A Lasting Legacy...

Tomorrow night is the awards ceremony for Westridge Middle School (the school where Zach taught). They have started an award in Zach's name. Each year a student and a teacher will be selected as a recipient in his honor. I'm obviously very touched and my family and I are planning to attend the ceremony tomorrow night. Here's the award info:


From 2005 to 2009, the students and staff of Westridge Middle School were able to experience a perfect example of what a teacher should be in Mr. Zachary Harsch. Students were drawn to his strength because of his gentleness, compassion for teaching, and the effort he put into building relationships. Mr. Harsch made time each day to listen and share a kind word with both current and former students, and he made each child feel special and important. He held students accountable for their choices, never gave up on even the most troublesome ones, and instilled in them a love of learning and a respect for self and others.
Many people’s lives were made better just by knowing Mr. Harsch, not just Westridge students and staff. He was a devoted husband, a great friend to those who knew him, and he was looking forward to becoming a doting dad. Volunteering his time and talents in the community was also a priority to him. On January 30, 2009, Mr. Harsch unexpectedly passed away, but his legacy at Westridge and in the community will live on forever.

As part of that legacy, Westridge would like to recognize a student who exhibits these same qualities of Mr. Harsch:
Compassionate, kind, and friendly to everyone
Shows strong, positive leadership skills
Puts others first and goes above and beyond for peers
Volunteers in the school and community


Dylan continues to develop and learn so much everyday. It's amazing to me how much more I can tell he understands what I'm saying to him. He loves to dance, "sing", and run around everywhere! He is saying: mama, dog, more (both in words and sign language), nana (banana), again and will sign all done. One of his favorite pastimes is throwing kleenexes into the garbage can (he's had a lingering runny nose, so at least that part has been fun!). He still smiles and laughs all the time and is super happy! He's holding his own in the big kid room at daycare, and I'm sure it's partially responsible for all of the development. I have a TON of pics from the last few weeks including a visit from Annie O and Dorian and a bunch of other random things that I promise to post soon.

But for now, here's a pic I took on my phone this morning (so not the greatest quality). We got Dylan some new real big kid shoes...when we first put him on in the store; he acted like he had anchors on his feet. But he seems to like them now. He's also sporting my gold medal that I won last night in corporate challenge volleyball. Corporate challenge is this huge competition with pretty much all KC companies competing against each other in pretty much every sporting event you can imagine. I've always been fairly involved and this year I'm playing v-ball, b-ball, softball and probably a few more things. It's a lot of fun and definitely brings out my competitive nature, which is nicely illustrated by the bruises I have all over from diving on the volleyball court! Dylan came to watch last night with papa and is proud that mommy is a champion :)