Sunday, December 1, 2013

Sunday, July 21, 2013

July 2013 update

Well, almost a year has gone by since I last updated our blog. It’s been a crazy fun year! I’ll try to update quickly on everyone, and special things that have happened in our family.

Rhett loves his job at Thad Ziegler Glass as Controller. It’s a family owned business and has a family atmosphere. At the Christmas party it seemed like a big family dinner, complete with an opening prayer. Such wonderful people!!! Although he loves the job, it doesn’t quite cover all expenses, so in October Rhett started delivering pizzas for Domino’s. It’s definitely the best 2nd job he’s ever had…as far as making money goes. He works at Domino’s 4 sometimes 5 nights a week. Rhett has been the Secretary in the Elder’s Quorum, but was released last week…so we don’t know what’s coming next for him.

Rhett & the kids in Corpus Christi, TX at the USS Lexington


Maren – I have been keeping busy with 5 kids, laundry, cooking, cleaning, my Relief Society Secretary calling, Cub Scout Committee Secretary, taxi service for kids to and from scouts and swimming, hosting scrap night and baby showers at our house, etc… Rhett and I just celebrated our 15-year Anniversary. We were able to take a little overnight excursion downtown to a hotel on the Riverwalk. We actually had time to have adult conversations!!! We also enjoyed roaming the Riverwalk hand-in-hand, a yummy steak/shrimp/ribs/chicken dinner (for FREE thanks to our awesome friends), swimming in the rooftop pool and hot tub, and finished our time away with a riverboat tour. What an amazing time we had…just enjoying one another without the kids around. Our free dinner friend also offered to stay overnight with the kids, so we didn’t have to worry about them at all. We will definitely do that again!!!

Rhett & I at the Riverwalk celebrating our Anniversary


Austin is excited for 8th grade this year. He played on the Boy’s basketball team last year, winning the District Championship and enjoyed it, although wishing he could play more. Austin is still a HUGE San Antonio Spurs fan and we enjoyed watching our Spurs play in the NBA finals this year. He was sooooo bummed that they didn’t win! Austin was recently released as the Deacon’s Quorum Secretary and called to be the President. He is doing a great job and everyone always tells us what a wonderful young man he is!!! Austin started some little side jobs this Summer mowing lawns and is desperately trying to save up enough money to buy a new iPod. Austin’s birthday is today and he turns 13. Can’t believe Rhett and I have a teenager!!!

Austin is a teenager now. Aaaaahhhh!!!


Logan will be in 4th grade this year. He is a fun, energetic, loving boy that LOVES Legos! We recently celebrated Logan’s 9th birthday and his presents all had something to do with Legos…and his cake was even decorated to look like the Lego logo. Logan likes to build things, and is very creative with his projects. He recently built a rotating ceiling fan with the parts from our Knex roller coaster and has also built a camera. He just likes to create!!!

Lego Logan


Carson has soooo much energy!!! He is constantly climbing, jumping, scaling things, etc. He seems to have no fear and is willing to try almost anything. Carson is a great helper and is a wonderful big brother to Jackson and Hailey. He is very kind and loving and gives more hugs than anyone else. We celebrated Carson’s 7th birthday in June. I can’t believe he’ll be getting baptized in one more year!

Carson on his 7th birthday


Jackson is SUPER smart!!! He is now 4 ½ and has been reading for over a year. He is a quiet boy and just soaks up everything around him that he sees and hears. He is definitely ready for Kindergarten, but unfortunately we have to wait another year! He likes to draw and write and likes to tell me about shapes that he sees….like parallelograms and dodecahedrons. Yep. He likes to keep to himself a lot of the time, but he does come out of his shell around the family, and is such a cute big brother to Hailey. Those two are great buddies!

Jackson playing in an old Rubik's cube costume


Hailey just had her 2nd birthday and is the cutest, most awesome, perfect little girl ever!!! She has such a fun personality, is really smart…(since she hangs out with Jackson all day), loves to hug, talks really well, and is just a joy to be around. Her smile will brighten any day! She recently started letting me put bows and flowers in her hair again…she refused them for a long time. She also just recently had her first Mommy mani-pedi. She is very proud of her cute pink fingers and toes!

Hailey on her 2nd birthday...can you say spoiled???


In February Hailey had an unexpected accident. She was walking on a brick planter we have in our backyard and fell. She hit her head on the bricks...Rhett watched the whole thing from the patio door. Unfortunately he wasn't quick enough to stop this from happening. She ended up with 5 stitches.


By now Hailey's head wound has healed marvelously!


In April we went to Port Aransas, TX to the beach with some wonderful friends. It’s the first time we’ve been to the beach in 6 years…so it was Jackson & Hailey’s first time. It was a fun weekend full of sun, surf, friendship and lots-of-sand-in-places-you-don’t-want-it. We rented a townhome 1 block from the beach and it was awesome!!! We definitely will be doing that again.


Last month Rhett’s 2000 Toyota Camry decided to die on us and need a new engine. Rather than put that large chunk of change into an old dying car, we opted to sell it for parts and bought a different car for him. Rhett is now driving a 2009 Toyota Yaris. It gets great gas mileage and is just big enough to run kids (and pizzas) around. Just what we needed!


Just last week the boys finished up their Summer swim team season with the Stoneridge Shockwaves. They all did a great job and we enjoyed watching them have fun and get better in all their strokes. Austin made it to championships for the 5th year in a row, and Carson qualified for champs for his 1st time! Logan barely missed qualifying by tenths of seconds. Bummer!!!

Carson sitting by Coach Russell at his very first swim championships


Well, that’s about it for summing up the last year. I’m sure I missed some major events, but I’ll try to be better about doing this more regularly again. As always, we love and miss our family and friends from afar…and you are always welcome to visit!

Love - Rhett, Maren, Austin, Logan, Carson, Jackson & Hailey