Zachary Garrett - Through the Years

Today is Zachary's 8th birthday!  Zachary was our 17th grandchild and our 10th grandson.

He is an important part of this large family.

And an even more important part of this beautiful family.

I wrote about Zachary in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015 and those posts tell you a lot about him.

And the following pictures will show you how he's changed physically through the years.

And now I want to talk about what Zachary has been up to in the past year.  The first thing I can tell you is that he's been busy because he's always busy.

He played basketball,

soccer,

and baseball where his statistics in the all-star game were as follows:  2 singles and a double with 5 RBIs, and 2 innings pitched where he allowed only 2 runs.  His favorite game is soccer but I see him playing baseball someday.

He also worked hard on his Pinewood Derby car for Cub Scouts

 And won first place for best race car style in his pack and then he competed at the District level and got 3rd place for style.

He spent Christmas in Florida with his family.

And the week between Christmas and New Years in Gulf Shores with his large extended family

In Gulf Shores he enjoyed the water

And his first toasting in of the New Year (a little early)

I know I haven't covered everything this busy boy has done in the past year but I think I've shown that he's been busy.  He is one smart, athletic, sweet, competitive, and imaginative boy and we could not be more proud of him.  We're hoping the coming year is even better than his day has been (and we know it's been good) and we're wishing him the happiest birthday EVER!

Teresa Kay - Through the Years

Today is Teresa's birthday!

Teresa is married to the older (by 10 minutes) of our twin sons.

She is an important part of this large family.

And an even more important part of this beautiful family.

I wrote about Teresa in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015.   And those posts tell you a lot about Teresa's yesterdays.  And the following pictures will give you an idea of how she's changed physically 'through the years'.

But now I want to talk about Teresa's todays - what's been going on in her life during the previous year. The first thing that comes to mind for me is that she had a second son graduate from high school

and just a couple of months ago he moved out to try life on his own. But there have been more huge changes for Teresa in the past year.  Last summer she and Dan started spending even more quality time together than usual because they were facing a year apart.  Dan would be attending school on the East Coast while Teresa held down the fort in Colorado Springs.

And she still found time to work part-time and accompany Tessa on a few of her field trips - including a trip on the cog railway to the top of Pike's Peak. (I knew Teresa was a brave girl but I had no idea she was THAT brave!!!)

And then after almost a year of batching it, she tackled the monumental task of preparing a house to sell and a household to move across the country.  Dan did what he could from a distance but, oh my, I can't even phantom the challenges she faced.  But she did it and she and Dan were able to get together in March to find their next house in the Southeast part of the country.

And three short months later, after an incredible whirlwind of activity, the moving truck was arriving at their new home

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Fortunately Grant was able to spend a little time away from his studies and his job to help out.

And the monumental task of fitting a combined approximately 4500 sq ft of households into a single approximately 2500 ft of space began.

And as far as I know, they've been working on it ever since!  So usually I would add some of Teresa's qualities here but some of them have to have become apparent in this post - her organizational skills are second to none, her fortitude and steadfastness in the most challenging circumstances are amazing, and most importantly her positive and never-quit attitude get her through almost anything.

On top of all that, she's sweet, loving, thoughtful, selfless and obviously hard working.  For these reasons and so many others, we're hoping her day has been wonderful and that the coming year is even better.  Happy Birthday, Teresa, we love you so much!