Uncle Gene's Visit & Shaving Cream fun

In sad news, Uncle Jim passed away in late July of a heart attack (Amy's uncle who came to visit earlier in the year) and the memorial was slated for late September.  Hurricane Helene though had other plans, thwarting the remaining siblings from making their way to the memorial.  This turned out to be a lovely turn of events for Amy though as Uncle Gene (and his son Rick) who were on their way from Oregon down to the memorial came over to Orlando instead.  Uncle Gene is the oldest son out of the 9 children, and is 97!  He is in amazing shape and mentally still very sharp - it was fun to see him.  Amy remembered a time when she was very young in which she was likely a bored little girl, wanting someone to pay attention to her at Grandma's house, and Uncle Gene took the time to take her out for a walk around Union - it was a lovely walk and Amy has always remembered him with fondness for that kindness. 

We went out for breakfast and then later that day they came over for some card games 💗

That weekend we had a fun get-together with Amy's high school bestie Carmen's house along with Lundes, Tkachuk's and Harter's. The kids had a shaving cream adventure - playing the game for tag and shaving cream missiles - they ended up quite covered!

Lily, Andon and Addison

Speaking of shaving cream, Addison has reached the ripe old age in which she has begun to shave her legs.  The excitement was real 😂

Inaugural shaving experience

At work, the division extended leadership team went for meetings at the Magic stadium, and had the fun experience of going to see their stadium locker rooms and received a Magic jersey with our name on the back!  Doesn't Amy look sporty - too bad basketball isn't her favorite sport by any means!

In conclusion, here is a sweet picture of Zachary giving Aria some love.  Whenever you start to pet Aria, she sits down with her chest thrust forward as she loves to be petted there!  Or anywhere really! 😂 

Random picture:

She is enjoying baking - we're figuring out how to do things gluten-free slowly but surely.

Senior Dedication

 It is mind-blowing to think that we have a senior on our hands - where did 18 years go?  With Zachary entering his final year at FLA, they hold a senior dedication vespers in which they dedicate the class to following God's path and giving them Bibles with their names engraved on them. 

The evening began with a bit of chaos when we realized that Zachary's white dress shirt was no longer going to fit him as he has been working out a lot this year....  We had recently bought a new one for Kaleb, so that would have to do, but Kaleb's neck is smaller than Zachary's so poor Zach could barely look down the whole night without choking himself! 😂

Daddy helping him get the tie done!

The program was quite well done, and Mr. Morada spoke - including starting with a very clever poem that he had written for the class!  Kaleb was at Camp Kulaqua for the Southern Union Leader Conference, so he was present in spirit only.

This is Zachary's class - about 80-90 kids.

Several of Zachary's close friends over the years - Jake, Zach, Blake and Erick

Best friends since they were 18 months old!

Addison had a fun weekend when her friend Jackson invited her to his birthday party down at the Camp Wilderness Disney outdoor resort - there was pool, soccer and a lot of friends to play with - the evening ended early as a thunderstorm came through, which was a happy event for Mama who wanted to go home before it was such a late evening after the Disney movie - she suggested to Addison that we could watch a movie at home ourselves!!  Addison ended up being sleepy on the way home so it was an early evening for all. 💕

Random pictures:

Mommy and Addison went out for a yummy Thai date night

Addison was very happy with how wavy her hair on this particular day.