Hogle Zoo

I know it's been a while... I don't know when blogging became such a chore. Spent some time down in Preston last week to go to my nephew Ethan's birthday party and the next day we went down to Hogle Zoo. Todd actually had a couple consecutive days off in a row so we decided to make the most of it. It was also the week of my birthday and it was a request of mine (not Reese) to go down to Hogle Zoo. We usually manage to make it there once a year. I was excited to take Reese though since she is really into animals and can make about every animal sound. I was especially excited for her to see an elephant in real life (rather than just cartoon elephants tromping through the jungle in Jungle Book). We also stopped in Logan to pick up my nephew Mason on the way down. Reese had a blast with Mason in the car they each took turns seeing who could scream the highest and who could motor boat the longest -- not as much fun for Todd and I but they were entertained. The elephants were one of the first on our route around the zoo. Reese and Mason were both soooo excited. We stood and looked at this one elephant probably longer than any other animal. Reese was actually upset when we moved on but calmed down when she realized we were moving on to see more animals.

The animals at the zoo were all up close and out and about --- which is amazing... usually you can see some feet or tail fluttering somewhere in the grass but really all the big animals were out walking around and up really close. The rhinos were right at the window -- I don't know what Reese thought of them - they really are quite strange looking.

My personal favorite the giraffes.

There were lot's of babies at the zoo that day too... a baby giraffe, snow leopard, meerkats, some other kind of wild cat, orangutan, and some others I know I'm forgetting but they were all so dang cute. The baby snow leopard was playing right by the window, the 6 little baby meerkats were only a month old and they were so funny to watch and the baby orangutan was playing peek-a-boo under a canvas blanket.

We also rode the little train.

It was a really fun day... it was really hot so we moved on to each exhibit pretty quickly but we were able to see the whole park before anybody got tired and cranky. We stopped and got a sandwich at Wendy's and ventured home.

The rest of the week not much else happened... Friday we met up with some friends at Texas Roadhouse for birthday dinner, Saturday we went down to Pocatello for a wedding reception (a high school friend of Todd's) and Sunday was my birthday. Todd made me breakfast in bed: french toast, bacon, eggs, juice and a bowl of fresh fruit-- so yummy! He also spent all day getting dinner ready too: Ham, twice baked potatoes, fresh baked rolls and of course a Rainbow chip birthday cake. All my presents were really great too. A few favorites: new shoes (some slip on kind so when I'm big and fat I don't have to worry about trying to tie them), a new book, 10th anniversary Les Miserables CD, yummy candy and much much more. Thanks to everyone who sent me birthday wishes/goods it's nice to know people are thinking about you.

This week: tomorrow I have a Dr.'s appt and I should probably be setting up when I get my next ultrasound so we can find out what we are having finally. For those of you wondering I really don't care what it is... a keep thinking it's another girl (which would be nice financially since we already own everything in pink), but really either is fine. I need to go get a new drivers license which stinks - I actually like my current picture and I'm worried what this one is going to turn out like. I think that is pretty much it for this week. Later next week we are heading to Denver to see some family for a few days -- yay another vaca!

Mini-vaca

So this past week Todd, Reese and I were out of town. Yes all of us together, finally! Todd was finally able to take some time off work so we could have some-what-of a vacation. We started off Wednesday stopping in Downey the first day to spend some time with Todd's family. The next night was the first day of Preston's Famous Night Rodeo Weekend. Everyday there is a parade, carnival, rodeo and sidewalk sales. Thursday we spent the afternoon in Logan meeting up with old friends for lunch and later we did go to the parade. Reese spent most of the time on one of our laps - since she was a little too scared to run around and pick up the candy. She loved all the horses and waved at the pretty girls riding on the floats. Later that night after putting Reese to bed Todd and I made our way to Logan again to go out to a movie. It's usually 6 months between each movie we get to see at the theatre. We of course saw Harry Potter. My mom's house was a little crowded this weekend so she brought down my grandma's trailer for us to sleep in, the closest thing to camping we will probably do all year. Sittin with Grandma waiting for the parade to start.

Reese and Ethan.

Ethan (who constantly wanted me to take pictures of every silly face he could think of).

Dylan wearing Reese's pink cowboy hat and drinking a coke. This is what his father gets for dropping him off in grandma's care (no worries the can really was empty, but he liked wearing the PINK hat)

Our little cowgirl decked out in full garb. Hat, button up, wranglers, and boots.

Friday we spent a good part of the morning helping my brother and his family move into their new house. Later that afternoon we hit the sidewalk sales (which were very unexciting - unless you are looking for jewelry or girls hair bows - because that's all there was at every other booth). We watched the parade again, had yummy dinner at grandma Nan's house and then Todd and I went to the Rodeo (which we do every year). We decided to leave Reese at home with Grandma and not take her to the rodeo - since lately she hasn't behaved too well at public functions - she is one independent lady.

Saturday was another lazy day. We had a nice BBQ with my old high school chum Ashley and we were able to catch up. We did go to the third and final night of the parade and made a lap around the carnival to snag at least a bag of cotton candy. Sunday morning we headed back to Downey and went to church with Todd's family, had dinner, stopped in Pocatello on our way home to visit Amanda and Shawn and finally made it home last night. It all went by too fast! Now were back in Rexburg and Todd is back to work. I don't know if I've mentioned that Todd doesn't have school this semester so I will at least see him in the mornings everyday for the next 5 months! Woo Hoo!!

Also I did have as Dr.'s appt a few weeks ago and everything is looking good so far. We had an ultrasound but just to tell how far along I was for sure. Due date set for February 4th. I do have pics and a video from the ultrasound but haven't got around to scanning anything yet, but I promise there is a baby growing in me. So after the appointment it's feeling a little more real and I don't feel like poo for nothing.

Jackson

Probably Reese's favorite part of the whole trip.... our stop for lunch in Colter Bay. I let her play in the water and she loved it. She got to throw rocks and get all wet.

How can you not love that view. The Tetons are amazing.

Reese helping herself to the chicken salad.

We also went to see the Bar J. Reese wasn't at all interested in the music but LOVED the horses. We went out to see them like 10 times. These two were named Bert and Ernie. The pic above is just before the horse mistakes Reese's hair for some grass.

Not too sure what to think about the wagon ride.

Trying to escape the show. Sadly Reese and I spent the entire time outside... she did NOT want to sit in there and eat and enjoy the show. Oh well.

Yellowstone

The second half of last week we spent in Yellowstone and Jackson with my mom and grandma. Sadly Todd had to stay home and work and go to school. It's always fun to go to Yellowstone even though I've been there numerous times. I never get sick of seeing the scenery.

Getting some ice cream after watching Old Faithful.

Old faithful.

Mama and baby Elk. Reese also loved seeing them too! We lucked out on this one by taking a little alternate route. We also saw some deer, bald eagles, and of course some squirrels.

Buffalo. Reese was super excited to see him walking right next to the car.

Grizzly Bear -- my first time seeing one at Yellowstone. It was just on the opposite side of the road about 10 yard up... sooo close.

Checkin out the hotpots.

All a girl needs... blankie, binkie, puppy, and lots of books.

Happy traveler. Much to my surprise she did really well in the car since we were in it almost all day long the whole 3 days we were gone. It was once she got out of the car she was wild and very disobedient (I don't blame her - I'm sure being in a car seat all day would make me want to run all over the place too).

Making a detour to see Mesa Falls (I think that is what it's called). As you'll notice Reese is wearing a leash. I vowed I would never put my kids in one of those but the alternative of her falling down mountains or into hot pools wasn't so appealing. Not everywhere is accessible with a stroller so we opted for the leash.

Best Friends

So this past week was pretty busy. The first half of the week we spent in Downey visiting Todd's family. Our sister in law and niece came for a much anticipated visit. Reese didn't really have a clue what was going on, but we were excited for her and her cousin Annagrace to play together since it's been nearly a year (and Reese was much to young to really play then). It didn't take too long for them to warm up to each other. They are about 8 months apart so they played really well together.

Watching some fireworks at Grandmas.

Being crazy little girls running all over the yard.

Saying Goodbyes.
It was sad for everyone when it was time to go. I wish they could play everyday and grow up to the be the best of friends but sadly unless someone decides to make a major relocation that won't be happening (since they live in Georgia).

We even got to go swimming one day at Downata.

Looking for some steals at the DI. For more pictures check out Welch's of the South blog. I sadly neglected to take a bunch of pics... Candi on the other hand is a shutterbug.

En el parque...

Ok this is kind dumb but today after I got off work Reese and I went to the big city park. Reese miraculously was brave and was climbing all over the place. She was super excited to be around all these other kids and sometimes would just sit in the way and watch everyone else got by. Anyway there are two jungle gyms at the park one that is obviously for older kids and one for like 2 and under. So I made her go over and play on the littler one since she kept kind of being in the way of the bigger kids. So she's over playing on the other jungle gym not in anybodies way and there is this little boy, he was probably 3 (who was also trying to intentionally step on Reese's hands while on the bigger jungle gym) who was viciously kicking Reese in the chest while she was sitting there on the equipment. She wasn't in his way and he kept doing it until I could get over there. His mother was no where near while this was happening --- and I feel it's odd to scold someone else's child. So I just ran over there and told him politely to not kick as Reese is bawling. I rescue her and his mother shows up and apologizes to me (although I felt as though her son should apologize to Reese). The lady however didn't say anything about his behavior while we were there like "you shouldn't kick other people, or kick at all." I'm curious to know where he learned this behavior anyways (like I said he was viciously kicking her -- not like normal kids pounding on each other). Anyways I was just annoyed (and I'm easily annoyed when it comes to peoples manners at the park). My major annoyance is children of an inappropriate age playing on the equipment. I just don't feel comfortable saying anything to other people's kids. I know this sounds stupid - but that was all. Anyone have any similar experiences... I just hate confrontation.

4th

Ok so finally here are some new pictures. I actually took a few when we went down to the fireworks in Idaho Falls. I was excited to see how Reese was going to respond this year since last year she was barely 6 months and she fell asleep during the all the excitement. Even though we didn't even leave Rexburg until it was Reese's bedtime (since Todd had to work) she was still wide awake for the evenings events. We had a few friends saving us a spot down by the river so the major obstacle of the evening was trying to find a parking space within walking distance. Oddly enough we found one fairly close and by that I mean across the river from where we would be sitting, across a main road back in some ally behind some businesses. It was only like a 15 minute walk so not too bad considering how late we got down there.

Reese loved all the excitement surrounding her. There were soooo many people... seriously you can barely see the grass because of all the people. She got to eat junk food and we were sitting fairly close to a 4th of July concert thing so she got to dance to some music until the fireworks started. Once the fireworks finally started she Oood and Awwwd for about 15 minutes then she was busy doing other things like finding more treats, jumping from one lap to the next and of course some more dancing. She was having a blast. She wasn't scared by the fireworks at all.

Before settling down in our spot we went down by the river to look at all the ducks and geese.

Our nerdy little family of 3 -- next 4th we'll be a family of 4!!! Crazy!

It only took us a half hour to get from our parking space back onto the road! Which is like 3 times faster than last year! Traffic is backed up like crazy. Last year we were stuck in one spot for like an hour and Reese was screaming her head off and Todd and I were both really frustrated. However, this year Reese fell asleep as soon as she was in her chair. We had a good night.

A little treat...

If you are reading this consider yourself lucky! I'm not telling any other way!

I know... I know...

So I haven't been much of a blogger lately. We really haven't being doing much though I swear. Todd did get a promotion at work (which is actually the same position he had when he worked in Pocatello -- but either way we're glad he's moving up). They didn't have his position open when we moved up here so we were just waiting for one to open up. We haven't really gone anywhere or done anything either -- mostly due to all the rain. I did take a short trip home to Preston a few weekends ago and spent some time with my mom who I hadn't seen in like a month. Maybe I'll have some new pics when we go home this weekend for Father's Day.

I did have a mini photo shoot at the beginning of the new month with my friend Josie's new baby. It was a struggle to get some successful pictures since we didn't start taking them until later and we had really poor lighting and I didn't want to use my flash. So here are a few from the night.

A bunch of animals

On Saturday we drove down to Idaho Falls and met up with Todd's parents and Todd's brother Thomas as the city zoo. Reese has been to this zoo before but that was over a year ago so we were excited to see how she would react this time since she was to an age where she would know what was going on. She was probably more excited to see Grandma, Grandpa and Thomas than she was about the zoo. It's a smaller zoo but still really nice. It has lots of trees so you stay pretty cool throughout the entire park. However, Reese was still able to see Lions, Tigers and Bears - oh my! Also, lots of monkeys, zebras, otters, lots of birds, and many others.

Reese discovered binoculars on our tour and LOVED them. They had a pair set up in the African exhibit to look at a bunch of different birds (and might I mention these birds made the crazy noises)!!

Reese and Grandpa riding a tiger. The real tiger was sleeping so this was probably just as cool.

Reese and the boys checking out the big lion.

"Look Grandma!" Checking out the Llamas.

Probably one of Reese's favorite animals in the zoo. Chickens!

After we made it through the zoo we had some lunch in the nearby park. Reese has always like chicken nuggets, but she LOVED fried chicken. Finger lickin' good.

"Where did my chicken go?" She would eat every speck of chicken til she got down to the bone.

Ok I've blogged before about how Reese is deathly afraid of playing on the playground equipment. However, this day she was a wild woman! Climbing and sliding like a big girl.

After our adventure at the zoo and the park. Reese went to stay with Grandma and Grandpa for the weekend so Todd and I could actually have a date night and so I could get caught up on my spring cleaning. Todd and I went to Angels and Demons later that afternoon, had a nice dinner at Olive Garden, and went to another movie Star Trek. We were making up for lost time by going to 2 movies. It's one of our favorite things to do and we just don't get to do it very often. By the way loved both movies. Dinner was good too... I must admit Olive Garden isn't my favorite but I do love the Zuppa Toscana (the spicy sausage soup). I don't understand all the hype for the place... I ordered the Chicken Alfredo and it was pretty bland. Anyways the soup and bread sticks made up for the poor pasta. So we've had a very nice weekend.