Happy 17th Birthday Ashley!!!

My little sister Ashley turned 17 a couple of days ago. Ashley is such a great person. She #6 of the 7 kids, but probably the most mature of any of us. Ashley is the most kind, and caring person you will ever meet. She loves to seek out people who are having a bad day and just sit and talk with them. She is the sibling we all say is the exact mix between my Mom and Dad. Ashley is so much fun and it was so great to be able to hang out with her so much a few weeks ago. Ashley never complains and has been so optimistic and understanding about the move to Henderson (not your typical High school Junior). Her great personality shines for everyone she meets, and she already has so many friends even though she is the "new girl in town". She has been winning all of her tennis matches on the high school varsity team, is the soloist in the school choir, and got asked to homecoming by the hottie of the school. We are so proud of you Ashley. Keep it up! Happy Birthday, we love you!!!

Trip Installment 3: Henderson

The last part of the trip was going back to Henderson to try to help everyone get settled in. Henderson is great! I really loved being there. The city is WAY bigger than I imagined it. It is gorgeous, with every street beautifully landscaped with palm trees. There seems to be a new beautiful park, upscale shopping center or golf course on every other corner. Parker loved being able to spend time with his Zwick side cousins, Spencer and Ellie, and of course his Grandma, Papa, and aunts and uncles. One of my favorite places in Henderson was the "District" at night. It is a fancy outdoor mall that lights up at night, has an old fashion carousel, and live music and outdoor movies on Friday and Saturday nights. It was fun to go there at night to eat and walk around. By the time Parker and I flew home, everyone seemed to be in the swing of things, and fitting right in with all the Henderson natives.

Parker had a blast watching Ashley's tennis matches. Here is a picture of that, plus a few others of Andrea's kids and us at the district.

Chad's getting old...

As mentioned in the last post, we celebrated Chad's birthday (September 7th) at Lake Mead. I was so glad that he was able to make it out for a couple of days so we could be together for the big day. I am so grateful for Chad. He is such a fun dad, wonderful husband and very best friend. Happy Birthday Honey!!!

Here are a few of my favorite pictures of Chad growing up. Isn't he just the cutest little boy???

Trip Installment 2: The Lake House

Park and I met up with Chad's family and spent 4 days at Lake Mead. I think it may have been my favorite trip to the lake house yet. It was so fun to see Parker interact with his cousins and experience the lake and boating for the first time. The new boat, jet skis, skin baking sun, jeep rides, hammock naps, and perfect glass water were breath-taking... all of it. Chad flew in on Friday for his birthday weekend, and Matt and Ash spent the weekend at the lake with us as well. It was so good to see Chad after a week and a half. Parker and I really missed him! Chad spent his birthday eating his birthday cereal (a Burnham family tradition), waterskiing (one of my FAVORITE things to watch Chad do), and topping it all off with Cafe Rio before he had to fly back to Baltimore. It was so nice to be with our Burnham family in such a beautiful place that is so much fun, and has already created so many memories! Thanks Mom and Dad! We can't wait to do it again!!!

Trip installment 1: Movin' Out

Parker and I flew to Vegas, just in time to drive up to Utah, labor day weekend for the final move out of the Alpine house... And labor we did. It was an exhausting weekend full of packing, cleaning, many tears, many laughs, reuniting and goodbyes. I was able to go through my storage boxes in the basement and condense them. Not much condensing actually happened due to my ultimate sentimental outlook on life. I have deflated balloons, labeled from specific birthday parties and first dates, ticket stubs, stacks of journals, and every note I ever received from 6th grade on-- those are classic) Old pictures and journals brought back floods of old memories. Good times. The Shelleys hosted a big goodbye party on Sunday night, where we got to mingle with the ward family. (picture of Jeff, Steph and Ash, 3 of my siblings) It was hard saying goodbye to the house and Alpine for the last time. Just driving through the city, I have a memory that goes with every street corner. Alpine was good to me, and the perfect place to grow up. It was fun to reminisce and let the memories sink in again. I had to stay strong and upbeat for Matt and Ash, who have now started school in Henderson as the 3 of us and Parker drove back to Nevada on Monday night. We had a good time and good talks the whole way there. I love my two youngest siblings. They are such great friends, and are so fun to be with. So... So long, farewell Alpine! Viva Las Vegas.

(I had to make the pics really small to fit them all in, but they all blow up if you click on them)

Eight is Great

Sorry for the lack of posts this month. I just got back from my trip out to see family and help with the big move to Vegas, so I am WAAAAAAY behind on the blog and have lots to blog about, so don't worry... many more posts are on the way. But, first I need to give a shout out to my little Park who turned eight months old today. What?!?! He is such a little joy in our lives. He has the cutest personality EVER, and loves to smile and flirt with everyone. On the airplane, coming back to Maryland, he wanted to walk up and down the isle and smile at each individual person on the plane. He would get mad at me if I walked too fast and passed a row. What a character. His favorite thing to do lately is get his picture taken. If you hold up a camera and count to three, he does the cheesiest little smile, and then likes to look at the picture and smile at himself. He found a new love for boating this month, and absolutely loved watching Chad ski behind the boat. He says "Mamma" now, and I can't get enough of it. Our little social butterfly still is not wanting to crawl, but recently learned he can scoot backwards while on his tummy. Maybe crawling will come next month. Park loved playing with his aunts and uncles, cousins and grandparents over the past couple of weeks. He misses you all!!!!!

Henderson or Bust?

So, the rumors are true, and my family (what's left of the Zwick bunch) are moving from Alpine

to Henderson Nevada.

Kind of a crazy time for everyone after 15 years in the bubble that we all love to death. I am flying out to Nevada to be with them for the transition, and hang out at the Alpine house for a little reminiscing. I can't wait to see my great family, and to be with Chad's family at Lake Mead too. Stay tuned for some traveling posts.

Six year anniversary

Yesterday (August 17th) was our six year anniversary! Saturday night the Skinners watched Park (thank you guys!) so that we could go out just the two of us. We had YUMMY steaks at Outback, and a nice time all to ourselves. This has been the best six years of my entire life. I am so grateful for Chad. He is the greatest husband in the world. I am so lucky to have him. He is a perfect dad to little Parker and always shows us and tells us how much he loves us. I love you honey, you are the best! Happy anniversary with many more memories to come!

Seven

Parker turned seven months old today... wow. Where is the time going? He is getting to be such a handsome little guy, and is more and more fun every day. His only word is Dadda, and he thinks he is pretty cool saying it. We are still working on Mamma. I say it to him and he just says Dadda right back. haha. Happy seven months buddy!

Millions of peaches, peaches for me

Last Saturday we went with the Skinners and Austins to pick peaches at Baugers. I can't believe it was our first time there! It was SOOOO much fun and Parker loved every second of it. We rode a tractor out to the picking orchard. Park was in absolute heaven, totally in love with the tractor. It was a beautiful day, the peaches were great, and now I should go make some jam or cobbler or something so that our hard picking work doesn't go to waste. I know everyone is probably sick of these picture slide shows... I am too, but I had too many pictures that I loved, I couldn't decide which ones to post, so here's another slide show. Sorry.