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

. . . 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!!

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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???

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

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

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...

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

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

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

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

Brant

Bailey Shay turns "5"

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).