Small Tribute to Grandma Minick

We already miss Grandma Minick. One of the greatest blessings that has come to our family since we have moved to California, is that we got to spend so much time with Grandpa and Grandma Minick. Grandma has done so much for our boys since we have lived here. I can't count how may times we dropped our boys off so that we could go to the temple. Every time we came to visit there was food stock piled ready for the boys to eat and a never ending supply of vitamins(M&M's). I'm grateful for the last big get together with Grandma right before Christmas. She seemed so happy and we had such a nice visit with her. I remember how excited she was to have carolers show up that night. She fed us a great meal and had such a great time visiting with her. I'm also grateful for the last few visits I had with her at the hospital. She was in ICU so the boys couldn't come, but it was so nice to have 1 on 1 with her and share in some quiet moments. What an amazing wife, mother, and grandmother she has been. We Celebrate all she did and was. We love you and miss you!

We are going to miss our annal Easter Egg Hunt that we always have with Grandma. This was last years Easter Egg Hunt! What Fun! The Great Grand-kids are really going miss Grandma Minick. She has always spoiled them, not matter what the occasion.

Jeret turns 8!

Turning 8 is such an exciting time. Jeret turned 8 on the 26th and so the cub scouts invited him to join in on their pinewood derby which was the day before his birthday. He was so excited(that's actually an understatement). He and Clint worked on the car together and had so much fun making the car I didn't think it could get any better, until he comes home and shows me his trophy. I wish I could have a picture of his face, it was the best. He ended up getting 2nd place overall. Not bad for your first Derby. By the way, doesn't he look so cute in his new uniform?

On his birthday, he had his friend Daneil over and the watch a movie and played wii and ate tones of pizza, ice cream, and brownies. It was even more special because Grandpa Rog and Grandma Sue showed up. It's not very ofter we get to have Grandparents around for Birthdays. What a great day!

Since Clint had to work on Jeret's birthday, we had a family party on Saturday. We went mini golf and San Jose and Grandpa Rog got to join us. Way fun and we even got in 36 holes before it rained! It was Great even if I average 4 strokes a hole :)

Winter Break

This winter break we were invited to our friends family cabin.
It was so beautiful and tons of fun.

Brevin and his friends climbed up and made their own bobsled run. It was great, with good speed and lots of turns. They did a great job.

I thought this was a cute picture of Jeret. If you notice he doesn't have gloves on. This kid worked so are he was hot all the time. If fact most of the time he didn't even have his coat on.

Being at the cabin usually means late nights and not much sleep. Poor Zack was tired and that meant he was a little moody :). He finally started having fun and when he used the sled as a snowboard. He could make it almost the whole way down, it was very fun!
Thanks for invited us!!!

Happy New Year

I think this picture is so cute of all the cousins together. The balloons were from Brittany's birthday party the day before. The best part of going on these trips is being with family, we always have the best of times.

For Brittany's birthday, which is Dec 30th, they had a "Walk Off". They all went down stairs and dressed up then did a run way for us. So funny! Uncle Brett of course is always the most talented at these things. Thanks Brett for always making us laugh!

They had tons of snow in Logan, it was so beautiful! I have to say though, I love visiting it, but grateful I don't have to live with it!

Here's the boys with cousin John. John's family lives next door to Grandpa and Grandmas house so he was always there to entertain the boys. Thanks John!
We had so much fun with the Zollinger's, it's always hard to leave. We miss everyone so much and look forward to March!

Christmas Day! and Eve

It was so exciting to see Santa show up on Christmas Eve. Zack was so cute, his eyes were so big and he was so happy. It could not believe that Santa would come and see him, he just went right up to him and gave him the biggest hug. That is a memory I will not forget.

Grandma Sue made pj's very everyone and for the kids she made shirts. The cool thing was on the shirts she embroidered their names on them with glow-in-the-dark thread. So Fun! My boys just lay in bed looking at their shirts. Thanks Mom, they love them still.

Christmas morning was very early, of course not early enough for my boys. They patiently(yeah right) waited while their cousins woke up. Poor Jack had been up all night sick so it wasn't easy getting him up. We finally were all ready and made it out to open presents. Jack also joined us and the poor thing was so sick, Clint even got a picture of him throwing up in a bucket by the Christmas tree. I decided not to share that photo. All went well besides though and all the cousins seemed pleased with their gifts.

After opening presents and eating some food, Grandpa Rog loaded us up on the school bus and took us snowboarding. This was the first time for our boys and Clint so they all signed up for lessons. By the end of their lessons all of them were boarding by themselves. It was so fun. Zack loved it the most. he was not happy when they turned off the Magic Carpet(that's what towed them to the top of the hill). We hope to be able to go again before winter is over.

To say the least Christmas was very fun! Thanks Mom and Dad!

Yes we are alive!

Sorry no picks right now, been crazy busy. Hopefully I'll get to it soon!

Crazy Day

Hi, my name is Clint. This is my first attempt at blogging, I hope I don't mess it up!

I'd like to fill y'all (a throwback to our Georgia days) in on what is going on in the Z-family these days. Rather than starting at the beginning and trying to explain the last few weeks, I decided to just tell y'all about today. I felt like today was a microcosm of our life: busy, fun, and a little crazy!

December 17, 2009: I started work at 6:45 AM, I love Thursdays because they are my half-days - I only work until noon (I work 7 to 6 the other 4 days of the week). Today was a busy day - I had a crazy hour where I somehow ended up with 5 patients at the same time, 3 of them in various phases of rotator cuff repair rehab. It was a fun group of patients (one of which was a professional baseball player and played on the Atlanta Braves with Dale Murphy!) and it actually went quite smoothly.

Then just before I left I got a call from the Bishop and he wondered if I could go make a visit with him to a family that was having some issues. It turned out that the family was unable to meet with us at that time but the Bishop went with me to Costco for lunch and returns. I had a bunch of returns to make: Costco, Old Navy, Target, Kohl's - apparently Santa bought some gifts too soon and some children changed their minds in the eleventh hour!

Then it was off to pick up JT and Brevin from school. Kadie was unable to pick them up as the windshield in our Pilot had finally been replaced and she wasn't supposed to drive the car for a few hours to allow the glue to dry. We'd had a crack in it for a long time and it was growing - we wanted to get it done before our trip to Idaho and Utah. We can't wait for our Christmas trip!

We got Brevin's report card in the mail: 2 A+'s, 1 A-, and 4 A's. We are very proud of him, he works hard and is doing great. JT is doing great also, he told me he got to be the teacher today - teaching the other students how to do some kind of art project. Zack is starting to read! (At his recent parent-teacher conference his teacher gave him "Outstanding" marks in every aspect: reading, writing, math - which she said she has very rarely done in the past).

I then had a short moment at home and read Brett's blog - what a great story - and I guess that was my inspiration for doing this now. Then it was off to the Batting Cages. Brevin, JT, and Zack will all be playing baseball this year and tryouts are January 9th. They all were hitting the ball well.

Then I came home, changed into my church clothes and made the visit with the Bishop to the family in need. Which I was only able to do because my doctor's appointment was canceled at the last minute (nothing wrong, just a check-up). The visit went well, but it made me a little late for a tennis game with some church friends.

The tennis match was the first that I had played in since my surgery and there was no problems. Then I left early and went back to the apartment and picked up Kadie and the kids to go make a visit to a less active family and then to my home teaching family. In the meantime, Kadie had received a call from our realtor that our offer on the house was accepted! We're excited, but not counting our chickens yet.

Our visits went well, and then it was bedtime for the boys and I finally had time for dinner. Kadie had made some homemade noodles that tasted delicious over mashed potatoes. A great way to end a busy day!