Zimmer Family

Breyers Ice Crean, Bar-S Franks and Betty Crocker

2011-07-02T08:52:00.004-06:00

Hey Junkies,

Happy Independence Weekend!! It's been a little while but here are some good deals for you this week:

Albertson's:

Breyers is on sale for 2/$5 on. You can get printable coupon from here, so you have to purchase at least 3. Final price: 4/$9.

Broulim's:

Bar S franks 1/$0.88. Coupon here for $1/2, final price $0.76/2 or $0.38/1.

FYI Betty Crocker has their new monthly coupons available to print. It's worth registering with them in order to print them.

The Basement

2010-08-03T10:22:00.011-06:00

Well, we have been anxiously (and at times not so anxiously) engaged in finishing the great room of the basement. It's done but we don't have the flooring in yet and the rest of the basement remains unfinished though the hardest part left will be the bathroom. Thanks to Brian Hadlock without whom we would not have finished when we did! So, here's a photo line up of our progress and for all of you contractors out there, I don't want to hear about how we did it wrong, etc:

We actually started with bare walls, so this is a framed it.

This is the framing with insulation and a vapor barrier

This is the sheet rocking stage and the sheet rock jack pictured may have saved our marriage

Mud, tape and texture. You like the built in speakers?

Painting. This is the screen for our projector.

Yes I did help with each phase of the basement

All finished complete with old dorm furniture

Summer Fun

2010-06-24T09:16:00.013-06:00

Well we started the summer off with a trip back home to visit family and friends. We had a lot of fun. The kids LOVE playing with their cousins and I loved seeing my sisters (what's up Tom?) and hanging out. Idaho is a long way from home.

Summer's finally started and we're trying to make the most of it. Here are just a few pictures of our exploits. I'll get some basement pics up soon so you can see how we're doing! In the meantime, we're having fun and playing a lot!

These boots were made for walkin'

Too much fun for these cousins

It's pretty cute. These two are best friends when they're together. Aiden kept asking, "Where's Sophie?" when we came home.

After walking around Old Town

Sophie wanted to sleep anywhere she could find

While there the lighthouse was open and it occurred to me my kids have never been inside or to the top, so we did both and boy was it exciting (not really but you know now I can say we've done it)

I'm not really sure what happened here all I can tell you is that this used to be a little toddler that called me 'Maime' and somewhere along the way she's become this beautiful young woman who's horribly moody and growing waaaaaay to fast

This is Adrienne's baby Oscar, she worked hard and earned the money to buy him and they are pathetically inseparable. As a side note, he hates my boys because they like to terrorize him

One of the few times Oscar wasn't hiding and shivering under the bed

At the beach

A few of Aiden's sleeping habits

Yes, he's asleep like that this was at a rest area on the way home

Can you guess why it's so hard to dissolve nap time? Because I think he's partly narcoleptic

The House's Transformation

2010-04-09T22:26:00.015-06:00

Ok, we're finally up and running so I thought I'd post some before and after pics to give you an idea of what we're doing and what we've done to the house. They are in no particular order...

Living Room Before:

Just so you can see the difference, here is the ceiling partially painted with the new white...

Living Room After

Dining Room and Kitchen Before

Can you see the two tones of paint? The kitchen and dining room are different colors

Here's the old hardware up close, it's through the entire house

Here's the living room furnished (thanks Kelly and Joe for the new table)

Kid's Bathroom (new lights and hardware)

That's all for now because I'm tired...but look for more, we still have can lights, etc to put up...

Our Kids

2010-03-12T13:11:00.006-07:00

Here are just a few pictures of the kids being kids we thought you'd like. They are so silly and wonderful and funny:

Yes, he's asleep in the toy box...

On the top bunk

Caught stripping

Ready for school

Aiden's New Disorder(s)

2010-03-05T07:39:00.015-07:00

Aiden has recently been diagnosed with a case of exhibitionism, which we are trying to handle by avoiding public outings and engagements. Note the clothes in a pile next to him in this picture.

Recently he's been diagnosed with a new and strange disorder. It seems he's suffering from a rare non-genetic problem which we've lovingly dubbed, 'CGWD.'

That's right, Compulsive 'Glub' Wearing Disorder is no laughing matter. Look at the shame he feels because of what he's suffering with.

The combination of the two disorders is almost more than we can bare to live with. That's why we're reaching out to family and friends so we can educate people on this little known problem.

He's even started to hoard what are my two, poor, other children to do if they want to play outside in the snow?

It's so bad that if he can't find glubs he resorts to whatever he can find.

Usually socks

He will shed his glubs on occasion for things that may be difficult to perform with glubs on

Is there any hope for him?

We will not rest until we find a cure, but until then we'll just say,

Hooray for Glubs!!

Our New Home on Oaktrail

2010-02-20T21:07:00.010-07:00

Basement view from the stairs (future great room)

Other side of the basement (future bedrooms)

Down to the basement

Master bedroom and bath

Ila's bedroom (sorry... it's dark)

Isaac's bedroom

This is the kid's bathroom

Hall (on the right is a bedroom, linen closet, and another bedroom, on the left at the end is the master)

Aimee's kitchen

Here is the family room looking from the dining room

So we are under contract on a house on Oaktrail. Here are a few pictures of the place. We signed papers and spent about 2 hours over at the house today with Daniel and Cat. We will put up more as we get closer to closing (March 31st.)

Ila Turns 6

2010-02-01T05:33:00.004-07:00

Well, it's been awhile and I have no real excuse as to why I don't blog as much as I could, but hey, better late than never right?? Well, yesterday was Ila's sixth birthday. In talking with Jason I asked him if he realized that next year she'll be in first grade and Isaac will be in kindergarten. He didn't want to talk about it. It's hard to admit that your children are growing so quickly. Yesterday I looked at three of them sitting in the pew at church and I realized just how fast they are growing. For example, our little girl got an "MP and 3" player for her birthday, really at six? She says things that amaze me, the observations she makes, the way she reads already, AMAZING!!! She is the smartest little girl ever, she is beautiful and has the biggest heart. We love her and are so grateful that she is a part of our life!

Halloween in Rexburg

2009-11-01T14:56:00.013-07:00

Costumes

Ila was Bat Girl, Isaac was Spider Man, and Turtle was a doctor!

Lights Out!

We put orange LED lights along the roof line, orange lights on the bushes infront of the house, and pumkin walkway lights up to the front door. The street lights are on the corner, so our yard gets pretty dark.

Bone Yard

Here is the bone yard. We made most of these tombstones along with the coffin. The coffin opened and closed by a motor I rigged in the bottom of the coffin. I placed a skeleton inside along with a black light. It was awesome!

Wendy the Witch

We built this witch out of a 4x4 post and a pool noodle. It looked great, but the wind took off her head three times. I'm not sure if this one will make to next year. It did have a motor in the caldron that moved the handle around and around. It was pretty cool with the lights and fog machine in the caldron.

Aimee made the tombstone with the misting skull on top. We used sheets of the 1 inch foam from Lowes. It looked great once it was painted gray. We cut out the word BEWARE and placed orange LED lights inside for an eerie glow.

Giant Spider

We put our inflatable spider up in this tree. Fuzzy pic, sorry. This looked great, you could see it from down the street.

Spider's Web

The pic is a little fuzzy, but this is a web we made to hang between out neighbor's trees. We added a few giant spiders and a severed hand in the middle. I made a light box and placed it under the web so you wouldn't walk into it.

Here is our clearance steal from last year. K-Mart had this thing 90% off, and we picked it up for a around $15. Ila's school asked us if they could use it for their school Spook Alley, of course we set it up for them. He sits about 8' tall.

New Addition this year! This little witch stands about 50" tall and waved her left arm up and down. Nice little addition to the walkway.

Creepy Creeper

We hung this guy from the trees, his creepy cloth hung down about 8 feet. We stuck a flood light on him and lit him up. The only problem with this guy was the wind. Every time the wind blew his cloth would bet stuck in the tree. Pretty cool though.

Mr. Bone Jangles

Notice the hands in the hip! Just another glow in the dark skeleton.

Harvest 2 years ago

2009-10-26T21:10:00.009-06:00

As requested, I posted some pictures from harvest last year and a snow picture.

Aiden Turns -2-

2009-09-19T21:42:00.008-06:00

Well, today was the big day. Our youngest has officially turned two. It's a bittersweet age. He has so much to experience, so many things ahead for him, so much for him to do; and yet, still soo many tantrums to throw. At Stake Conference tonight there was a young couple in front of us with one child they were struggling to get to sleep. I almost leaned forward and said, "You know this is the easy part right?" Anyhow, we did a Spongebob party because he LOVES Spongebob. He got a Spongebob bed set, jammies, and movie. His favorite gift though was from Rachel and Tyler, the smarties!!

We had a small family party and we were very fortunate that Aiden's great Aunt Jeanne and Jackie were in town so they came and joined us for the festivities. It occurred to me today that my kids are so lucky to know their great aunts, uncles and grandparents. Rachel, Tyler and Jacob also came to celebrate with us and of course, I didn't get any pictures of them.

Not the worst cake ever but not the best either. This one was a checkerboard of blue and yellow with lemon filling between each layer.

Dan and Cat came too and this was during the singing. Nana and Poopa joined in via the webcam.

He is such a cute little boy and we love having him in our family. We look forward to many more adventures to come.

Ode to Aiden

2009-09-12T21:58:00.003-06:00

Aiden turns two next week, so in honor of him I have prepared the following prose (please bear in mind that I am not a poet):

It does not seem that long ago when on that September day,

God graced us with a little boy and no crying came our way.

A happy child, he'd prove to be so well loved and adored.

When singing with the 'Tiger' song he always strikes the chord

With big brown eyes, he's quick to smile and torment ladybugs.

Intelligent beyond his years, he talks and offers hugs;

This little man has won our hearts, our family he completes,

Such blessings now ours because of him, our cup became replete.

He is all boy, loves, trucks and blocks and digging in the dirt.

He'll flash his smile and melt your heart, he is a little flirt.

Each day he learns, grows and explores, knowing no need to fear it.

Our lives enriched our hearts are full and we are grateful for this spirit.

The Fourth of July

2009-07-10T17:01:00.011-06:00

The fourth started with a flag raising at our church which was pretty neat. People who were arriving to stake out their places even stopped and put their hands on their hearts. It was Jason's idea but lots of people said that they were so glad we had it so maybe next year we'll do it again.

After the flag raising we set out to watch the parade. It was neat and lasted waaayyy too long. By the end the kids had had enough and I have to say they had a ton of candy.

Lastly we had a few families over for dinner and fireworks. I only snapped some pictures at the very end so here are some pictures from then.

Ward Activity and Shooting Afterward

2009-06-29T08:11:00.014-06:00

Well, on Saturday we held another ward activity and the turnout was better but still not great. We held the Highland Games complete with Scottish dancers and a bagpiper. We had caber tosses, tire tosses and stone puts for adults and the kids. We also had face painting, rootbeer and otterpops so it was a good time. Those who came had a lot of fun and that's all that matters. Afterward we had lunch with Jason's brothers and drove out to a range and shot Jason's gun that Grandpa gave him.

More Dancing

Monster Basketball

Watch Out for Isaac!!

Stone Put

Grandpa's Gun: It was fun and the boys were soooo excited. Needless to say, Jason's in love with his new toy.

Daniel was so funny because he was sooo excited, he was like one of those yappy dogs that jumps around saying, 'Hey boss what do you think boss can we do it boss? Can we, can we, can we??!!!'

Yes, even I got involved in the festivities and I wasn't even sore the next day!

In the end, the day was too much fun for these boys

Isaac Turns Four

2009-06-18T08:45:00.012-06:00

Well, last week we celebrated Isaac's 4th birthday! We can't believe that our little man is four. Soon he'll be in school and irritating his sister just because he can...wait, he already does that. Anyhow, it was all things Spiderman at our house, Spiderman cake, decorations, etc it was a Spiderman 'splosion. But, he had a great time and picked Arctic Circle for dinner. Then that night, we had his uncles over for another round of cake and presents. He also got all things Spiderman for his presents. He sure felt the love as he was sooooo spoiled. But, he did tell me that this was, "the most awesome Spiderman birthday ever!" So, it was worth it.

Here are some more pictures to enjoy. Mostly decorations and the kids in the bounce house. He had LOTS fun with his friends. As a side note, what do you think of Ila's hair?

The Spiderman Pinata. I know it looks like a fifth grader did it but, hey, it worked for my four year old.

Jason is way better at streamers than I am, but I managed to make it work.

Gotta love having your own bounce house...

Ahh the cake, yes, it's freehand and it's an ice cream cake. But as far as cakes go, I must say this one was easy. The hard part was frosting it fast enough so that the ice cream didn't melt. Which is why it's cracked in center because obviously, I wasn't fast enough...

Presents!!!

Trip to Oregon

2009-05-02T07:59:00.003-06:00

We recently took a trip back to Oregon to visit with our families. The kids loved playing with their cousins and seeing all of their grandparents. The nice thing is that we weren't rushed to do stuff, we were just able to hang out and relax. We'll be heading back again in August for Kaylen's baptism so that will be great for the kids. In the meantime, they're both in school right now and will be until mid May then in June it's gymnastics and July sees the addition of swimming lessons (for both). So, we'll be pretty busy this summer. Oh, the drama of having fun!

Jason is working full time and we've noticed a significant improvement is his mood so we're glad school will FINALLY be done in December, it's nice to have the fun loving non-stressed Jason back. We're hoping that finding a job and moving is an easy transition.

Finally, I must explain the video. We were outside and I was weeding a flower bed with my back to the kids. All of a sudden I hear Aiden's car sliding down the slide. I sat up and thought to myself, 'Do I really want to turn around and see what's going on?' But, I reluctantly did and saw Isaac on top of Aiden's car on top of the slide. He proceeded to slide down it and land in the turtle they had pushed to the bottom of the slide. I decided to film it because this is the little boy who used to cry if a toy moved, made noise, or heaven forbid do both. At least he had his helmet on...Safety first!!!

Ila's Birthday, Mom's visit and our New to us Car...wait, no it's a short bus

2009-02-08T09:25:00.005-07:00

All of sudden my boring life got really busy, so there's lots to talk about. Well, our little girl is growing up...tear...on the last day of January, Ila had her fifth birthday. I feel that day is ushering in a new year of changes in regards to Ila. She'll be in Kindergarten soon which means that we'll be facing new challenges like peer groups, mean kids and the PTA. There will school parties, open houses and meltdowns over her favorite shirt not being clean to wear to school. Yes, we're on the brink of a whole new set of challenges, but before I have a panic attack, let's focus on her special day. We had a few of her friends from school and church over. The theme she picked was 'Barbie and the Diamond Castle.' They all got to dress up as princesses and we ate pizza, had cake, smashed a pinata, jumped in the bounce house and watched a little Barbie and the Diamond Castle. The best part is that my mom, sister and two nieces were able to come for a visit and just happened to be here over the time of her party.

Kristina (mi hermana) had surgery on her shoulder so I finally talked her into coming out and staying out here for a little while where she would be less tempted to hurt herself again by using it too much. So, she and my mom came and brought her youngest, Sophie. Aiden and Sophie got along for the most part. Sophie was a little rough and much to my surprise Aiden just took it. But by the end of their stay, he started fighting back. I think he was secretly hoping that she would leave but when she kept coming back, I think he gave up. I think we had a good visit and it was too short. But, they've sworn to come back in the summer with all of the girls so, we are really looking forward to that.

Finally, the last of our big events is that under much protest from myself, we got a new car. Well, it's new to us, after all we're not high rollers...but, Jason was convinced my car would not make it past a year and he was afraid by then we would have missed our chance to buy b/c he'd be done with school and we'd be even more poor. So, he made me sell my car, which much to my surprise someone actually bought it even though I was completely honest about what was wrong with it. Then we fought for about a month about what kind of car, etc and he was really annoyed with Consumer Reports by the end of it. But, we did a lot of compromising and research and finally settled on a Ford Windstar...hold the comments please. I hate mini vans but, it was just such a good deal that we had to take it and it wasn't on the Consumer Reports bad list for that year, so, we're all happy. When it comes down to it, we've been really blessed through this whole thing, and we came out both winning. I got to pay bills and he got a new car.

The Holidays

2009-01-03T20:35:00.002-07:00

Well, I know I promised to get you some pictures from Halloween, but, at least I put them up...so what if they're in with Christmas...Quick recap from Halloween: Halloween was fun, we mounted a wireless camera on our door and rigged a scary sounds speaker that we could control from inside coupled with the fog machine hidden behind the door. We routed the camera through the TV so that we could see who was there and if it was age appropriate to frighten them. Jason's brother Jody took Ila and Isaac out trick or treating and Aiden for a little while, but he ended up back with us shortly. Jason's cousin Rachael and Tyler brought their little boy by and we visited for a while.

After that Jason promptly put up our Christmas stuff the day before Thanksgiving. His folks came out and were here for a few days. They had a lot of fun with the children and we had a good visit with them. Sometimes I forget how much they can change in just a few months b/c I'm with them day in and day out, so it's kind of fun for me to see the grandparents react to them when they first see them.

Then of course came Christmas. Jason was out of school and it was really really great to have him home more and on a regular schedule. It's nice to just focus on work and not have to split the focus between work and school. We stayed here in Idaho for Christmas (the weather was horrible and was just too long and dangerous to make the trip with the kids). Rexburg pretty much closes down when the college is out of session which is nice. Suddenly the town is full of better drivers, all of the good movies are left in Redbox and you don't have to be annoyed at every restaurant (or public establishment) by young couples who are full of puppy love. I'm sorry, did that sound harsh...anyhow, we spent Christmas break battling the flu, counting down the days on the advent calendar, playing in the snow (and building a totally wicked sled run in our front yard), spending money we don't have and eating LOTS of goodies. Then finally, Christmas came some how or other it came just the same (for all of you Grinch fans)!!! The kids were up at 7 AM but we were able to hold them off (with much trickery and cunning) until 8 AM so we could get both sets of grandparents on the webcam vicariously partake in the traditional opening of presents. Between you and me, my kids weren't that good this year but they still made a haul. We're looking into renting a storage unit just for their presents. Next year, we have agreed to scale down so that way when they're older and they want all of the newest high tech gadgets and gizmos they'll be acclimated to disappointment. The kids had a blast and they are still playing with all of their new toys and loving life.

I have to tell you one small story about Ila and Isaac. Ila from the get go had decided she wanted a 'Barbie and the Diamond Castle Doll' for Christmas, a few weeks before she decided she wanted Liana instead of Alexa which was just fabulous considering for a month she had been asking for Alexa (which we bought in September and had hidden in the cedar chest), so my Mom rescued us there and got her Liana. Now she has both and we are blessed with the joyous duet they can belt out together (the dolls, though the kids do sing along as well). Isaac, our little cars nut and army guy captain had told us he wanted a Hot Wheels track that went around in circles so we had purchased that when we purchased the Alexa doll. Well, we went to see Santa Claus and he told Santa he wanted a singing Troy doll (for those of you lucky enough to not get it, 'Troy' is Zac Efron in the High School Musical trilogy). Yeah, no matter how hard he tried, Jason just could not convince him to go with a more masculine toy, poor dad...So, Christmas came and Ila opened Alexa first and was thrilled to have her, no mention of not getting Liana yet, and Isaac looked at Alexa and said, "Hey...where's my singing Troy doll?!" So, I suppose the lesson for us here is that letters to Santa are a good thing from now on. We had a lot of un and now we are getting ready for Ila's birthday party at the end of the month so toward the beginning of February look for an update. She wants a 'Barbie and the Diamond Castle' party (can you tell she's in a phase?).

Crazy for Halloween

2008-10-05T19:59:00.004-06:00

Well, since about the middle of September we've been getting our Halloween stuff out and slowly but surely we've been putting it up. Now that the total package is done I must say we're looking pretty festive. So festive in fact that people around the neighborhood are coming down to our house with their kids and looking. Also, we've created a buzz at church and everyone keeps coming up to us and telling us how much they love our house. We're kids at heart. I blame Jason, but deep down I am just as excited as he is. Together we make quite a combo as you can see from the pictures. There are lots of details on the ground by the tombstones to note. Also, on Halloween we'll be breaking the fog machine and spooky sounds CD out to get the full Halloween effect. We have one more headstone to put out but it's not quite finished yet. The ghost in the trees (not on the trees) moves and makes noise, the spider in the branches drops down and one of the signs flashes and screams. We have a strobe light mounted in the trees flashing out there too. Over the top...what?? Is there such a thing when the holidays come around?? By the way the kids LOVE it and Ila tells everyone not to be afraid because they're fake and won't hurt us. Even Aiden loves to watch everything move.

Aiden Turns One

2008-09-22T10:28:00.002-06:00

Well, this weekend we ushered in the birthday of our youngest one, Aiden. It was just a small party with one uncle and us but, it was nice. Aiden didn't mind. In a matter of weeks he's gone from quadruped to biped. Yep, he's walking and trying hard to talk. He made a good haul of presents and if his siblings leave his new toys alone long enough, he might even be able to enjoy playing with them. He is such a good boy and he lights up a room with his smile.

We made him a sea turtle cake for his birthday (because his nickname is turtle, when he was little and you held him to the side, his head looked like a turtle). Okay, I realize it's not as spectacular as Isaac's McQueen cake, but I was sick and inspiration didn't hit me until I was done decorating it; so no comments on the lacking design. But, we gave him a big piece and let him at it. Boy did he go after it too! He picked up this HUGE chunck and attempted to shove it all in his mouth. He was a little leary of the ice cream (too cold I think) but he seemed to enjoy the cake. Needless to say he got a bath when he was done. Then he got a birthday haircut too. Not a buzz, just a little off the top and some clean up on the sides.

Becoming a Lemming

2008-08-10T15:30:00.002-06:00

That's right, we've decided to become another lemming and run to the cliffs of the blogger nation. In other words, yes we now have a blog. I really don't understand the difference between this and our other website, but, maybe I'm just not imaginative enough. Anyhow, we're back in Rexburg now, Isaac is potty trained and Aiden is cutting 4 more teeth for a grand total of 10 when they all get here. He is starting to talk more too and make his will known. I hope to get a slide show up of our visit to Oregon soon. It was great for the kids to play with their cousins and see their extended families. It was a break we needed, but it's great to be back home again. We'll be here now until Jason finishes school which should be in 2009 either summer or winter. So, if you're close to Rexburg for the holidays, look us up! We'd love to have you!