Zenz Life: October 2008

1982

Our friends Garret and Shauna were both born in 1982, so they threw themselves an authentic, straight-out-of-the-early-80's party. Guests were invited to dress accordingly. We all obliged. Happily.

Shauna, Mandy and I heart big and/or feathered bangs.

Ah, my soul mate.

Maura and Marc, newlyweds-to-be!

Working it: Kat, Aubrey, Brittany, Maura, and Marc...and Niles in the background.

Two words: Awe. Some.

We just can't get enough of the wildernesss! On the night of A's birthday, we camped out with some close friends and had a marvelous time. We all decided we could do it every weekend, or at least one weekend a month. If only the rest of life didn't get in the way...

Nice shooting, A.

The beautiful Brittany.

The pensive Garret.

Garret through the profile of his beloved Aubrey.

Aubrey being very, very serious.

M also being very, very serious.

Working hard gathering wood chips.

A, Ian, and Jonathan around the morning campfire.

Did you need any dirt? Because I have a lot.

I am She-Ra, Princess of Power.

Andy Zenz Is 31, and So Is Baskin Robbins

For A's 31st, I got veeeery creative and took him to Baskin Robbins, home of...wait for it...31 flavors. Yes, I know. Genius. We actually had to leave town for the adventure, which is quite unheard of for this walking/biking/maybe-driving-across-town-if-we-absolutely-have-to family. All in all, we had a lovely, goofy celebration together.

Happy 31st Birthday, best friend. I love you. Your girls love you. You are more than we could ask for.

This. Is. Awesome.

We really gotta work on the whole "natural smile" thing.

Kindred, kindred, kindred.

Tongues Are Cool

E the eleven-month-old and her eleven-month-old tongue. Good buddies.

Fully extended. Watch out, Gene Simmons.

Sweet Dreams

M and E's cousin G turned eight in July, and we decided to make her a special pillowcase. We used Lotta Jansdotter's pillowcase project from her book Simple Sewing, a current crafty favorite of mine. Here 'tis! We love you, G.

E inspects the package innards before they head to the post office.

Fun pocket for G, who's declared it her tooth pocket (smart girl).

G busts a move this summer during a family dance session.

G teaches E the finer points of walking.

July Wrap-Up

After all our traveling, we were able to squeeze in some time with friends and another family camping trip before july came to a close. What a great month it was!

Fabulous spontaneous visit with Don and Joni while our dear friend Ashley and her sister Alexa were also visiting. Glad you could be there, too, Niles. Here's to the Dale!

Back to the life of camping. It's quickly becoming a family favorite.

Happy, happy girl at one of our playgroups in July.

adventures in ireland

while the girls and i were visiting the fam, a headed to ireland for two weeks. he went with a group of people from our church to help run a camp for a week. afterward, he was able to do a little backpacking, which was a dream come true for him. here are some of his memories...nestled among some amazing photographs.

a and his backpacking buddies, ryan and ian

that little speck at the bottom right corner is their tent!

um, fall is here

so...apparently july, august, and september were busy months for us as well. dear me, how did i lose touch with the blogging world so easily? sad, sad, sad. anywho, better late than never, i suppose. i'll start with one little event at a time, and slowly but surely, you'll be updated!

here's the first set of photos: our memories from a two-week vacation. the girls and i visited d and c and had a glorious few days together. then we visited a and her fam. i captured some video footage of both visits, but only have photos from our time in san fran (thanks to a). one day, when i edit some video (which i haven't done since before e was born over a YEAR ago), i'll be able to share some of our time with d and c, too.