Sister Post - February is over now.

Hi all!

I seriously can't wrap my head around the fact that February is over.  This year has flown by in a blur.  I'm not as busy at work yet as I expected I would be by this time (busy, but not staying past midnight...).

2012 is shaping up to be a huge year in the Z family!  A wedding.  A Wiley baby. TWO Earnest babies.  Mom & Dad turn 60.  Big vacation (for the Fitzgerald's at least).  This means a lot of gathering (which I love) and a lot of photos. Time to get back in shape!  :-)

RACHEL

LAST WEEK (AND A HALF):

• Wednesday 2/15: I had lunch with CZ and Jon at Cafe Rio after they got engaged. 
• Thursday 2/16 and Friday 2/17: I cleaned and prepared the house for our guests last weekend.  It feels so good to get everything settled in its place!  It was so fun to have Annee, Jane and Ruby come to stay! 
• Saturday 2/18: I visited the American Girl store with Jane and Ruby for their birthday.  I love everything in there!  
• Sunday 2/19: I baked a vanilla cake with chocolate whipped cream frosting for our dinner at Steve's house.  It was the best cake I've had in a long time, light and cool and tasty. 
• Monday 2/20: Crossfit at 430pm then worked the rest of the night. 
• Ken applied to some interesting job postings and was able to connect with BYU alumni at each company who helped forward his resume to HR.  Hopefully something will come of it...
• Wednesday 2/22: I went to the Verizon Center with Christine and Ken to watch Jimmer (aka Sacramento Kings) play the Washington Wizards.  We went down on the court at halftime to meet the players.  I wonder if he gets embarrassed or gets razzed by his teammates for having so many enthusiastic fans everywhere he goes.  That's gotta be a little awkward.
• After the game we went to Ted's Bulletin a restaurant I've wanted to try for a long time.  Their shakes are crazy good!  Next time I'll try to homemade poptarts.
• Wednesday 2/22: Found out Annee is pregnant with TWINS!!!  Huge year for the Z's!!
• Thursday 2/23: We flew to Utah!  On the plane I ended up wearing the same dress I wore to the basketball game on Wednesday night.  Little did I know, I would end up wearing that dress for several days due to my lost luggage...
• My bag did not make our connection in JFK.  In fact, my bag was loaded onto a flight to DUBLIN instead.  I ended up being without my bag for the entire trip to Utah. No one could seem to figure out how to get the bag back from Ireland.  It was an incredibly frustrating situation.  Delta did pay $400 for me to buy some clothes while I was in Utah, and they provided us with vouchers for ski and ski clothes rentals since that was the purpose of the trip.  We also got $225 of Delta credit for our trouble. 
• Friday 2/24: We joined mom and dad for their setting apart by Elder Porter.  Lunch afterwards with Grandma at Blue Lemon.  We stopped into the Deseret Book downtown where there's a picture of Grandma's dad on the inside of the elevator doors. Later we dropped mom and dad off at the airport for their adventure in Morocco!! 
• Friday night 2/24: Ken and I got to go to dinner with Sarah, Scott and Courtney and Christopher Kendrick.  We went to Crazy Chuckie's in Provo, which I don't really recommend. Dessert at Awful Waffle which I do recommend!  It was a lovely evening overall.
• Saturday 2/25: PwC Ski Day event up at Sundance.  We skied and talked and recruited all day long.  By 430pm we were so tired!  Home to the Wiley's where we played games, watched Rio and went to bed early. 
• Sunday morning 2/26: We hung out with the Wiley kids more, made breakfast and queso (Oli's request) and everyone got ready for church.  Ken and I returned to the airport so we could spend some quality time in the baggage office. 
• Uneventful flight back to DC.  Upon landing, it was clear that the bag was back in New York from Ireland, but the bag did not make it out to Utah.  Many, many calls with the NY baggage office along with 2 calls to the Dublin office and 2 calls back to Salt Lake baggage office.  
• Monday night 2/27 at 1130pm I got my bag back!!  4.5 days after we gave the bag to Delta on the first flight. 

THIS WEEK

• No major plans this week other than to work a ton.  
• My VTee just announced she is pregnant!  I should do something for her this month.  
• File our taxes.  And work on another tax client who has already paid me so I better get that done!
• Continue sitting on an exercise ball at work.
• Download Bossy Pants.
• Read Lesson 6 & 8 from our Strengthening Marriage book in preparation for class on Sunday.
• Prepare Lesson 10 for my primary class next week..
• Our friends invited us to join them on their Caribbean Cruise in April. Must decide if we want to do this or if we'd rather do a Baltic Cruise/Morocco trip this April.  It takes so long to research everything.
• In light of all the events that will take place this year, I need to get my body back in control. So starting March 1st we need to cut out treats and carbs again.  Ugh, but I know I'll feel better and eventually more clothes will fit which will make me less depressed every morning. 

 SARAH

Last weeks:

• Spent Valentine's night at Sundance with Scott. 4-course fixed prix menu at the Tree Room was great - I even tried the oysters. I can't even tell you how nice it was to get away. I really love Sundance and it's so close we really should go there more. And of course it was hard to pull away even for the 18-hour period we were gone, but it was just so so nice to have that one-on-one time with Scott and just relax for a night. Breakfast at the Foundry Grill was yummy too. The overnight snow covering was a beautiful bonus.
  
• Went to Mountain View for 1 night and 1 1/2 days. It was fine but pretty boring and lonely. I got takeout Indian to eat in my room and then ordered room service for breakfast. But it was good to be there at work and see people in person and attend a few key meetings.
  
• Helped Brenden learn about the history and tradition of the British Monarchy. He created a timeline dating back to the 900s all the way to present-day. In addition to the timeline he needed to highlight 3 significant kings or queens. It was late and we were out of time and I couldn't do any more research to figure out which ones would be good to do, so I told him to call Grandma Z and ask her who, in her opinion, were the 3 most interesting and/or significant kings or queens in English history. I was once again impressed at the breadth of her knowledge when she was able to pull out of thin air 3 suggestions complete with interesting facts and significant historical events - all off the top of her head while driving in the car. Will I ever know that much stuff? Or more significantly will I ever be able to remember that much stuff?
• Turned 36. Scott and the kids did a great job making the day special. Scott got to skip his morning church meetings and made a great breakfast and as always so many nice gifts.
• Brett came for President's Day weekend and brought Peter & Tommy too. Brett took all the boys snowboarding 3 days in a row. Scott and I even tagged along one day. It wasn't until I was halfway down my first run that I realized my pregnant body might not balance or maneuver as well as I'm used to and maybe I should be a little extra careful.
  
• Rachel & Ken came to town!! It was so nice to have them here albeit way too short. We got to go out to an adults dinner one night which was so fun (note - not yummy, just fun). And Rachel was super helpful - so great to have another set of capable mom hands around. So sad to see them go and way too long till we'll see them again.
• Brenden, then Scott, then Oliver, all got sick with a yucky stomach bug. The boys each missed 2 days of school. Scott did not have that luxury and had to work through his bout. The rest of us seem to have been spared (knock on wood). [Note that all of the patients this time were of the older variety - those who don't make messes and don't require much while sleeping through most of their sick days. This is a good thing for a mother who's not a very good or compassionate nurse.]
• Said a very sad and sentimental goodbye to Mom & Dad as they headed off to Morocco. OK well maybe it wasn't so sad & sentimental, and maybe we didn't actually get the chance to say goodbye, but... we noted their absence on Sunday for dinner and explained to the kids that they went on a little trip. (It's ok to not be sentimental about those sorts of things, isn't it?) We will miss them and look forward to their return. Crazy to think they will get back and then our baby will be born so soon afterward.
  

This week:

• Scott's working at home a lot over the next couple of weeks. Need to try not to distract him too much, and teach the kids that they have to pretend like he isn't here, so he can actually get something done. Listening to the music coming from downstairs reminds me of our old days at 39 West.
  
• I might need to make another quick trip out to Mountain View at the end of this week.
• The kids all need haircuts. ASAP
• Another rooftop planning meeting with a few new volunteers. Hopefully we'll beef up the work force a bit so as to reduce my load. I also need to work on solidifying the lineup.
  
• Scramble to finish the last couple requirements for Oliver's Wolf award - Blue & Gold banquet is on Wednesday.
• I really need to make follow-up appointments for the kids at the dentist. We never did all the work we were supposed to do after our last checkup.
• My mind is blank right now. Probably we'll do some other stuff. I'm tired.

ANNEE

LAST WEEKS:

• -on Valentine's day we announced to the kids, and our family that we were having a new baby!  This was exciting and big news. We were excited and told all our friends shortly thereafter.
• -a week later went to my first OB appointment at 9 weeks. Routine blood work, etc, but given my OB history, we were going to do an ultrasound too. It was revealed that we will be having ANOTHER SET OF TWINS!  The shock is only now, almost a week later starting to settle.
• -took the girls to VA for a super fun girls weekend. We went to the American Girl store for hours, then out to lunch. The rest of the day was spent chilling at Rachel's house. The next day we went up to Steve's house for dinner and a mini birthday party. It was all lovely and perfect. Except for driving home in the only snow storm this entire winter. That part was annoying. Added on two extra hours!
• -with all that driving I finally finished Unbroken. It is a world war two story about survival. It was really good, but there were parts that I hated about the abuse in the prisoner of war camp. I know it was real and non-fiction but the abuse was so unrelenting that it was hard to read about.
• -absolutely no sewing. I'm in a rut. Mostly because I'm exhausted.
• -Darin left for Oregon the day of the ultrasound. He's been gone ever since. I've been doing the single mom routine for about a week.
• -basketball season ended!! Three final games on Saturday. It was great. Henry's team made it to the play offs. We'll see if we make it past round one tomorrow night.

THIS WEEK:

• -I hardly even try anymore. I'm so terribly exhausted. If I wake up in the morning, make it through the morning routine of sending everyone off to school fed, clothed, and lunched, I practically need a nap once they're gone. Not a joke. Today, I sat down on the couch at 8:30am to just check the news for a minute. Next thing I knew, I was waking up at 10. I would feel embarrassed, but there isn't anything I can do about it. To make up for my mid morning nap, I doubled my efforts at getting all the laundry done before Darin gets home. I've also worked hard at getting rid of the random piles of papers. These things bug him really bad, and it's my way of missing him to want to clean up.
• -I'm in charge of cooking enough rice for 120 people at the Blue and Gold banquet this week. I'm not very excited about it.
• -trying to help George finish all of his Webelo Requirement before the banquet on Wednesday. We're really close!
• -I go to bed every night between 9 and 10. I try to say that I'm just going to sit down for a minute, and then I'll get back up, but I never get back up. Will this feeling ever go away?!
• -started looking at twin strollers. I seriously never thought I'd be shopping for one again!
• -the girls alarm went off at 12:20am last night. I was in a deep, deep sleep when Ruby came in asking me to help her find tights. She was all dressed. Talk about middle of the night confusion!  She and Jane were both getting ready for school. I'm glad they were able to fall back asleep.
• -Jane threw up on the bus ride home from school today. She was devastated. She says she could feel she was getting car sick but didn't know what she could do about it. I feel so bad. I'll probably pick them up from school for the rest of the week.
• -we're off to a great start :-)
• -on Wednesday I'm having Darin take me to our local Indian restaurant's lunch buffet. I've been craving it the whole time he's been gone. It will be our "we're having another set of twins" celebratory lunch date.

ANA

Last few weeks

• -Watched Jacks Valentines Day performance at school.  They learned a number of songs and poems and it was adorable!  Jack had kept it a huge secret not even singing the songs at home so it was such a lovely surprise. He was supposed to wear red to school that day but when I asked him if he wanted me to buy him a new red shirt but he told me he had it all planned out.  That day he woke up and came into our room completely dressed having taken an orangey-red football shirt and turned it inside out.  Boy was he proud of himself, and I fought the urge to insist he wear a shirt right side out to the school performance.
• -Got Jack all ready for his first t-ball team.  They have there first game Saturday and he can't wait!
• -Drove to Irvine to meet my dad with my sister and the kids. William did remarkably well and it was a lovely day! 
• -Spent all last week hanging out with Jack.  He had President's week off of school.  I was a little nervous to have him home all day but it was a blast.  I think he and I both remarked on how much fun we were having together at least a few times a day.  He even said I was more fun then school.  Which for Jack is a big deal!  I am actually looking forward to the summer break (which for me is a big deal!) 
• -William has started to adore Jack once more.  There were a few days there where it didn't look promising and Will kinda screamed like the world was over when Jack got close to him.  Now he thinks he hung the moon again thank heavens.
• -William shows signs of rolling over every now and again but changes his mind, which I'm totally fine with.  I want to suck up as much little baby time as possible after waiting so many years for his arrival.
• -Jack passed his swim test and is now in the last level before swim team (where I guess he has to be able to swim at least 6 lengths of the pool doing the crawl stroke without stopping).  He loves it while he's there but doesn't want to do swim team.  Zack really wants him to but I'm staying way out of this one.  I have enough of my own battles to take this one on :)
• -Went out on a kid-less date (thank you Dani and Sean). It was really amazing.  Just being in the car not worried that someone was going to loose it in the back seat was pure bliss.

This week:

• -Jack's first baseball game.  This kid takes Patriots losses hard....I hope he won't take his own team losses as hard (here's dreaming)
• -Zack's big work project is due.  He's working a ton.  Too bad its also my busy week at work.
• -Keep exercising.  I'm down to 20 pounds to lose.  Wow that sounds like a ton, but when I started with 80 to lose it seems less depressing.  If only my body could do pregnancy differently.

IE LI 

Last couple of weeks:

• Made new valances for Mei Li and Stephen's room.  I started making bunting for their room, but have not yet completed it.
• Tested out a new paint color for their bedroom, but Stephen protested.  With the new valances, the present paint color looks really great. So I probably won't change it after all.  Mi Na's room, though, is a different story.
• Nursed Mi Na back to health from her UTI.  It's so nice to see her happy again.
• Steve and the older kids went to see Jimmer in DC.
• Listened to much of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet.   I anticipated that it would be next month's book club book.  I'm not sure if  I'm right yet.
• Attended both sessions of stake conference.  All the talks were really excellent and I was very inspired.  Elder Scott gave a  talk on the sanctity of womanhood.  It was really great.   After stake conference, Steve whispered instructions into Stephen's ear to tell me nice things like "that smells delicious" and "thank you for all you do."  It was pretty funny, and it made Stephen totally embarrassed to say such mushy things.   
• Discovered these amazing lemon crinkle cookies.

This Week:

• Chore charts!  The kids did great the first day.  Let's hope they (I) can be consistent.  It's so hard to keep children on task!
• Library trip with Stephen today.
• Help out with Stephen's class during parent/teacher conferences.
• My friend Leanna arrives Saturday evening.  She and her little girl will be staying with us for a few days for some fun, including an Anne of Green Gables marathon.
• Do some mattress research.  I think that my hip is suffering because of our old mattress.
• Keep up with the housework.  
• Hang out with Ie Ling.  I really love having her with me everyday.

 CHRISTINE

Last Few Weeks (sorry this is probably going to be somewhat vague, I know it's been awhile since I sent an update in so I'm having a hard time remembering everything):

• A lot of work.  I'm in between clients now so things have slowed down, which is nice, but at the same time stressful since I feel like I should be busy with work.
• Loved having Annee and the girls come to visit and getting to celebrate their birthday at the American Girl store.  Sunday dinner at Steve and Ie Li's was the perfect end to the weekend.  
• Took the bus to Morgantown one weekend to hear Jon give a talk in church.  It was my first experience with taking the bus from DC to Morgantown and it was actually great.  The weather was super bad on my way up, tons of snow, so I was definitely glad I hadn't attempted the drive.  I even got to talk to a couple guys on the bus about the church which was pretty awesome.  I was eavesdropping (typical) on two guys sitting behind me as they were talking about religion.  Mormons were brought up and I bit my tongue as I heard one claim it was a cult, but as he started asking the other if he knew much about the religion, I knew I had to say something.  I admitted to having been listening to their conversation and that I was in fact Mormon.  At first they were very apologetic if they had said anything offensive, but then they continued to ask me all sorts of questions about it and what made us different from other Christians.  I talked to them for a good portion of the ride and it was really fun.  Ultimately nothing really came of it, neither of them came to church or anything, but I'm glad that I was able to at least give them a little more information.  
  
• Spent some good time with friends as one was leaving for Afghanistan for a few months.  We had Saturday brunch at Southside 815 which was amazing.  It's honestly my favorite place for breakfast, it never disappoints. 
  
• Went riding one Saturday.  I'm starting the search for a barn out here where I can ride a little more regularly.  This first one I tried probably won't end up working out, but it was still fun to at least get to ride and be around horses again for a little bit. 
  
• And... I got engaged!!  Valentine's day Jon ended up surprising me by coming to town.  I had been a little sad/mad throughout the day since I wasn't going to get to see him and I had basically just resigned to working late for the night.  With a little creative convincing that didn't give away the fact that he was in town, he convinced me that I needed to go home and there he was waiting.  Of course getting me home took longer than he had planned on, so most of his plans and reservations had already passed.  But we got to go out to dinner in Old Town Alexandria and I was thrilled to get to spend the evening together.  Since he had just surprised me a week earlier for the Super Bowl I really didn't think anything of the fact that he was surprising me and didn't assume that it had anything to do with him proposing.  But this time he did in fact propose, and after confirming that he wasn't joking this time, I said yes!  Date and plans are still TBD, thinking about all that stresses me out a little, but I know it'll all work out one way or another and I'm thrilled with it all!  
• Went to Morgantown another weekend to watch Jon participate in the cheer-off between the final four applicants for the Mountaineer.  He did amazing and everyone loves him.  If he doesn't get it there's something working against him in the whole process and it'll be tragic. 
  

This week:

• Try to find work to do.  My group at work has been a little slow and as I'm in between clients I have pretty much most of March open, which means I have to find something to do.  It's a little stressful.  You'd think I could just enjoy the fact that things are slow again, but I think it may be more stressful trying to find work.
• Try to remember what it means to exercise.    
• Go grocery shopping so I can stop eating out for every single meal. 
• The announcement for the Mountaineer is tonight.  I'm so nervous, I don't think I've ever been this nervous for anything. A lot depends on this.  Ultimately whatever happens will be for a reason, just need to remember that. 
  
• Maybe try to pick a date for our wedding?  That's probably a good thing to get nailed down so that all the other planning can get started.  Oh goodness, too much to think about.