Z Sisters.

*we got an update from Ie Li.  It's added at the bottom of the post...*


Annee:

Last Week:

• Spring Break!  Monday the boys participated in a UNC study about boys, speech, and autism.  They were the "control" group :)  It took forever, but I think it's a good and random experience to have in one's youth.  
• Tuesday the boys had dental appointments.  After the dentist, we took a trip to the library to equip everyone with reading material for the trip to the beach the next day.  I was so proud to see each one of them pick out three books that they were excited to read.  A few were disappointed in their selections once they started reading.  You are always allowed to NOT read a book if you decide you don't love it.  But some books were real winners, and I think "James and the Giant Peach" cycled through all four kids.  I think it was voted Spring Break 2012's best book.  I love that they read.  Seriously, it almost makes me feel like I want to cry.  Why does it make me so happy?!  
• Girls dental appointments, and second day in a row of spring break breakfast at McDonald's.  The dentist office is right next door to a really nice McDs.  Too bad.  But convenient.  It helped make it feel like we really were on vacation.
• Got home from the dentist and had until 12:45 to do all the laundry, and then pack five suitcases for three days.  I was not excited about my chores.  But, I really wanted to impress Darin who has nearly lost all faith in my capabilities lately.  When he walked through the door at 12:45, I had all the suitcases lined up!  And all the excess laundry folded and ready to be the clean clothes for us when we got back from vacation.  I know he was super impressed :)  
• Went to the Outer Banks!!!!  We knew the weather forecast wasn't promising.  But, we were excited all the same.  Found a perfect hotelish/condoish place right on the beach at Nags Head.  We had three queen size beds and a loft in the one room.  It was ideal.  The hotel had an indoor and an outdoor pool, and was right on the beach.  We are happy we got the "off season" rate!  
• Swam at the pool right away.  The boys went down to report just how freezing the ocean and beach were.  Went out to dinner, and located Duck Donuts for the next morning.  Went back to the hotel and fell asleep, eventually...
• Next day, breakfast at Duck Donuts!  Off to the sand dunes for kite flying and running down hills.  It was a real highlight!  Kite flying has never been so easy. 
• Back to the hotel for more swimming, then on to mini gold.  Out to dinner at High Cotton, the same BBQ place we all went to on our last day of Beach Week.  Delicious once again!
• Friday's weather was supposed to be nice, so we packed out of our room, and checked out, but planned to use all the hotel facilities for the beach and the pool, until we had had our fill.  It was the perfect plan.  Drove by Duck Donuts and a light house on our way out of town.  It was the perfect vacation!  

This Week:

• Back to reality.  Four lunches packed, four back packs located, four kids appropriately dressed and fed, all before 7:30am!  Once again I fell asleep on the couch around 8:30.  That morning rush really takes it all out of me!  At one point before they all left for school, someone asked me if I could still touch my toes!  Rude.
• Random house organization and paper sorting to get us back on track for the week.
• Lunch date with Darin :) 
• OB appointment on Wednesday
• TWO baseball games!
• Subbing on Friday.
• Should make sure I take at least one, if not two walks this week.  I cannot start physically breaking down yet!  Must make it to the full-term finish line in good form.  
• Did I mention we bought a new van?!  I need to get the insurance switched over from the old van!  We started looking for used Honda minivans within a 200 mile radius of us.  We found a few really low mileage ones (which was our criteria) in Tenesse and Virginia.  We were ready to pursue either of those options, when one showed up in Chapel Hill with only 26000 miles on it.  For a three-year-old Honda, that's nothing.  It had been driven less than 9000 miles per year.  We predict it was owned by some old retired couple in Miami, Florida because we can see from the Carfax it was originally purchased in Miami.  We traded in our old Nissan Quest.  We got a few new upgraded features, including the long coveted leather interior.  But we traded out the DVD player, and didn't make that a requirement for the new van.  We bought the Honda since they are the only minivan on the market, other than Toyota (only as of 2011) that make the 8 passenger seating a standard option, and have been at least since 2008.  It will be filled to capacity all too soon!  

Ana:

Last two weeks:


-Dealt with Will being sick. I finally took him in to the doctor after a week of him being up 6-7 times a night. I figured I'd rather have a doctor check him out and waste our copay and feel silly then wish I had. Turned out he had an ear infection. It was not even on my radar. I have never had a single ear infection in my life and neither has Jack. Somehow I assumed Will would have the same luck (fingers crossed maybe Will wont have Jack and my puke gene at least). After just a day or two of antibiotics he was only waking once a night and was much happier with his life. I was much happier with mine too.
-Jacks spring break. It was a long week what with Will getting over being sick. Jack was a bit of a sullen teenager for a lot of the week, and it made me worry about the summer. His last vacation was so nice that I was expecting this one to be as well. By Wednesday he was out of his funk and enjoyed being home.
-Swim lessons and extreme Dodgeball class. I still have to force Jack out of the door for swim (which he loves once he gets there but refuses to go to) but he is the first one in the car for dodgeball. Evidently pelting other kids with balls is way fun.
-Tried to keep exercising. 17 more pounds to lose. Man that's still a ton. Ugh.
-Practicing sitting up with William. He is a bit behind in this I think because he's soooo long. He measured in the 99% for height and honestly is the size of most 1 year olds. Which makes it look even more absurd that he can't do things like sit up. He is such a patient and sweet child.
-Meet up with my grandmother and aunt in Irvine. It was my first solo adventure with both kids on my own. It was a long day. Mostly because I left at 9am to meet them at 12:30 despite it only being an hour drive and got home at 5:30. It made such sense as I got in my car and then was so absurd for the rest of the day. We just kept running more errands to try to fill the time. I made it to the rainbow outlet, Costco, trader joes, target and the grocery store. I forgot my keys in the rainbow store and my phone in the target shopping cart. But all in all it was a successful day. Baba is 88 now and these moments are precious.

Next week:


-Get re-used to the craziness of getting Jack and Zack up an out of the house by 7:30 each morning. That was one of the perks of spring break that I will miss.
-Exercise. I just have to do it. No excuses. I put Zack in charge of making us do ab workouts. He managed to make me do it twice last week. Hopefully he will be as persuasive next week.

Sarah:

Last Weeks:

• Had a successful Easter in spite of doing no planning or preparing until the day before. That being said, I'm pretty much ready to do away with the whole Easter Bunny concept. Any ideas how to phase that one out? Just seems like a silly tradition and a real distraction from the true meaning of the holiday.
• Spring Break! We didn't have any big plans, and I was a little bit dreading the week of nothing to do. On Monday I had the kids help clean the house in the morning and then we went to Boondocks Fun Center in the afternoon. On Tuesday I made them hang around and be bored while I supposedly worked, although that didn't totally work out. By Wednesday I'd had it it so I packed them up and we went on an impromptu trip to St. George. Scott had to work, but the Kendricks ended up coming with us and showing us the ropes in Zions, the Snow Canyon sand dunes, and Nielson's Frozen Custard. It was a low-key trip but successful in that everyone felt like they "did something" for Spring Break.
• Spent about 3 hours tonight catching up on my various email inboxes. Made significant progress although I could/should still spent about that much more again another day.
• Submitted our taxes. Looks like it's a nearly break-even year - yay!

This Week:

• More Rooftop planning. Hopefully we're pretty close to landing some significant sponsors.
• Summer planning - need to figure out dates for our trip to DC in August, Brenden (and maybe Oliver's) week at Camp Woodward in PA, and other summer activities. Need to purchase plane tickets and really make some commitments here.
• Work! My current project needs some serious catchup attention
• CARWASH! I can't even believe how disgusting my car is right now.
• Feels like kind of a catch-up business-type week. The weather's going to be beautiful though so I guess we should try to do something fun too.

Rachel:

Last two weeks:

• Worked a lot. Like 9am until after midnight every day. So there really isn't much else that got done!!
• I taught my Easter lesson to the 5 year olds. I am so impressed that they know these stories so well already. They're only 5! How can they already know everything! One boy always corrects me when I tell stories because he knows the scripture videos so well (i.e. I say an angel came and knocked down the guards and he says no, the guards were scared so they ran away. Haha)
• Easter dinner at Steve's house. Ken made scalloped potatoes. I made carrot cake cupcakes and deviled eggs. CZ stopped by with Jon which was so fun. I'm glad we get to be so close together. Mina is a ham these days.
• Stayed up way too late Sunday night watching Mad Men. Is anyone else watching this season?
• On Friday night we went to Ken's championship ward bball game. He got elbowed in the ribs really badly and is still in pain. Doctor says it could be fractured. Geesh!
• I had 9am conference calls at work almost every day last week. This is painful b/c on such little sleep it's hard to get right into the office at 9am. But it's a good way to get me up and there and working early so that's positive.
• A full week of dinners brought into the office last week. CPK, Corner Bakery, Maggiano's and PF Changs. It's really convenient, but also indulgent. Oh well, survival mode!!
• I walked to lunch at the grocery store on Friday and somehow lost my debit card along the way. Super annoying!
• Mom came to town on Friday!! We met up for dinner at the mall. Fun to catch up.
• Saturday CZ, mom and I drove all around looking at wedding venues. There are some great options out that and I think everything will come together.
• Saturday night we attended the Marriott School Alumni dinner in Arlington with mom. It was fun to see my friends and hear Condelezza Rice speak. Why do they always make this dinner in busy season??
• Sunday was more venue hunting, out to the Marriott Ranch. Would the Zackrisons know how to entertain ourselves without a beach?? Haha kinda funny to imagine us all on a dude ranch.

This Week:

• Tax deadline on Tuesday!!! We're going to make it!! Jeans day.
• I'll go to work on Wednesday to wrap up some admin stuff. Then I'll take Thursday and Friday off. Yay!!
• Submit my annual reviews to gather feedback. Always makes me nervous.
• I want to see Hunger Games this week, finally. Ken even read the book in preparation!
• Book our trip tickets. Also book CA and Utah tickets for June and July.
• My friend Kristen comes to DC Thursday to check out UVA's business school.
• We have several gift cards to use at restaurants around town like Chef Geoff's and Ray's the Steaks and a Crepe restaurant in Alexandria. I hope we get a chance to go to one this week.

Clean the kitchen and reorganize the fridge. Grocery shop. Plan meals for the week.
HANG UP MY CLOTHES. I have so many clothes all over the place in piles from being in survival mode last week. I need to do some SERIOUS clothing and shoe organization because right now I'm being a super rude roommate.

Christine:

Last Couple Weeks:


- Easter weekend I went to Morgantown after work on Friday and all day Saturday Jon and I went around looking at apartments. We found a few great places that we really like, now it's just figuring out what is absolutely necessary and what we want most.
- Spent Easter in Franklin with Jon's family. It was a great Sunday spent up at his grandparents' farm with his parents and his brother's family. I will admit I found myself missing our family quite a bit but overall it was a great Easter.
- Exercised once in the past two weeks, not so good.
- Went and tried on wedding dresses last Thursday, it wasn't that great of an experience. I really don't know how people go through this process and pick anything when the dresses you're trying on don't fit at all and likely will look completely different once the top is altered with sleeves and all. It seems impossible.
- Mom came to town on Friday! She decided last minute to come help move along the wedding planning. It was a huge help to know she was coming and to have her for the weekend. Friday night we all got together for dinner with Rachel and Ken and Steve and Ie Li and kids at Coastal Flats. It was delicious and always a good time with family. We spent all day Saturday and Sunday driving all over looking at possible locations for the reception. We learned a lot and saw a lot of interesting places and possibly narrowed it down to one really great place. It's hard for me to commit to things but we probably need to act fast since places typically get booked up a year in advance. It was definitely an exhausting weekend but I think overall it was productive.

This Week:


- I've been working in the office this past week and will get to stay in the office this week. It's nice to not have to go so far and it's fun getting to bump into Steve and Rachel in the halls again. Wednesday-Friday I have a training in the office.
- Go to the gym as much as possible.
- Pick a photographer. I know I need to nail one down for the wedding but more importantly I need one for our engagements so we can get those taken immediately.
- This weekend Jon officially becomes the Mountaineer. Unfortunately I'm not going to be able to make it to the big ceremony because of my training (boo work), but I'll go up Saturday for the Spring football game.

Ie Li:

Lately:

• We've been sick on and off for a month now. We're all finally better, but Mei Li seems to come in and out of sickness pretty frequently, and that worries me a little. Now that my infection is gone, the nausea and exhaustion seem totally manageable in comparison.
• A couple Saturdays ago, we spent the day as a family at the farm museum and neighboring grounds. It was the first day in a while that I felt like a human being. It was a really beautiful day and just nice to get out again. We ate lunch at Sweetwater Tavern afterwards, which is always delicious.
• Celebrated Easter with Rachel, Ken, Christine, and Jon. We did the Easter egg hunt before church and then the dinner after.
• I went to my first ultrasound last Monday and our little baby is so cute. The ultrasound tech said, "seeing these babies at different stages of development is so incredible. You just know that something else is out there." It was probably my cue to bear my testimony or something, but I didn't. I just watched with tears in my eyes and was silently grateful for another little miracle.
• I took the girls to the duck pond last Tuesday while Stephen was at preschool.
• Met up with Grandma Z, Rachel, Ken, and Christine at Coastal Flats for dinner on Friday night.
• Stephen had his first t-ball game on Saturday. He did a great job and he has a lot of fun out there. He looks mighty cute in his uniform.
• Saturday was in general just a really busy day. There was the t-ball game, going shopping for food for the homeless shelter dinner, browning twenty pounds of ground beef for the homeless shelter dinner, Mei Li's soccer practice, and then BYU Management Society Gala. I was pretty wiped out and sick by 6 PM, so we skipped the gala and went on a more relaxing date closer to home. We went mattress shopping, ate dinner at Noodles and Company, and then watched the Hunger Games. It was really nice.
• Steve made crepes for Rachel, Ken, Christine, and Grandma Z on Sunday night.

This Week:

• Tax season ends. Steve plans to take a couple of days off of work. We are going to reclaim our lives!
• Get our AC checked out. It looks like we're going to have to replace that too this year.
• Purchase a mattress. We discovered that my hip injury was caused by our mattress and not running. Our current sleeping situation is just unacceptable. I'm sleeping on a twin on the ground. Steve joins me sometimes, and it works out okay, but it is not ideal, obviously.
• Laundry! I am so behind.
• Prepare for Steve's birthday and then celebrate!