New BLOG

The REAL reason I haven't posted on this blog in a long time is because we don't have any more memory to post pictures SO, I finally got around to creating a new family blog for us!  Here's the new link!  I'm still in the process of updating but there is a graduation post on there now.  We won't be using this blog anymore so please make note!  Thanks!

http://znoswald.blogspot.com/

We are still alive!  I just don't even know where to start with blog updates so I just keep putting it off.  We moved to Walla Walla, WA a month ago and so far we absolutely love it here!  Zach has been super busy with his residency and Declan and I are busy going to parks everyday.  :)  Hopefully I'll get more motivated to update this on a regular basis again!

Most awesome giveaway ever!

A trip for 2 to Paris for a week!  How amazing would that be?!  Check it out...

http://ohhappyday.com/2011/06/goes-to-paris/

Easter and Ann's birthday

We had a pretty relaxing Easter even though I had to teach Young Women's and Zach ended up taking Declan home from church early.  Our ward meets at 1 so it's hard for Declan since it's right during his nap.  He had a cold and hadn't slept well the night before so we didn't think it would be good for him (and our sanity) to miss a nap also!  Here are some pics from Easter.

 Declan with all his Easter gifts - tell me how a one and half year old knows that there is supposed to be candy in those plastic eggs?!

 Hilary and Hailey came over for dinner.  Hilary just got back from Disneyland so she gave Declan a ball from there.  Hailey just got back from Hawaii and she got Declan that cute Hawaiian outfit.  I've never seen him so excited about clothing before!  He just kept saying, "WOW!"

 Family picture - like our decorative boxes?  ha ha

 This kid LOVES peeps!  

Last weekend we went to Idaho to celebrate my mother-in-law's birthday.  I have the best mother-in-law, seriously, she is great.  Ya know how a lot of people say their mothers-in-law meddle too much in their life or don't think they are good enough for their kid?  I've never felt any of that from Ann.  She is also always willing to help.  I definitely got lucky when it came to my in-laws!

 The apron I made for her birthday.

She was a just a little surprised to see an I-pad when she opened her gift from Lyndon!

This is what Declan does when we visit Grandma and Grandpa Oswald.  (sorry for the weird picture,it keeps cutting it in half whenever I upload it.)  Yep, he gambles.  He knows how to put the quarters in, pull the lever, and push all the buttons.  He knows how to work it better than I do!  Whenever he wins he lets out this happy shriek and claps his hands and when he loses he throws his hands in the air and says, "AWWW."  It is hilarious to watch!  We're great parents aren't we? 

Spinach anyone?

One of the only ways we can get this kid to eat vegetables is to make him a spinach smoothie.  We load up a smoothie full of spinach, carrots, and lots of fruit!  Luckily, he loves them and so do we!  Like his spinach stache? 

Mom's birthday

A couple weekends ago Zach flew to Memphis to take Part 3 national optometry boards and I decided I didn't want to be a single mom while he was gone so I drove up to Idaho for the weekend.  Plus, it was my mom's birthday so Declan and I got to celebrate it with my parents!  My parents actually drove to Utah the day before Zach left so that my mom could get her haircut so my mom's birthday was spent mostly in the car driving back to Idaho.  I think she still had fun though.  I have an amazing mom.  She is and has always been there for me.  Even during my awful teenage years she loved me.  ha ha!  That is saying a lot since I wasn't the most obedient child.

This is Declan telling us how old he is!  ONE!

I made my mom this apron for her birthday.  It's my first big project with my sewing machine.  Yes, I just said that an apron is a big project.  I'm still a beginner. :)   It's reversible and I am very pleased with how it turned out!  So was my mom.

This is the apron my brother gave my mom for her birthday.  Yep, you would think after all these years we would coordinate gifts better but nope.  I'm just glad they are both different colors, style, and really cute!

My mom with all the birthday loot. 

My parents surprised Declan with a set of golf clubs when we got to their house.  He LOVES them!  I'm sure this is just the first of many sets he will have.  He had so much fun hitting the ball, or more whacking the ball around the yard.  He has played with them everyday since getting them.

We stayed with Zach's family on Friday night.  Declan had a lot of fun jumping on the tramp with Aunt Sara.  He loves going in their backyard where the dogs are kept.  Good thing he has a nice grandma and grandpa to take him back there because I am too scared of their bear of a dog, Mac.  Hilary and Hailey came up also but of course the only pictures I got were of Declan on the tramp.  We had lots of fun playing games on Saturday while listening to Conference of course. :)

Sunday was spent at my parent's house just listening to Conference and keeping the little man entertained.  I drove back to Utah on Monday to greet my sleeping husband.   I don't have much patience when he's not around so I was glad to have him back!  Of course, Declan was very excited to be back with his dad.  When I put him to bed that night I asked him if he was excited to sleep in his own bed and he said, "YEAH!"  ha ha.  We love to visit family but it always means a lack of sleep!

a little late, but better than never

Back in January we got together for dinner with some of my cousins.  The best part about it was my cousin, Kristin, was in Utah for a few days and it was the first time I have seen her in 5 years!  It's crazy how you go from seeing your cousins every summer for a few weeks to every few years!  Anyway, we had a great time.  My cousin Ty married the sweetest girl who happens to be an excellent cook.  Sarah made an awesome tortilla soup which I still crave!  It was so much fun to get together with them and talk and tell stories.  Thank you Kristin for sending me the pictures!

 The cousins -me, Jill, Kristin, Ty

 Ty and Sarah with their kids

The newlyweds- Garyn and Jill with Kristin

Every summer when I was growing up (starting at the age of 5) my grandma would fly us all out to see her in California and we would spend a week or two together.  All our families are spread out so it was a great way for us to get to know our cousins.  Really, I have some awesome memories with these guys.  Like the time Ty and Brandon chased me down my grandma's street because I lost control on my rollerblades.  In the end, I crashed right before Ty was about to catch me.  Or the time Emily decided to "fly" down my grandma's stairs in her backyard.  That didn't end well.  All the creature walks, Disneyland trips, beach visits, sunburns, grandma making us eat weird food...oh the memories.  I'm so glad my Grandma thought it was important for us to get together every year!  We need a cousins reunion with everyone!

home

Last weekend we went home for my dad's birthday, Paige's 1st birthday, and Zach's cousin's wedding reception.  It was definitely a fun and busy weekend.  For my dad's birthday him and Zach played 3 rounds of Tiger Woods' golf.  ha ha.  We also opened presents, played, ate good food, and watched a movie after Declan went to sleep.  It was a lot of fun.  My dad is an amazing man.  He is always so supportive of our decisions and willing to help.  He's a great grandpa too!

The above picture is what my mom gave my dad for his birthday.  It's all the medals he received while in the Army.  There will be an American  flag above them, they're just waiting for it to arrive.   

I don't have any pictures of Paige's birthday party because I took pictures on Cole and Randi's camera for them.  (hint, hint Randi... :)  Her party was a lot of fun and we had great food.  Paige loved her cupcake and opening presents.  These pictures are of Paige and Declan the next day after church.  

Here are a few more pictures that we took after church, before we drove home.  Declan had the cutest grin for these!

swimming!

 Declan and I are taking a parent tot swimming class at the rec center here.  It has been interesting...ha ha.  Declan LOVES the bath and he LOVES to run around in water but he's not a huge fan of me trying to get him to do kicks, strokes, and blow bubbles in the deep water.  He's had four classes so far and the last time we went was the first time he didn't whine or cry when I held him on his stomach.  So, I guess we're making some improvement!  It has been fun though and makes the days go by faster but I'm glad we only have 2 classes left.  These pictures were taken by Whitney yesterday after class was over.  The boys love going down the slide!

surprise!

In just a few short months, 

our little family of 3 will be...

MOVING!  

How many of you thought I was going to say "a family of 4?"

Ha!  No way!

We'll be moving to Walla Walla, WA the end of June.  Zach was matched for a residency at the VA hospital there and we are excited to have another adventure!  The residency will start July 1st and end June 30, 2012.  

My Rock

I don't write about Zach too much on here, especially after Declan was born so I thought I would do a post all about my favorite man.  Be warned, this will be a bunch of random thoughts and even more random pictures.  

This is the first picture I showed to my mom of Zach...thank you BYU-I stalker net. :)  

The next two pictures are the first pictures that I ever took of him.  I think we had been dating a couple weeks and we went to Mesa Falls since he had never been!  Can you believe that?  The kid grew up in Idaho his whole life and had never seen Mesa Falls.  On our way to the Falls a rock or something (not sure what it was because we never found it) flew through Zach's windshield on the highway.  Luckily it came right down the middle and didn't hit either of us but wow it damaged his windshield pretty bad!  On the way home Zach hinted to me that he wanted to meet my parents.  I decided it would only be fair since I had already met his parents...very briefly.

My dad took us fishing while we were dating and I think Zach was a little nervous since he had only been fly fishing a few times.  Little did he know then that my dad can see every fish in the water and he isn't afraid to yell, "SET!" Anyone who has been fishing with my dad understands what I am talking about exactly. :)

One month after we started dating Zach celebrated his 22nd birthday.  My parents and I took him out to lunch at Gringos.  Of course we had to embarrass him.  Oh, I forgot to mention that the first time Zach had dinner with my parents the night ended with Zach driving my dad to the E.R!  My dad gets kidney stones often and we finished dinner and he went upstairs for a minute, came back down and said, "Zach can you drive me to the hospital?"  Zach's face was priceless, he had no idea what was going on until I said, "Oh dad are you serious?!  Again?"

One of the funnest dates we went on while dating was 4-wheeling and then off roading in his Jeep in the Idaho Falls foothills.  Unfortunately, we popped a tire.  Zach just happens to be wearing his younger brother's clothes in this picture because his clothes got really muddy from 4-wheeling earlier.

I love this picture of him.  I'm not sure why - maybe because he's wearing some great "just got my eyes dilated shades."  Don't worry, he wasn't driving when I took this.

The summer we started dating Zach worked at the Idaho Falls temple on the grounds crew during the day.  Yes, our first date ended with him taking me to the temple to show me what he did at work.  The Idaho Falls temple ground is the first place we held hands, where he first gave me a rose, and he proposed in the Presidential Gardens.  Zach was able to clean Moroni while working there.  How sweet is that?

This picture was taken long before I knew him...okay, not really but before we dated.  Zach definitely has a silly side to him that he doesn't let too many people see but this picture captures it perfectly.

We went to Park City to celebrate our one year wedding anniversary.  On the way there or back (I can't remember which) we stopped in Provo to meet our first niece, Bella.  This is the first time Zach held her.

Our first Valentine's Day was a few days before we got married and we were both working crazy schedules.  I worked 7-4 and then went to night school and Zach went to school during the day and worked from 4-9.  We got to spend our lunch breaks together but we only had an hour so Zach surprised me with a hot and ready pizza and root beer at our soon to be apt. (He lived in it for a few weeks before we got married.)  Later that night he surprised me again with dessert and a rose.  The next Valentine's day almost one year after we were married we still had crazy schedules, actually, even crazier and I decided to do the same thing.  Tradition ever since!

This is one of the first pictures we have of Zach holding Declan.  This is by far my favorite picture of them.  Zach is a wonderful father.  He always spends time with Declan and is way more patient than I am.  Zach is always trying to teach him new things.  It's really cute how much Declan loves him.  Every morning when I get him up he goes searching for Zach and says "dadadaddaada"  over and over again and throws his hands up in the air when he can't find him.  He's always sad when Zach isn't there when he wakes up.  The mornings Zach is home he rushes into get Declan and Declan always squeals with delight!

I love this man!  Even when he looks a little scary.  Halloween 2006...witch doctor.  Yes, that is his real hair spray painted red.  He scared quite a few kids that day.

Zach is the best man I know.  He is always willing to help me and others.  He is so patient, kind, and loving.  One of the first things I noticed about him was how honest he is.  He has always treated me with respect.  Zach makes me want to be a better person.  He is always challenging me to make changes in my life and attitude for the better.  He can always make me laugh no matter how mad or sad I am.  He is my rock and I'm so glad he chose me.