My 28 years!

As my 28th birthday fast approaches, I thought I would write a post about some of my earliest and favorite memories. There isn't anything spectacular about turning 28, besides being two years away from 30! I have just been thinking about all the good times life has afforded me and thought I would share some of them with you!

First of all, one of my earliest memories was when I was 2. I was with my mom and oldest brother, Justin. We were going to K-Mart to birthday shop for my brother Josh. In 1982, seat belt wearing wasn't terribly advocated. I remember standing in between the driver and passenger seat. The next part, thankfully, I don't remember. We were hit head on by a drunk driver. The only other thing I remember was a lot of bright lights and people frantically moving about. Gratefully, we were all okay. The man who hit us lost his life. I can't even imagine letting my kids stand in the front of the car!

On a happier note, another early memory was when I was 3 and my youngest brother was born. All I remember was getting my hands washed so that I could see my baby brother!

I have a lot of memories of friends and neighbors. Some of my first friends in the neighborhood were Sarah and Lori Larsen and Kathy Castro. We had many a sleepover, girls camp adventures, boy talk, and other girly escapades! My mom has told me that I was always able to make friends easily. Friends were very important to me. Probably because I didn't have sisters to gossip with or to share clothes with! I was very lucky to have had many good friends in my life!

Family vacations! My family was very fortunate to have seen many great places. From amusement parks to historical sites and from big cities to national parks, I have seen a lot of things. I have been to 27 states and two countries (if going to Tijuana for a couple of hours counts!)

Watching my brothers play soccer all the way through their senior year of High school.

Dancing! I danced for 20 years! I still have my jazz shoes just in case I am lucky enough to use them again!

Having Grandparents! I have been fortunate to have known 2 grandmas, a grandpa, and a great grandma. I have so many memories of having them in my life!

High school. Mostly the meeting and dating of Kelly!

Being able to wait for Kelly while he served a mission. Running to the mailbox everyday to check for a letter and putting a sticker on his countdown chart!

Getting married to my High school sweetheart!

Having children! There is something so wonderful in seeing this person that has been inside you for 9 (sometimes very long months!)

Being able to continue my favorite memories with my own kids. Vacations, friends, sports, Grandparents,etc.

My life is full of memories! I could go on and on! I look forward to my kids having similar experiences in their life!

My Little Fish!

Some of you know that my boys are quite the swimmers. They love the water and show no fear when in the pool. We have a membership to Lifetime Fitness. The kids love to go swimming and the pools there are perfect for them. They have the beach entry, which is great for little kids. They also have a little slide and fountain type things. The pool isn't terribly deep and Connor can touch pretty much everywhere. Carson can go down the slide and touch at the bottom. This makes it nice because he can go down the slide and I don't have to wait to catch him over and over again!

We went swimming yesterday and Kelly took the boys into the deeper part and was trying to teach them how to swim down to the bottom and touch his feet. Well, this turned into the kids teaching themselves to do flips. It was quite amusing! Seeing little Carson doing a flip in the water was kind of impressive! I figured that Kelly had just started flipping them and taught them to do it themselves. I had no idea that they did it on their own. I thought it was pretty cool.

Katelyn has begun to love the pool as well. She isn't quite doing flips with daddy, but she loves to sit in the shallow part and splash. She also gets a kick out of watching other kids play in the water. She has a pretty cute bathing suit too! It is nice to live in a climate where swimming is easily accessible.
We love it!

By the way, Carson was pretty much done with taking pictures. I kept taking them over and over, trying to get one where everyone was looking at the camera. By this point, in a very impatient tone, he was just saying, "CHEEEEEESE!"

Your Gonna Miss This........

Kelly's cousins recently did a post about a song by the country music artist, Trace Adkins. It is called "You're Going To Miss This." It inspired me to write down some things that I will miss as my kids grow up.

- Connor, Carson, and Daddy playing "The Buzz Game" at the park. Connor is Buzz, Carson is Woody, Daddy is Zurg, Sadie (the dog) is Bullseye. Mommy doesn't get to play because I just sit (according to Connor!)

- Connor and Carson climbing up on the counter to help with whatever I am cooking.

- Carson dragging his blanket, flip flops, and sunglasses wherever we go. Also, when I can finally get his blanket away from him to wash, he has to check the washer/dryer every 5 minutes to make sure it is still in there!

- Connor praying for Katelyn to grow up and be a mommy and blessing Heavenly Father.

- Carson refusing to wear any polo or button down shirt during the week because those are only "nursery shirts."

- When Connor tells people, in a very proud voice, "My dad is the police."

- The way Katelyn's whole face lights up when she smiles.

- When Carson crawls in bed with me in the morning and asks for juice and to watch the "Batyardidans" (Backyardigans.)

- When Katelyn grabs on for dear life to your cheeks or neck and grins from ear to ear. Especially when her nails need to be clipped!

- When I tell Carson he is handsome and he says,"no, you hamsome, mom!"

- When Connor will quietly play forever with a paper clip and shampoo bottle (or whatever else he can find to turn into something!)

- When Carson says amen at the end of every book.

- When Connor watches TV with Mommy and Daddy and asks what everything means. Example, watching Survivor, "Mom what does immunity mean, what does exile mean, etc."

- After the kids are tucked in for bed, Carson coming down to say he needs "two more tisses."

- When Connor and Carson crawl around on the floor playing doggies. They even talk to each other as if they were dogs. "Ruff Ruff, do you want a chocolate bone doggie?"

- When Connor tells daddy that he loves him 1000%.

Time surely goes by too fast! It often feels like the infant stage of eating and waking at all hours of night will never go away, but before you know it your oldest will be in kindergarten and the rest are right behind him! I hope that I will always remember these fun times I share with my family!

More Easter Pictures

Katelyn hanging out in her stroller at the Avondale Spring Fling. Kelly works for the City of Avondale, so we took everyone there to see where he worked.



The Spring Fling had several activities for kids. This is Connor getting ready for a train ride.


Carson and his Backyardigans birthday cake. He loves the Backyardigans!



Carson and Katelyn before church. The sunglasses weren't part of his Easter attire!

What a Weekend!

Kelly's family came to visit us for Easter weekend. We all had a good time! The kids had so much fun playing and being together. Here are some pictures from their visit.



Connor, Carson, Tanner and Ellie in uncle Kelly's police car. The kids all piled in the back and we made them promise that this would be the last time they would be in the back of a police car!



We went to a place called Bounce U for Carson's birthday party. Everyone had a good time playing on the inflatables. 


Mommy and Baby Kate at Bounce U.



Katelyn in her first Easter dress!

It was great to have family in town for Easter. We had an Easter egg hunt and then a nice dinner after church. We also had fun playing games and visiting with one another. We hope it won't be too long before we can visit with our families again!

Happy Birthday Carson!

Three years ago today, Carson Michael Zierse was born! It seems like only yesterday he came into our family! Life has been like a whirlwind. Now, here we are celebrating his third birthday!

Carson is such a fun little boy. He has definitely kept us on our toes. He loves to be adventurous and has little fear in doing so. We all get a kick out of watching him!

Some funny things about Carson are, he loves his blanket (he used to call it "B".) We don't go very far without it. He loves his sunglasses and he bathes and sleeps with them on. He also likes the color red (he was born a Ute of course!) He doesn't call it red though. He calls it "saucy." He loves the Backyardigans and can sing nearly all the songs from the show.

There are so many great things about Carson! He is such a blessing to us! Happy birthday Carson, we love you!

Pictures: One gross the rest cute!

Yep, that is the gross one!

The rest are the cute ones! My kids are getting so big!