Zirkers, Zirkers, Everywhere

Baby #7

2011-11-24T21:45:00.002-07:00

We welcomed a new baby girl into our home last Sunday Nov. 20th. Her name is Shelby Leona Zirker. She was 6 lbs 9 oz 20 inches. The kids are excited to have a new baby sister-especially Maura. She adores her.

Zirker Family reunion 2011

2011-09-20T10:21:00.000-06:00

Just thought you might want to check out some of the reunion pics.....it was lots of fun. I have tons more on my blog.......

Our Addition to the Zirker Name

2011-07-09T22:32:00.006-06:00

Riley Susan Zirker showed up on June 21st at 11:12 p.m. She weighed in at 7 lbs. 13 oz. and was 21" long.

Kimbre and I are enjoying some time off and are learning to function on 2 hour increments of sleep.

For the 4th of July we were lucky enough to have the day off together. We spent the day at the Richards' family lake cabin. Grandma Zirker put together this lovely little outfit, which Riley wore all day until a blowout up the back necessitated a wardrobe change.

Eve Leona Greer

2011-07-02T06:43:00.000-06:00

4 days old

8 weeks old

Eve Leona Greer was born on May 4, 2011 in Turkey. She weighed in at 7 pounds 15 1/2 ounces and was 20 onches long. Jamieson made me wait in the car in the hospital parking lot for 20 minutes to make sure this was really it. She was born 40 minuts after I walked into the hospital. Yes Jamieson, that was really it. To his credit we did go in the weekend before for false labor, so I wanted to wait as well. The girls are loving on her and we are having a blast. Come visit!

Baptism Photos

2011-05-17T13:37:00.000-06:00

Bailey Shay Hambrick is now 8 and ready to be baptized.

TWO NEW GRANDBABIES

2011-03-29T23:32:00.003-06:00

Thought it might be nice to include a picture of our two new grandchildren. Samuel Kenneth Limburg on the left and Teagan Elizabeth Richards on the right. We have enjoyed them so much and will have another one in May. We love you all!!

Alyssa Marie Zirker

2011-03-06T23:20:00.002-07:00

Alyssa was born on Jan 27 - Another girl for the Brant Zirker clan.

She Made It! (And so did we!)

2010-11-19T11:40:00.006-07:00

Teagan Elizabeth Richards added to the Zirker clan via one-step-down-from-emergency C-section on October 25th and we couldn't be happier...although more than 3 hours sleep at a time couldn't hurt things :)
That picture doesn't really do The Cheeks justice, so here's a bonus glimpse:At 10 days she was already a little chub. She's ours, allright!
We've survived our first 3 1/2 weeks (knock on wood) and are looking forward to the coming weeks, months and years. Wish us luck - we're new at this!

More Pics

2010-05-16T17:01:00.002-06:00

Here are some pictures I found on my camera today from Grandpa's funeral.

Grandpa's Funeral

2010-05-01T12:18:00.002-06:00

Just thought you might like a couple of pictures of Grandpa's funeral. At Brant's suggestion, we flew Grandpa's flag at 1/2 mast while we were all here. Many of the neighbors and ward members commented about it. There were some touching feelings as they drove by and saw it for the first time. They new that Grandpa's was gone.

I love this picture of the pall bearers. They are (left side) Erik, Seth (Lacey's husband), Matt, Kevin, Lacey, (Right side) Brant, (Travis - way in the back, I think Ty was back there too), Tara, Tiffany, Brandon, and Shawn. That's Eugene in the edge of the picture.

Another one for the Zirker clan.

2010-04-05T20:56:00.003-06:00

We had a wonderful time at Disneyland a few weekends ago, but ride-wise, this trip was a little more mellow than most, since there a lot of rides that:

That's right, after three and a half years of marriage and a year and a half of fruitless attempts, we finally figured it out.

I'm going to have a baby, folks!

I'm not quite ready to display the inside of my uterus on the world wide web just yet, but to satisfy your curiosity, Little Richards will debut in late October and looks a lot like a peanut at this point in time. When there's more to see, I'll let you know.

I will, however, give you a belly shot at nearly 12 weeks:
Did I fool you? Okay, nor am I ready to show you the belly that's just about the same size it has been since wedded bliss expanded my horizons (and measurements). When there's something to see, you'll see it. Until then, Buddy makes a great surrogate.

Buckle your seatbelts for a whole lot of chubby:

and even more cute:

This will be grandchild #13 on the Richards side, but wonderfully Grandma & Grandpa are just as excited as if it were the first... which is true for the Haw side of things. We're SO excited to make grandparents out of my parents (although - and my dad will confirm - they are too young to have grandchildren), aunts and uncle out of my siblings, and great-grandparents on both sides of my family! Talk about spoilage!

Thank you for all of your love and support. We couldn't be more excited!

Ivan Seth Jones

2010-03-16T19:08:00.002-06:00

In case you haven't heard, Ivan joined our family last month.
You can check out our blog for pictures and what not.
Take care!!!

Derby Cars

2010-02-07T22:25:00.003-07:00

I'm tired of looking at Kevin's family, so I thought I would throw these up for fun. Feel free to add shots of your own cars.

Brant

Kevin and Lisa's Christmas Letter

2009-12-20T23:47:00.001-07:00

We emailed this letter, but for those of you for whom we don't have email addresses, enjoy! To view a larger image: click on the image, then use "CTRL +" to zoom even more.

Braxton's Baptism

2009-11-01T21:58:00.003-07:00

Braxton had a great baptismal service. Thanks to all who participated and attended.

Trick...or treat?

2009-10-12T21:34:00.002-06:00

I think it's a treat, but I'm not in the video :) Enjoy!

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Hambrick Photos 2009

2009-09-26T15:34:00.000-06:00

Here we are trying to look like we get along. Another year has come and gone and we've grown older and wiser...and here are the pictures to prove it!

Our Recent Summer Vacation

2009-08-23T22:47:00.002-06:00

We recently went on a summer vacation through seven states (CO, WY, UT, ID, MT, WA & OR). Our trip brought us into contact with a lot of family members, some unexpectedly (see the picture of us with Clint and Jen on the BYU-Idaho campus). We also stopped at eight temples, including the Oquirrh Mountain open house. It was a great trip. Thanks to all who allowed us to visit with them. Kevin, Tiffany, Tara and Lacey's kids at Robinson Lake Park, outside of Moscow. I won't try to name them all. I remember seeing similar pictures about 25 years ago.

Summer fun. Braxton, Raya (crying), Koper, Weston and Kanyon. (Braxton and Kanyon get their muscular build and dark complexion from their dad).

BYU-Idaho campus: totally deserted on this weekend except for Clint and Jen.

You can see how excited our kids were to visit each temple.

Visit to the Homestead

2009-08-06T21:12:00.003-06:00

Our New Addition

2009-07-16T20:39:00.003-06:00

Maura Backlund Zirker was born on Sunday, July 12. She weighed 6 lbs. 12 oz. and was 19 inches long. She and Jaime came home Tuesday to join the rest of us on summer vacation.

trouble deciding what's for dinner?

2009-05-26T10:47:00.002-06:00

A friend and I recently started a cooking blog and I wanted to invite/persuade/encourage you all to go look at our delicious recipes! Most of them are pretty simple and fast (note-I said MOST. I do occasionally throw something tricky or a bit more lengthy on there. It's always worth it though). We make "normal" food, and foreign food, and side dishes, and lots of dessert and other stuff (click on the links...I'm trying to tantalize you with a sample of some of our favorites). Check it out!

http://twolittlechefs.blogspot.com/

What?!

2009-05-11T21:49:00.002-06:00

Kanyon said to Lisa the other day, "Hey mom, look, I'm a barber pole!"

The Do You Know? Game

2009-05-03T19:43:00.006-06:00

You can run, but you can't hide from the Zirker Clan...

After almost a year here in Vegas, Buddy's finally sitting down and getting to know some of the men in Elders' Quorum. We have more than a few Physical Therapists in our ward, and one of them happened to strike up conversation with Buddy today. He's planning to open up a clinic near Moses Lake, so Buddy threw out Warden. Turns out he grew up in Warden. So, naturally, Buddy mentioned the good Zirker name. And you can bet your bottom he knew Zirkers! He specifically mentioned Brant & Erik, so he may be around your age. Anyway, his name is Chris Cox...ring any bells? And while we're on the subject of people who know Zirkers, we had some wardmates from Provo move to Moscow for grad school last year. I can only assume that one or more of you have run into the Crandalls, and I was curious.

If you're not humming "It's a Small World" yet, feel free to start now.

Happy Easter!

2009-04-12T21:30:00.004-06:00

In case you forgot what the kids looked like. Lisa made the girls' dresses.

Hallee's Big Donation

2009-04-12T19:44:00.002-06:00

The blurry shot above shows how long Hallee's hair was previous to a week and a half ago. She was growing out her hair to donate to Locks of Love. Last Wednesday we returned home with 2 long pony tails to mail off.

It's Official

2009-04-10T10:06:00.001-06:00

Well as many of you know we were expecting that we would be having to move this summer. We have really enjoyed our time here in Omaha and have been sad about the prospect of moving. It is now official and I must admit we were really stunned when we found out but now we are pretty excited. We know we have to make the best of every situation that comes our way and we really think that we can enjoy the next five years of our lives. Now living in Omaha we didn't expect people to come and visit us but in this tropical paradise we better have a few more visitors. So any guesses???????? Drum roll please we are moving toooooooo Miami. All are welcome. We will let you know more details as they come our way.

My latest project that needs help...

2009-03-23T12:11:00.002-06:00

I entered this, my finished project into a felt food photo contest. WIll you please go vote for me!

http://www.buggabugs.blogspot.com/ Click the #13 bubble on the left side. Sorry if you're hearing this twice but I could really use the votes. I could win free patterns to make more felt food. it's an obsession right now!--Lisa

Who'll Break the Ice?

2009-03-16T00:26:00.003-06:00

This blog has been a little inactive for the last month so I thought we would post. Anyone out there aware that today is Lacey's b-day? I would have called her but I fell asleep on the bed around 8:30. Sorry Lacey.

Here are a few pictures.
This first one is of the new Ochre Hills temple in Herriman (or Riverton), Utah. We were out there last Sunday for Lisa's grandmother's funeral.

Braxton in the tree in our front yard.

Raya either smelled something funny or did something smelly.

Adria eating a cupcake at the school carnival.

Kanyon doing the same.

Take care ya'alls.

Just Some News

2009-02-15T20:45:00.004-07:00

How do you announce that you are going to have #6? We are looking for any suggestions. I guess you could post it on a family blog for all to read.

Our family is looking forward to welcoming a new addition in July.

Las Vegas

2009-02-15T19:37:00.003-07:00

The winter weather here in Provo sent us to Las Vegas last weekend in search for some sun. We went with cousin Amanda stayed with Brandon and Michelle. We did end up having one sunny day and we used it to take a look at the Hoover Dam (surprisingly enough we didn't find the Allspark, but we did find one very posh men's room in one of the towers on top of the dam). We did the usual, spitting off the dam and laughing at t-shirts with dam jokes on them. Brandon and Michelle were excellent hosts and we would recommend their very cold pool and very warm hot tub to anyone.

Hi from Moscow!

2009-01-09T17:05:00.009-07:00

I am really bad at this and the last time I tried to post to a blog I couldn't get a picture to load, so we will see how this goes. We had an awesome Christmas with our three daughters here and no sons. No, I don't mean that it was awesome because our two sons weren't here--I mean it was awesome because our three daughters were, but it would have been better if the sons had been here also. Anyway, it was a fun week full of baking gingerbread houses . . .

Christmas pageants that included stray animals such as tigers . . .

Playing with grandpa's new toys . . .

And meeting new friends . . .

Yes, Amanda brought Mat Taylor home for us to meet and as you can see we really made good use of him. He is a great babysitter and, as the kids learned, slightly ticklish. We thought he was great and can't wait to bring him back to Moscow when the weather is slightly less snowy. All in all it was a great holiday, and I have been sad to see it end. Hope you all had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

2008-12-30T18:30:00.003-07:00

I hope everyone is enjoying their winter as much as we are. North Idaho was hit pretty good the week before Christmas, and it hasn't let up much since.

Here is my patrol car after some of my co-workers got jealous on Christmas night when I wasn't working and they were.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-24T23:51:00.002-07:00

Merry Christmas from Wichita

Kevin Zirker Family Christmas Letter

2008-12-17T21:51:00.001-07:00

We're opting for electronic distribution of our Christmas letter this year. Hope you all have a Merry Christmas! [double-click on pages to view a larger image]

Family History

2008-12-14T16:57:00.002-07:00

Yesterday all the Provo cousins got together and made a trip to the temple to do some Zirker family sealings. Grandpa did all research (the hard work), Amanda orchestrated our schedules, and the rest of us showed up to be proxies. We spent about 2 hours doing work for family members from the 1600s to a 1920s Sagers relative. We all had a good time- Thanks to Grandpa for getting everything ready for those who have been waiting so long to become eternally linked together.

I'm sure Grandpa has piles more names if anyone's interested...

Tiz the Season...

2008-12-07T23:41:00.002-07:00

Kori makes a break for it, while Katie prays that it will soon be over!

Hambrick Kiddos!

2008-11-09T13:29:00.000-07:00

Here are the best of the best I could get of all the four kids. They were THRILLED to be posing for yet, another Christmas card!

Vote

2008-11-03T21:37:00.002-07:00

Don't forget to vote tomorrow. If you already have, good for you.

Grand Prize Winner

2008-10-25T19:53:00.000-06:00

Thank you family, friends and bloggers. Because of your votes, Jaden was the grand prize winner. His art will be put on a billboard next week. We are so proud of him and his talent. They told us that he had over 500 votes and that the next closest to him was 280. You guys rock the house. Thanks for your support. We love and miss you all. I'm so grateful to know that whenever we are in need, for something, anything, that we can rely on our family and they will always come through. I'm not worried now if we ever had a catastrophe, because if we stick together----we are large in numbers. Thanks again.

The Next Time You're in Byers, Colorado. . .

2008-10-19T21:56:00.002-06:00

. . . stop by May Farms. Our family went there this weekend and had a great time. I enjoyed it because it brought back some of the Zirker roots. We went through a corn maze, on a hay ride, rode on the colored carts (below), picked pumpkins, and had a great day.

A long line of these carts were pulled by a tractor (oh the smell of diesel).

Throwing rocks at the ducks (we didn't have any bread).

At this moment Adria is sitting on a bunch of thorns (check out the bottom of her shoes). Pampers do more than just hold jive.

Do our kids look like rural rugrats? The farm's pumpkin prices were a little high so we setttled for the small ones. We'll get "real" ones at Wal-Mart this week.

The end of a long day.

Jaden needs your vote!!

2008-10-11T18:54:00.000-06:00

Hello my fellow bloggers. I am in need of some voting power from all of you. My son Jaden entered an art contest and is in the top 3 out of all of 7th and 8th graders here in Omaha. But now it is up to you, the voters, to make him a winner. If he wins, he gets his drawing on a BILLBOARD (WOW) and $200.00. Please take a few moments and click on the link below to vote for Jaden. Thanks everyone! Here's the link: http://www.ketv.com/news/17662379/detail.html#*Tell your friends and family and anyone who is 18 or older. You can vote only once from a single e-mail address---so If you have more than one e-mail, make him a winner!

facebook and family history?

2008-09-28T09:26:00.003-06:00

About 1 year ago, I received a random friend request on facebook from a dude by the name of Steve Zirker. Usually I don't accept friend requests from people I don't know, but since this guy was British, I had to accept (I have an affinity for foreigners). Aside from occasionally sending me facebook junk, he never said anything to me...Until 3 days ago. And interestingly enough, he wanted to know about the Zirker family geneology. His grandfather moved from Germany right before WWII and originated from around the same general area that our Zirker family did. But both of us want to find out if we're really related (him because he wants to know about his family history, and me because I want to know if we have relatives, aside from Michelle's family, where we can stay for free in England).

Who would have thought that facebook would lead to discovering one's family history?

Cruisin' the Cougar Directory

2008-09-21T10:32:00.013-06:00

Buddy and I were just updating our information for the BYU Alumni Association (you know, should anyone be dying to find out what ever happened to the Richards in the five months it's been since we left Provo). With Buddy sitting beside me, naturally it turned into a search fest for everyone we've ever known or would like to have known (he spends a good portion of his time on Wikipedia & IMDB doing the same).

FACT: We are related to at least 51% of all Zirkers listed in the Alumni Directory.
FACT: Such was not the case with the Richards side.
FACT: Buddy is listed as Pre-Med, which hasn't been the case in over 3 years (incidentally it changed shortly after we began dating and I had told my father he was Pre-Med).
FACT: Steve Young is very difficult to track down.
FACT: We know the current location of this guy:

(whichever you know him best as)

And by "current location" I really mean an obscure address where he may or may not have lived at one time or another - there is a phone number if anyone wants to find out for sure.

To end the post on a slightly less creepy note: GO COUGS!If you're asking yourself if that's a mini BYU football helmet signed by Bronco Mendenhall himself, you'd be right. If you're also asking whether, based on our girth, this picture is outdated by about 3 years...you'd be right again.

Kent Zirker Family Reunion - Provo, Utah

2008-08-25T22:29:00.018-06:00

Grandma brought out all kinds of fun stuff
Our T-Shirts, Raya (Kevin & Lisa) and Weston (Seth & Lacey). The three stripes have every one's names written in smaller writing

The crew just before starting the hike to Timp Cave

Lunch in American Fork Canyon

A Couple of Bowling Pros

Brant, Leslie and family

Erik, Jamie and family (they couldn't make the reunion so they are modeling their shirts from Denver)

Kevin, Lisa and family

Travis and Kelly

Matt and Kimbre

Seth, Lacey and family

Big boys teaching small boys (and girls) to shoot 2 liter bottles of water up into the trees at Liberty Park in Salt Lake
Is this Heaven? No, its Promontory Point

Hope you didn't get bored with all the pictures. We had a great time, visited lots of sights, and ate way too much. Erik had to work and the kids had just started school so they couldn't be with us. We thought about them a lot.

It was fun to be in Provo, everyone had met their spouse at BYU. There were lots of memories and stories to go around. Most of the guys, except Grandpa, climbed to the Y one night about mid-night. Reunions and grandkids are great.

A break at the beach

2008-08-19T18:51:00.005-06:00

This month has been family packed so far with both the Kent Zirker reuinion (which I'm hoping someone else will post about because I missed half of the events due to the end of semester finals and grading and graduation and such at UVU) and Hill family vacation at the Outer Banks of North Carolina. It was a blast and I thought I'd post a few pictures.

Riding the waves with my sister and cousin.

T-rav kickin' in it the sun...or rather in the shade.

A view from the top of Currituck Lighthouse.

Baby #2

2008-07-21T15:34:00.003-06:00

About 6 months from now I am going to look like this:

That's what I am hoping for anyway. Baby #2 is expected to arrive around January 12th. Jamieson is hoping it comes 2 weeks early for the tax break, but we already played that game once. Noёlle is excited...we promise.

Eugene Zirker Family Reunion

2008-07-16T19:39:00.000-06:00

Here are a few pictures of the Eugene Zirker Family Reunion. We had so much fun getting together and letting all the cousins play and become friends. I think the final count was 35 of us it was also great to see Trav and Kelly. Thanks to Ryan and Jen for putting it all together.

WHO IS THIS CRAZY MAN???

2008-06-22T23:17:00.005-06:00

Just thought you all might like to see a picture of your grandfather (or great-grandfather) in all his glory. Yes, he is the one who started all this Zirker craziness, just by being born. We had him over for a going away Luau for Shawn and Annie as they left for Kentucky. Here he is with his Luau duds.If you look closely you can even see his Hawaiian name on his nametag. He actually showed up to the Luau without a costume, so we had to attire him for ourselves. He didn't argue too much. Here he is enjoying his meal of authentic, but modified, Hawaiian foods.

OK, so I wouldn't be a proper grandmother if I didn't include a picture of our grandchildren. I think I sat them all down and took their picture about ten times this summer saying, "This will be the last time all of you are together," but this really was the last time because Annie left the following morning. We won't have them all together again for quite some time. That is a sad thought for me, but I am so happy for Shawn and Annie who are settling in Kentucky as we speak!!

Kevin and Lisa Checking In

2008-06-22T21:51:00.003-06:00

Lisa has a friend who is a photographer. She asked her to take these pictures. They then gave them to me as a Father's Day present to show the "Many Faces of Kevin." I loved it!

Landscaper Kevin
Camper Kevin
Artist Kevin
Idaho Kevin

Jacob's Big Day

2008-06-19T23:13:00.006-06:00

We just wanted to share the great news--Jacob was baptized last Saturday! It was a wonderful program with Grandpa Richards talk about "Spud Day" and Uncle Blake's talk about getting lost in the furniture store. At least that is what Jacob remembered. My favorite part was the cousins singing "We'll Bring the World His Truth", Jacob's favorite song. (I didn't snap this in the middle of the baptism, it was just a practice run before it started!)

We can't forget about Jacob in his birthday suit . . . . or should I say a suit he got for his birthday. He was so proud to look like his Dad!

We were so pleased to have Great Grandpa there. We love you Great Grandpa!

What a wonderful day!

I'm not a doctor...

2008-06-01T23:02:00.002-06:00

I received this piece of goodness on Friday. Eight years, one husband, two kids, and three apartments later, I finally graduated from BYU!!! Aunt Brenda I think you're getting close too!?!

Ty's Baptism

2008-06-01T22:45:00.003-06:00

Yesterday, was Ty's baptism. I can't believe my little guy is already eight! We've got him started in Cub Scouts. Seems like that was me not too long ago.

Brant

Parker turns 7

2008-05-26T21:00:00.003-06:00

Here we are again with another birthday post. Parker turned 7 today and we had a little video game cake to celebrate.
Parker got lots of outdoor toys and MarioKart for the Wii. Thanks for all the cards and money. Troy and Jenee and kiddos came over to help celebrate. We love having them over.

Smile Zoie and Jenee (or just Jenee)
Here is the most adorable little guy ever, Ryken, as he enjoys a little ice-cream. Happy birthday Parker.

My little family

2008-05-25T20:51:00.003-06:00

Here is the latest picture of our family. Ty-8 (on Friday), Aimee-5, Katie-2, Kori-9 months

Brant

Bailey Shay turns "5"

2008-05-04T17:19:00.002-06:00

We spent three days celebrating our little girls' birthday. The first celebration was at her school. She took some "Hello Kitty" cookies to her class. She was all decked out in "Hello Kitty" earrings, necklace and a bracelet.
The second celebration was on her actual birthday (the 2nd). We had a family birthday party with lots of pink wrapping paper and girly toys.
The third and final celebration was on Saturday. She invited her whole class at school and at church and her niece and nephew. We had 17 kiddos running around the house helping Bailey bring in #5!I made her a 2 tiered Hello Kitty cake and while I was making it Bailey said, "Why are you making me a wedding cake?" Apparently she doesn't realize how big turning "5" is. We had pink marshmellows, pink cookies, pink kisses, pink ice cream(you get the picture).

Make a wish Bailey. (She wished for a My little pony birthday for next year). Thanks for the card Aunt Tami and for the gifts mom and dad, and for Troy's family coming and supporting us ( we love you and love that we live so close).

Morgan

2008-04-28T21:00:00.002-06:00

Our baby girl was born on April 19, 2008 at 7:25 pm. She weighed 7 lbs 3 oz and was 19" long. Her name is Morgan Zirker. We are so thrilled that she finally decided to join us here in UT and she seems to be excited to be here. Both Morgan and Diana are doing well and Ryan could not be more proud of his little girl.

Gavin turns "10"

2008-04-12T20:12:00.002-06:00

Gavin wanted to take some of his friends to the movies this year so I decided on a "movie" theme. Hence the large tub- of -popcorn cake.
Troy, Jenee, Trey, Zoie and Ryken came to help celebrate. Thanks for all the gifts and cards(Tami) and $$$.
If you must know what he wished for, it was a .................laptop and cable in his room. (Of course)
Baby Ryken enjoying the yummy ice-cream treat. He's 5 months old now.
Bailey and Zoie eating their yummies.

Viva (University of Nevada) Las Vegas!

2008-03-31T17:28:00.004-06:00

It came to my attention yesterday that we haven't been great about publicizing our latest good news:

WE'RE MOVING TO LAS VEGAS!

Brandon was accepted to UNLV's Doctorate of Physical Therapy Program, starting in June. Don't be upset if you hadn't heard anything about this, it only became official today when Brandon mailed off the "Thanks, but no thanks" to the University of Kentucky (much to Shawn & Annie's chagrin...sorry!) We're currently looking for housing and I'm "looking for a job"...Buddy tells me that as long as I make a profit by the time we leave, I can just hit the tables and forget the 9-5. We'll see. We're looking into 2 bedroom places and there are no Little Richards in sight (we'll save that for another post in the future) so come on down and see us!

Spring Breakin'

2008-03-30T21:59:00.004-06:00

This week was Spring Break. Les decided to get the kids' energy out in a positive manner- so they headed to a local amusement center. (I spy Tyler- do you?)

On another note, thanks for all the posts on this blog and your own personal blogs. We love reading about your families and especially the pictures. G&G have done such a great job of keeping us all connected, I hope we can keep it going.

Have a great week!

Brant

Easter has come

2008-03-23T12:56:00.005-06:00

For some reason I'm unable to post pictures today (probably because I've gone unpublished for so long) anyways , I updated our 'other' blog spot for even more fun. So until I can re-figure this out take a look at some good ol' fun.(wwwittakesavillage.blogspot.com)

Sweet Home Alabama

2008-03-15T17:07:00.004-06:00

Just in case you have missed us, here we are. Okay, here Noëlle is. She misses you too and wants you to know that there are not one, but TWO spare beds in her room, if anyone wants to come and visit Sweet Home Alabama. We promise to provides fried green tomatos and okra of some kind. If that isn't enough, I think they have bronzed the actual bus that Rosa Parks wouldn't move to the back of and I think you can get in it and sit wherever you want: back, front, even the driver's seat. What I am saying is, Montgomery is not to be missed. Neither is Robert E. Lee High School located on Rosa Park Avenue. We love the South.

The future Dr. Richards doing what he does best...

2008-03-15T14:31:00.003-06:00

Washington State T-shirt: $20
Maroon Furniture Center Recliner: $350
Nap: $20/hour in lost wages
Taking a nap wearing a Washington State T-shirt in a Furniture Center recliner with your child: Priceless
Taking a nap wearing a Washington State T-shirt in an Furniture Center recliner with a different child and having pictures of both incidents documented for posterity on the extended family blog: Public humiliation.

One of These Things is Not Like The Other...

2008-03-13T00:38:00.002-06:00

I thought you all might like a little riddle. "One of these things is not like the others. One of these things just doesn't belong." Can you tell which one of these people is not like the others? I know it is hard, but try.
We sure enjoy having Grandpa here to celebrate birthdays. Thanks Dad, for being such a good sport. I just wonder where all the other adults were at this time. We must have gone to the mall!

You Haven't Heard From Us In Awhile

2008-03-02T22:20:00.001-07:00

We're still here.

GRANDPA IN HIS SECOND CHILDHOOD!

2008-02-28T23:01:00.003-07:00

Just thought you all might want to see a picture of your grandfather as he reverts back to his second childhood. This picture was taken Sunday afternoon as I was trying to get dinner on for all of us. We peeked into the living room and there sat Grandpa quietly reading his Dr. Seuss. He seemed to be quite enthralled with the story and we gave him a bad time about it. I figured after all the pictures he has shared with us in them, we owed him one. We love you Grandpa!!!

"...preach the gospel to every creature." - Mark 16:15

2008-02-16T12:03:00.004-07:00

We got this picture from Hermana Richards this week and I couldn't help but post it. (Sorry you've heard from me so much lately). She inspires me in so many ways, but most recently she's inspired me not to cry about the tiny spiders that frequent our apartment. It took Buddy & I a few minutes to realize that the world's largest bug is actually on Manda (shudder).

OUR NEW ADDITIONS

2008-02-13T11:10:00.003-07:00

Just thought you might enjoy seeing a picture of our latest two arrivals. And as you can see, they love to have their pictures taken. For those who are colorblind, Jessa is on the right and Landon is on the left. (I am going to blackmail them with this photo when they get older. )
I think they are mad because I bought them matching outfits and they don't like it. (Maybe when they turn sixteen we can get them matching convertibles--just kidding. )

Happy Valentines Day to all!!

I still love to see the temple.

2008-02-10T13:18:00.000-07:00

I have the opportunity to teach a Relief Society lesson on temples a few times within our Stake here at BYU. It's been a real blessing to have the temple on my mind as of late. I had my best temple experience to date when I attended focused on the blessings promised us from faithful temple service.

While all this is lovely, I have some fun little tidbits to share with all you Zirkers. I started the lesson off asking the sisters to remember singing "I Love to See the Temple" in Primary, or when they first learned about the temple from friends or missionaries. I wanted them to remember how excited and enthusiastic they were about the temple at that point in their lives. Some of us lose that feeling of excitement and don't attend as much as we could, even with the temple here in Provo less than five minutes away. To remind them (and make them laugh) I shared some quotes from Primary children found in a sharing time from a few years ago about why they love the temple. Brandon & I were curious as to what our nieces & nephews might say if asked "Why do you love the temple?" So, we asked them. I won't share who said what, in order to protect the innocent (and hilarious) but it was neat for us and especially for their parents to see what they're learning:

"The temple makes it so that we can be together as a family forever."
"I love the temple because you get married in it to be sealed there forever and because it's Jesus and Heavenly Father's house."
"I like the temple because we're sealed there."
"I love the temple because it's special. Jesus lives there and we can go there."
"I don't know, I forgot."
"Cause Mommy & Daddy got married there. It's pretty, there's a tall thing on the top."
"My feelings for the temple run deep. Knowing that my parents were married for time and all eternity in the House of the Lord lends me the greatest sense of peace imaginable."(Yes, there's a prodigy in the Richards line)
Several children were napping and could not be reached for comment.

I thought these were really sweet, and parents told me it was really enlightening and reassuring to know that their children are indeed learning things from Family Home Evening and Primary. It might be fun for other parents to try...I know a few of you would get some great little nuggets of wisdom.

(This is a picture taken the day I went through the temple for the first time. A recent storm had resulted in poor Angel Moroni being struck by lightning and charred on one side. He's been fixed since.)

Hey Cousins!

2008-02-03T20:18:00.001-07:00

Hello from some of the Denver Zirkers. Its good to see that all is well with your family. What do you do in your free time? We're looking for some ourselves.

Erik

Merry Christmas--A few months late!

2008-02-02T22:55:00.000-07:00

We really meant to send out a Christmas card this year. We even got as far as taking the picture--It just never quite evolved into a Christmas card. So we hope you all had a Merry Christmas. We send you all our love--Ben (1), Meg (3), Emma (5), Jacob (7) and Eric and Tara, too.

Is It Still Winter?

2008-02-01T22:54:00.000-07:00

We finally decided to buy a snowblower but alas there is not one to be found.

This is Seth and Lacey's little boy Weston (and Seth)

We just had a major snow storm blow through our area. Marty only taught one day this week and on Thursday and Friday they closed Washington State University and the University of Idaho. Today we are digging out and life is returning to normal.

We are enjoying life in Northern Idaho and anxiously awaiting the return of summer when we will all complain about the heat.

Hope you are all well and happy. Keep blogging - we love to hear about your families.

Oakley

2008-01-13T14:19:00.000-07:00

No tax refund this year. Our little one decided to come on January 3rd, 2008. Oaklely was born at 2:02 Am and weighed 9 lbs 6 oz, 21 ½ in long. She's a capricorn, has dark hair and likes biking. Both Camille and Oakley are doing well and Camden and Kota are in love with little sister. It's amazing that something that precious can be half mine. She is the latest of our greatest inventions. We hope all is well with everyone!

A Little Taste of Cop Work in North Idaho

2008-01-10T08:17:00.001-07:00

Last Saturday, while I was asleep, our day shift guys got to respond to a pretty interesting call. The story has now been picked up by some national news websites and talk radio programs. No I wasn't there, but I did get to see the pictures afterward.

Here is a link to the story at FoxNews.

Koper's Blessing

2008-01-06T21:20:00.000-07:00

We blessed Koper today at church. Thanks everyone who was able to make it, we really appreciated you being there.

Peace on Earth

2007-12-30T20:03:00.000-07:00

We have been up in Moscow visiting my folks. The weather has been perfect! We made it safely and then as soon as we arrived, the snow started dumping. The kids have had a lot of fun playing in Grandpa and Grandma's backyard. The other day we made a snow fort and shot the first picture. I like to call it "The lamb and the lion shall lie down together." I think as soon as we finished building, they were back to killing each other. The other is just a cute shot of Katie learning the family trade.

Have a great new year! (Great in O-8! Ha Ha, I kill me!)

Brant

I wanted to be the first one to wish you all a Happy New Year!

2007-12-30T19:56:00.000-07:00

2011!

I'll be home for Christmas

2007-12-16T18:53:00.000-07:00

First of all- school is out! Whoohoo! I've given exams, turned in final grades (having the happy opportunity to fail some of my more rotten students) and listened to the Mo-Tab Christmas concert (thank you Leslie!), which means it's finally Christmas time! And to top it all off, I leave tomorrow morning for NY, where Trav and I will be spending Christmas break with my family. Christmas at my house is a different experience than Christmas with the Zirkers (though both are equally enjoyable). It's much louder (hard to imagine, I know), much more chaotic, and involves stops for dinner at the house of every relative within 30 miles (which can be surprisingly unpleasant when you're forced to eat several plates full at each stop). But anyway- Trav and I were just wondering where (if anywhere) you all were going for Christmas? Do you have any coolies family traditions that you want to share?

Iowa Zirkers Checking In

2007-12-11T20:51:00.000-07:00

Here we are - just the three of us. We didn't want you to think we'd vanished off the face of the earth. But we did wait so long that Marlo had to post this under her account. So, Kelly, we will be needing another invite to the blog. Thank you and wish us luck in our future postings.

Noëlle Loves You All

2007-12-11T00:00:00.000-07:00

Feast your eyes on this...

2007-12-10T19:52:00.000-07:00

In response to T-Rav's request for old pictures, I couldn't help but post this beauty. Of course, I'm not in it, so I have no qualms about putting this out there for all to see. If anyone passionately objects, just let me know and I'll take it down. I just thought it was so sweet! T-Rav, you've probably seen this one before, but I hope it satisfies your need for old pictures for a day or two.

Enjoy!

It's A Small World After All

2007-12-05T21:54:00.000-07:00

Diana and I went to the Mt. Timpanogos temple tonight to do sealings and our sealer was a former stake president in Moscow, ID. Brother Tovey said that he new the Moscow Zirkers well. He gave his best wishes to Grandpa, Kent & Marty, and all the Zirker kids. He even shared a story about when Brant went on a date with his daughter. Since Brant didn't have a license, she drove and Brant fell asleep on the way home. There was no second date. Awesome.

Miss Rosey Cheeks!

2007-12-02T22:45:00.000-07:00

Friday night was Denver's downtown Christmas parade. Katie had fun watching the parade from the top of a step ladder. She watched the whole parade from there and would not come down. No fear of heights for her.

Brant

Calling all old pictures

2007-12-01T15:26:00.000-07:00

Hear Ye! Hear Ye! If anyone out there has anymore old pictures like the one posted recently by my father, please post them. I'm not sure if it's seeing myself as a small child or if it's the swim suit fashions that pull me in but I enjoy my daily dose of old pictures. So please, don't hold back and post your best shot.

Happy Birthday Kelly!

2007-12-01T11:06:00.001-07:00

A valuable lesson was learned last night: don't get on Kelly's bad side. Unfortunately, poor Sharptooth had to learn that lesson the hard way. The poor prehistoric creature was smashed to pieces in mere seconds once Kelly's blindfold was removed. The incident was documented for future reference, should this happen to an unsuspecting victim in the future. Watch out, T-Rav! But seriously, we hope you had a great birthday, Kelly!

Do You Remember When?

2007-11-25T21:59:00.000-07:00

Eugene, Kent and Chuck - look at those tans!!

The "fort" in our back yard at Warden

Here are a couple of fun pictures. Does anyone recognize themselves? I don't think the adults have changed a bit!!!

Hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving.

Kent & Martha

The Mighty Hunter

2007-11-25T20:47:00.000-07:00

While out in Utah for Thanksgiving, we went shooting one day with Travis. Luckily, Tyler had a rifle ready because we were attacked by a wild pumpkin.

Brant

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas...

2007-11-25T10:03:00.000-07:00

This year, like every other year since I can remember, the day after Thanksgiving (instead of hitting the malls to fight for tickle me elmo or the latest x-box) we went over to our local Smith's to pick up a tree. We had a lovely Thanksgiving (Diana cooked up a fantastic feast) with Ryan, Diana, Clint, Jennifer and one of Ryan's friends. The food was plentiful and the infamous puzzle that's been sitting on the corner table was almost done by the time we left (Jen, did you finish it??).

Last night we went up to Salt Lake with Brant, Leslie, children and all of Leslie's family to see the lights. Although it was freezing cold, we enjoyed stealing parking spots (it was legitimate because we had cones, right?), eating at the half-opened food court at the ZCMI mall, and sneaking pictures of the wedding party at the Joseph Smith memorial building (the bride's colors were just what my sister is looking for). Trav's favorite tree was the one that looked like it had black lights on it. My favorite is always the multi-lingual luminaries.

(sorry to deceive you all- this picture is actually from 2 years ago, since we neglected to take any pictures of our tree decorating this year. But the same people were there this year...)

Addresses

2007-11-19T09:53:00.001-07:00

Can everyone please comment on this post by putting in your address for Christmas cards. Hopefully this will save everyone a little time if we only have to look in one place. I'll start...(check the comment!)

HOLD STILL!!!

2007-11-18T22:51:00.000-07:00

While we will never reach cousin Stacy fame and have our Christmas cards arrive the day after Thanksgiving, we are improving. We actually have the cards printed and sitting on the fridge. I wonder how long they will sit there before we get the courage to address all of them?

Brant

2007-11-16T09:16:00.000-07:00

True to Zirker form, the power tools came out to carve this year.
Here we have an Erik, Laura Ingalls, Batman, and the witch. Korbin just wanted to be his dad, and can you believe that brown dress was one of my favorites as a kid.
Retts first Halloween.

Koper Has Arrived!!!

2007-11-14T17:29:00.000-07:00

We just wanted to let everyone know that Koper joined our family last Thursday on Grandpa's birthday! We're having fun adjusting to two kids. Hope you all are doing well. I love seeing pictures of all your families. It's been fun to see how all the families are growing!

Take care!

I Spy: an RV

2007-11-11T23:03:00.000-07:00

A free box of left-over Dots to whoever spies "it" first.

2007-11-11T22:57:00.000-07:00

So, the Kent Zirker family has a fun little game on their blog called "I Spy." I thought I would try it out here, since we now have a nice inventory of photos from which to pull. It's just like the kids game. I'll mention an item hidden in one of the photos (chosen only from the current display page). When you find it, leave a comment on this blog, alluding to the answer (or photo) but don't give it away directly. The fun is in the searching and the "announcing."

This week, I spy "Sponge Bob Square Pants."

Happy Hannukah...I mean Halloween

2007-11-11T21:24:00.000-07:00

Here we are checking in, celebrating pagan holidays and more. Noëlle dressed up as a flower, a daisy to be exact. She did not get to eat any of her candy....not even the Snickers that one man highly recommended for a baby her age. I guess he forgot about those peanuts. Anyhow, I took all her candy with me to give her dad in Luxembourg (the country Darrick). For those of you who don't know, Jamieson has been clerking for the Czech judge in the European Court of Justice since September and he will return home a few days before Christmas. While he is away, Noëlle and I have been living with my parents in Iowa. It was either that or bumming free meals from Diana's parents, so we chose the former.

Here is a picture of Jamieson and I ice skating in Luxembourg when I visited him last week. When he returns, he will go on active duty in the Air Force as a JAG. I am not yet sure if we will get our own TV show, but I hope so. I sure would like to have someone come style my hair everyday and choose my clothes. Until then, I will just rely on Noëlle's opinion. We don't know where we will be stationed yet, so stay tuned.

Here is our sweet pumpkin that won the ward pumpkin carving contest.

Isn't Noëlle cute?

Halloween

2007-11-11T17:15:00.001-07:00

Grandma Zirker helps carve pumpkins

Minnie made by my own hands!!
The clan at the patch
Our costumes

Cousin Stacy Figures it out!!

2007-11-11T16:35:00.000-07:00

Bailey as Minnie Mouse

Cheese

2007-11-11T15:31:00.000-07:00

This is what our family does on sunday afternoons while daddy is still at the church. Luckily the kids think taking pictures is a fun thing to do.

Happy Birthday Great Grandpa--One Day Late!

2007-11-09T22:07:00.000-07:00

We just wanted to wish you a very happy birthday. How fun that new little Koper shares the same birthday as his great grandpa. Now that's something special. We love you!

Love, The Limburgs

HAPPY BIRTHDAY G-PA!

2007-11-08T23:13:00.000-07:00

It's probably past your bedtime...it's way past ours. But we wanted to squeeze in a happy birthday message before it isn't your birthday anymore: HAPPY BIRTHDAY. We hope you had a good one.

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

2007-11-08T18:35:00.001-07:00

I believe this year makes 86! Thats not too shabby. Here's a picture of one of my good memories. Shooting guns at the old house in Warden. The best part was Grandpa burning down the weeds with a milk jug full of gas and a match he lit off of his pants.
I hope you have a great birthday and many more to come!