A Day at the Zoo

This is crazy, but ever since Christmas of 2008, when Nana gave the kids all money for Christmas, we've been planning on getting them a zoo pass. Well, it's been a lot longer than it should have been :) and no, we didn't still have the money Nana gave them to buy it with, but we finally went to the zoo, and bought our zoo pass :) Feels good :)..... the kids had a lot of fun. It was cute to hear Charity "remember" things from when she went before we moved to Alaska (can you believe it's been that long since we took her!) Kelly had gone last year for a field trip that I got to accompany her on, and the boys and Erika and I went a few months ago on one of the freezing cold free days, but for Charity and Nate this was a first in a while. I gotta say I really loved some of the new renovations. I don't love that they're taking away the bears for another one, but I guess I'll live. I think the Penguins need a new home next though, they looked just pitiful in their little habitat this time.... I felt worse for them than usual..... We took the traditional (in my family anyway) drinking out of the lion drinking fountain pictures. I'm pretty sure that they had more fun playing on all the statues, and posing for pictures on them than they did actually looking at the animals, but isn't that what the zoo is all about :)

I think this was everyone's favorite thing..... the baby elephant Zuri. I loved that they do the little show, with the tricks and everything.... very impressive :) I seriously almost got teary-eyed watching that cute little one with it's mommy :) There's just something cute aabout a baby and their mom..... I loved it. We laughed as the mom was scooting the food with her trunk, kinda pulling it close to herself, and away from the baby in a "this food is MINE" kind of motion.... I can totally relate to that feeling.... sometime's a mom's gotta have her own stuff. Anyway, we stood there for quite a while watching the whole show. Very cool.

yeah that's an oreo amidst all the crackers and cheese :) So healthy. My kids will do anything for a Lunchable though.... it's kinda cute how excited they get about them :)

Charity took pictures of all the weird writing so that she could ask Simon what it all said later.... I'll let you know the translation if we ever remember to ask him :) and if it is even real Chinese.

Charity took this one of the Linx. I though it was blog-worthy.

Sweet little girl konked out halfway through.... she's so funny how she hangs onto the stroller for dear life. Course it is an umbrella stroller. Our last few kids haven't had the luxury of an infant stroller for some reason.... they've survived though right?

Oh, I just have to glue the images like this into my little brain. I just know that these moments are fleeting and that if I'm not careful I will blink and they'll be gone. I love this stage, I love the stages that they're all at right now and I just wish it could be like this longer....

cute little NOah was so fascinated by the giraffe.... I loved watching him

I'm sure I've said this a million times, but Luke is so adorable with Erika. They have a really special bond. I feel like Erika has a different bond with each of her siblings. They each bring something different into her life. It makes me excited to see how they are in a few years.... hopefully they all still think the world of her and she of them.

we all had fun watching the giraffe and his tongue! That thing was massive. Kelly's pretty proud of her tongue and the fact that she can touch her nose with it :) A talent that has taken years to master (inspired by McKinlee Lausch, one of our good friends in AK). I think this shot was mid stick, but she really can do it!

And of course the beloved Elephant statue. Charity was SCARED. TO. DEATH. by this thing 5 or 6 years ago!! She would hardly go near it :) It was fun to watch them all enjoy it now :) Got lots of pictures of it!

Luke really does own the place, in case you were wondering :)

I thought it was a really fun day at the zoo. A little crowded, but definitely ideal weather, and good fun.

Pappy's Graduation!

For the last 2 years my dad has been busting his little butt trying to get his EMBA. He was one of a small group who were chosen to be in this executive class. He received lots of special treatment from the school and the program, but sure sacrificed a LOT! He went on his trip to Europe last week and now he's officially a graduate of the Executive Master's of Buisness from the University of Utah! I'm really just so proud of him! I don't think he knows what he wants to do with it yet, but it's somethign he always wanted to do, so good for him! That's one thing my dad's taught me, dreams are reachable if you want them bad enough.
We got to go to his graduation on Friday. Made me wish we'd stayed in AK for Nate's, but since it really wasn't an option back then, I just have to not think about it. But it was fun to watch my Dad get recognized for all of his hard work. He deserves it! He requested that Charity and Kelly come.... I think he wanted to show them off :) So we had my mom watch the the boys, and we took Erika with us. I was advized not to bring a six-month old to a graduation by a few people, but it just wasn't an option to leave her with someone right then. She was still getting over her ear infection and the nasty diaper rash. So anyway, it turned out fine, she did well, the girls were bored during most of the ceremony, but we all had a pretty good time. And there was a nice dinner afterward at my Dad's school. The girls got to go see where he would sit in class :) They thought that was cool.

We all escorted him up to the Huntsman Center from the school of buisness.

doesn't this look like a paparrazzi picture :)

my cute little brother :)

Charity looks so old in pictures lately.... I do a double take everytime I look at them!

Kelly too!! Why do they have to grow up so fast?~

Erika and Daddy had a lot of daddy-daughter bonding time during the graduation.... that was nice :) They've missed out on a lot of time together since she's constantly eating and needing her mommy.

"we have to wait till they say EVERYONE'S names???" Should have explained the whole graduation thing to the girls before they concented to coming :) jk. They had nate's and my phones to keep them busy. Charity watched Hannah Montana and Kelly texted everyone she knows :)

Nate took her out a few times, but she did so well overall!

CONGRATULATIONS DAD!!!! We're so proud of you!!!

This Week's Things to Remember

1. On Wednesday Charity came home proud with some exciting news... she was the first one to finish in the quarter-mile run! She came in under 2 minutes! Made me happy to hear that she did so well. She said, "I was going really fast and then I had to stop to catch my breath. Then I saw someone, LOLISA, coming up and past me, and I just HAD to keep running!!....... When I got near the end I almost gave up but I could see people coming up behind me and I kept telling myself, 'I can do this, I can do this!'" Talk about motivation :) She's pretty strong-willed, I don't think she would be able to let anyone beat her if that's what she wants to do.... she beat all the girls.



2. Kelly got to go to her friend's "Book Club" yesterday :) She was very excited about it. I'm not really sure what they did, but she felt very happy to have been invited :) I did hear something about a cool way to do monkeybars at Sariah's house.... but that was it :)



3. Noah can now say his name!!! It sounds so cute in his deep little voice. He now calls Charity and Kelly "Dooey" it's a step up from "dies", but they're still grouped for some reason :) He's been talking so much more lately.



4. Luke is now into drawing "Spider webs" on the magnadoodle. He finally moved on from the "timer" and "double timer".... he's a creature of habit.... I wonder how long that will be is drawing of choice.



5. Bradley has been our dish washer for the last week or two, and I just have to document how well he does at it!!!! I can't believe what a huge help it's been to have him "in charge" of washing dishes.... I don't even have to nag him that much. He's a hard worker. Gets that from his Daddy.

Nate's phone uploaded....

wow, this is way back from Christmas time! Shopping at 5 Little Monkeys Toy Store.... we love that place.

Kelly loves making little offices for herself, and laptops.... she's so businesslike.

Here's the birthday cake Nate (and Chris and Stephanie) surprised me with :) Can't believe I turned 30~

I think this is the Jazz game my Dad gave Nate tickets to for Christmas. Nate went to a lot of games this season.... but this one was lower bowl :) Always a little treat!

I certainly got enough of these ones on my camera, but just in case mine weren't as cute :)

I'm pretty sure this is Nate doing a Luke impersonation, but I'm not really sure of the purpose of this one.

This is the Jazz Game that Nate took Bradley to. We splurged and Nate bought tickets. I think this is one of the first times we've ever actually bought our own tickets :) Nate bought Brad a hat.

During the playoffs Nate got tickets to Game 4 with the Nuggets. It just happened to be on Sunday :*( so he decided not to go, but to sell the tickets and go to an earlier game. As sad as it is to see him miss out on LOWER BOWL tickets, I'm glad he chose to set a better example for the kids. He ended up going to game 3, and taking Charity with him this time. Charity totally got spoiled. Face painting... the Jazz Dancers (which she refused to call anything but cheerleaders...).... they caught a small basketball.... fun stuff. And she got a jersey

Last Week's Things to Remember

1. Luke was so excited to show his class (especially Sis. Hobbs) his owies from yesterday. He had been running down the steps in front of the house and totally wiped out, on his face. Apparently he'd had a slinky in his hands, so of course.... sacrifice the body for the slinky! It's totally skinned, I need to get a picture.

2. We have been trying to earn a wii with our scripture reading for the last few months. We FINALLY finished our goal, and Monday was our last day of reading (for the wii) so we decided to surprise the kids, read BEFORE dinner, and go pick up the wii for FHE. (they were counting down till the next day since they thought we would have to wait till then to actually get it....) They were so excited!!! It's so fun to do things like that for our kids.... they get so giddy and happy about it all. We all played with it until about 9:30 (an hour and a half past bedtime, shame on us!) it was SO FUN!! It was fun to have them "earn" it, and nice that we are now more in the habit of reading our scriptures.... we decided we could earn games this way too.... so it will be fun.

3. We made it through our first 2 week menu with very few hang ups. I'm SO excited to continue doing this, I LOVE not having to think about what to make every single day..... for some reason it takes all the stress out of it. And we're eating so good now!! I'm going to have to make my focus be on healthy recipes from here on out!

4. We've had such crummy (meaning snowy!!! in APRIL!!!) weather, on Wednesday and Thursday, we've been able to spend a lot of time inside, playing the wii :) and helping Erika recover from her yuckies. She has yet another ear infection. The Dr. looked back in her file to find out that she's already had 2 ear infections in both ears in her short little 5 month life. It's so frustrating. She sure doesn't handle the antibiotics very well.... she had the worst rash after one of her treatments. We had to get a special cream for her bumb. I took a picture of it on my phone, I should get that on here. But she just hasn't been real well for at least two months now. It's so sad!!! I hate seeing my kids sick. She's still such a sweet heart, just needs even more of mommy's cuddles and attention, so of course, the house is suffering in a bad way. It's a good thing we never have visitors because this place is embarrassing.

5. THursday I found a home in Farmington that we are going to go look at. The rent is way lower than most it's size, and it has a really huge yard. So I'm totally anxious, and hoping we can get it!! Yes, I am getting my hopes up!! I get nervous about whether they will want to have our huge family in their rental. I know it would be a stretch for me to rent to a family of 8 with 6 little ones. But hopefully they look past the numbers and realize we're a nice family to rent to :).... I still hate the thought of having to rent again, but it's definitely time (or well past it really) to be on our own. Our plans to get into a house just didn't formulate the way we had planned. We were silly to think we could predict when it would all go down. But Nate has a job, we are on our way still, it's just a little detour and we'll be fine. I need to keep a positive attitude about it.... there's not sense in making life miserable. I have this thing in me that makes me feel like "life hasn't started until ________ " There have been a lot of things that could fit into this blank, and right now it is "we get into a house". I know that that is not true. I know that life is well on it's way and I am reminded of that everytime I look at Charity and realize we have an 8 year old!!!! And she's not going pause and wait until we are in a house to get older.... ALL of the kids are growing and living and need there mom to be on the same page.... growing and LIVING.... So anyway. I'm working on making myself comfortable with how things are rather than wishing they were different. It's just more fun this way. And now this is a really long "thing to remember".... hope it works out tonight!!!

6. My Dad has been gone on his school fieldtrip to Europe for the past week and a half. Staying in Hungary and Rome.... it's been cool to think about all the fun stuff he's been doing. The kids have been praying for him to "come home safely" since day 2 of his trip. They miss him :).... It's been fun to hear from him and hear how much he's doing. His itinerary is PACKED!! He'll be wasted when he gets home tomorrow. We were trying to get the yard all cleaned up (ya know, all the yucky winter stuff) before he got home, and we did get a little done, last Saturday, but with this crappy weather we just haven't been able to do what we wanted. Kinda bums me out. Oh well. I'm sure he'll notice the railing that I painted and the new decorative lighting, and that's good. Maybe he will disappear over the weekend and we can just hurry and do it then. I like doing things for my Dad because he is so appreciative.

7. Nate is doing really well in his new training class. He's had to start completely over in a new area (I don't know if I've mentioned that, it's been a little bit of a touchy subject for us... very frustrating), so a lot of it is redo for him. But he's had to memorize all new maps AGAIN. This is the fourth time he's learned an airspace map, he had to do Alaska's in school, Oklahoma's for that training, Area C here, and now Area B here. Kinda stinks for him. I get sick watching him have to study it all again. I don't know how he is doing it. He's just so dedicated to providing for our family. Any other person would have given up by now with the crap he's been through there. I really am grateful for his determination. He's amazing. He is plugging along though, keeping up with everyone who's been in that class for a few months longer. So that's encouraging. There are parts of me that wish we could get an offer to somewhere else and he could be a tower controller because I know he would like that so much, but I need to stop feeling that way. This will work out and we will be able to stay close to family. I need to just be happy with how it is (once again). I love Nate though and all that he is doing for us. He's my hero.

8. The other day I had this conversation with Luke. ME: Luke you need a haircut. LUKE: Can I get a five dawuh hehcut? ME: You mean at Cookie Cutters? LUKE: yeah! with the movies! ME: No, I don't have any more coupons to go there, we can only go there if we have a coupon. LUKE: Can you just dwa one??

I so wish I could draw a coupon!!! Sorry Luke, you'll just have to have a Mommy haircut.....