & I to sleep, kids to play, eat some food, and we were off again. We arrived home on Sunday, August 12th just shy of 3 weeks from when we left. Since then we’ve been trying to get back to normal life and get ready for school to start.

Whew! I think that’s it for this time. Now for some more fun… Love, Rhett, Maren, Austin, Logan, Carson, Jackson & Hailey