James B. Techmeyer

My baby brother, James, left on Tuesday for basic training in Texas. Once he completes basic he'll head to beautiful Monterrey, California, to learn Mandarin Chinese. I am grateful for courageous and determined young men and women who choose the military path to defend the freedoms that we enjoy every day. James is a great kid and I'm proud of him.

Mothers Day

Mothers Day was quite a treat. The kids helped me pick out flowers to put in my front porch planter and Jeremy wired the sprinklers so they'll water that planter as well as my fuchia plant (which is gorgeous!) (I've got a bad track record for keeping plants alive). A big thanks to the public school system and a good preschool teacher as well for helping my kids make nice gifts for me too. What a blessing it is to be a mom. I am so grateful.

Arches National Park

We enjoyed a long weekend at Arches National Park with my family. We had such a great time and truly enjoyed the camping trailer Jer received for Christmas (long story, end result is a 1955 pink and silver Traveleeze trailer). Thursday was so cold and windy so we all jumped in the trailer, got the furnace running, and drank hot chocolate (with water heated on the pink stove). This is our little family (obviously) at Delicate Arch. This is a tough hike and very rewarding when you come around the last turn to see the magnificent view. When asked about his favorite part of the trip Griffin said "it was fun, but we sure walked a lot!" The kids hiked so well--even little Jane hiked a lot. There's something really cool and even rewarding about a relaxed conversation with the kids while wandering through God's beautiful country. What a treat.
We camped in the Devils Garden Campground inside the park with Mom, David & Hollie & girls, and James. Michael & Colette, Neil & Sarah, their friend, Kelli, and Uncle Daryl & Aunt Sybil stayed outside the park since they spent a chunk of their time 4x4ing. We all met together on Friday to hike The Windows together; then we met back at our campground for dinner and dutch oven cobbler.

We also hiked around in Devils Garden (this is Landscape Arch), Tapestry Arch, etc., and Jeremy & David took the older kids and hiked Fiery Furnace.





Mom was a real trooper on this trip. She bought a new tent and accessories and on the last day hiked Corona Arch with us all. It was a tough hike and she hiked the whole thing.


This is Skyline Arch, another short, fun hike the kids really enjoyed. We saw deer, rabbits, and tons of lizards. It was a fun, fun trip!

St. George

Our good friends, Sam & Rachelle, baby Seven, and Cash the dog, invited our family to go to St. George with them over Conference weekend. We stayed in Sam's parents' guest house which was awesome! We went shooting, hiking, walked around the St. George temple grounds, rode scooters (we towed Sam & Rachelle's down), walked through some art galleries, and went to the Children's Art Museum. It was such a fun trip and we can't wait to go back!

Jane

Jane turned 3 on March 29. Where does the time go? Jane is a sweet girl who loves to have her fingernails and toenails painted. She loves to play hide and seek and tag. She enjoys sleepovers with her siblings and is a happy girl. Jane is such a blessing to our family.

Anna

Anna turned 7 on March 27! She chose pancakes for breakfast and homemade pizza for dinner. She had soccer practice in the evening and her team sang Happy Birthday to her.











Anna got lots of fun presents for her birthday. She received a leather Book of Mormon with her name on in and a "pink suitcase" for her Book of Mormon that Jane picked out for her.











The next day at a special Citizenship Assembly at Sandy Elementary, Anna was awarded the Cooperation Award. This is Anna with super awesome Principal Houlihan.

basketball and haircuts

Here's a picture of Jer playing basketball in the Region Tournament (Church ball) last week. He played awesome, made all of his free throws, and they won! It was a fun game to watch and I think this is a cool picture.











So Zachary decided some months ago that he wanted to grow out his hair. I wasn't super jazzed about it, but didn't make a huge deal about it because I figured it wouldn't matter too much (that and he'll be losing his hair in his mid-20s anyway). Meanwhile he's decided that he wants to spend his money on a soft air gun to which I've repeatedly said "no." Last weekend he came to me with a deal, "I'll get my hair cut if you let me buy a soft air gun." So, here's a picture of the haircut (along with a huge pile of his hair). We're going tomorrow to purchase the gun.

first week of March

David and Hollie blessed Brooklyn on March 2. This is a picture of Griffin holding Brooky later on in the afternoon.





Clinton, Mindy, and Lizzy are visiting from Maryland. Mindy is here for work while her family gets to play. Griffin, Lizzy, Anna, and Syrissa are playing together at Grammy's.

Jeremy teaches a hand-thrown pottery class at Murray High School one night a week. This week Zachary and Griffin got to go with him so the girls and I built a very fun, very cool fort in their bedroom. This picture was taken some time before they actually fell asleep.

One of Anna's friends from her indoor soccer team had extra tickets to the Grizzlies Hockey game so on Friday night we went to the game with our friends, the Smiths, and had a fun time. Final score: Grizzlies 1, Fresno 4.

a fond farewell...

We bid farewell today to our good and trusty friend, Mabel. Mabel was with Jer and I on our first date (holes in the floor and all), our trips to Yosemite (when we about died coming down the mountain when her brakes were burning), around town (when she sometimes shifted into the desired gear) and countless trips to the cabin. Mabel was a good pal.

The last several weeks...

Zachary's nearly done with basketball season; Jeremy has done a great job coaching.


















Anna is playing indoor soccer (our first experience with this sport) and enjoying it. Go Pink Cougars!










I got to go with Griffin and his preschool class sledding to celebrate winter. It was very cold, but we had a great time because there was tons of snow!




This is on Zachary's birthday with Z's new, very cool, hot dog toaster (Jeremy picked it out for Zachary and he was very excited!).









Grandpa Techmeyer was in town on business and was able to help Anna with her math homework, play "doggies" with Griffin and Jane, and catch one of Zachary's basketball games. It was also Zachary's 9th birthday so we packed all of that in along with a birthday party too!