Finally...

I'm getting these zoo pictures on! My parents and I took Skye to the zoo a few weeks ago. It was a really nice, cool morning so it was perfect. We got to see Zuri, the new baby elephant. She was so much fun to watch.
She was so active and playful.

A lot of the animals were very active in the cool weather, though most of the big cats were still sleeping--except for this lynx. He was walking about, eating, drinking, and sticking out his tongue!
We couldn't believe this other lynx had somehow wedged itself in that tiny corner of the roof. It looked so funny!

Skye always likes seeing the snakes!

And she always loves the carousel. After seeing Zuri, she wanted to ride on the baby elephant! It's so nice to see her smiling and waving to us on the carousel now. When she was younger, she'd always want to ride it, but as soon as it would go, she'd turn expressionless so we could never tell if she really liked it or not. Now we know she loves it!

She likes doing things all by herself without any help from anyone these days. It was so funny--I noticed my dad putting his hand on the elephant, then saw Skye pushing it off because she didn't need his help! Miss independent!

Petting her elephant, telling her she's a good elephant.

A Test of Strength

Look at those strong men! Okay, so the picture isn't that great, but that thing was heavy! I was amazed at them picking it up. It's Lance and our nephew, Tyler. Here's a crew of them transfering it from the house out to a trailer to be taken to Montana by my sister-in-law.
We had one last, big get together with Mindy's family before they headed back to Montana. We went to the park after dinner and I watched (did not participate!) in a pull-up contest! Here's Mindy. She is one buff lady!

Our nephew Trent.

Mindy's husband, Jason, who came in second in the competition.

Lance's sister, Cori, who at least hung from the bars!

And my super strong man who did the most pull-ups!

It was VERY windy that evening so Skye pulled up the hood on her jacket. She looked so cute!

The night ended with a crazy, windy volleyball game.

Skye took off with the ball once, though!

Lance's hand got caught in the net on this play!

It was a fun evening and sad to see Mindy and her family leave. It was a lot of fun spending time with them. I was especially glad Skye got to play with the only cousins she has that are even remotely close to her age. I only wish they lived closer!

Five Years

The whirlwind of a week continued with Lance's and my fifth wedding anniversary. That seems even more crazy than Skye's third birthday. What a whirlwind ride we've been on in those five years. I rode FrontRunner, then Trax all the way to Sandy to meet Lance after he was done at work. After dinner, we headed to the Real Salt Lake game. They had put the game on hold just as we got there due to lightening. It also started raining. After almost an hour, they finally got to start the game again. Here's the main cheering squad! If you've never been to a RSL game, I highly recommend you go! They are a blast.
Well, this game was a little more dull than others we've been to, but wasn't horrible. They were playing the L.A. Galaxy which they beat for the World Cup title last year. The game was scoreless until about ten or fifteen minutes left in the game when RSL finally got one in.

Me at the game!

RSL won 1-0. Yay for Salt Lake!

The best part of the night for me was the David Cook concert after the game. It was loud and awesome! I absolutely LOVED it!

I love this picture I got of him!

Lance surprised me by taking me to the Anniversary Inn that night. Unfortunately, my overall impression of the place was disappointment. The cheesecake and sparkling cidar were nice, and the room itself (the Log Cabin suite) looked nice enough, but it was a lot smaller than I expected--smaller than other themed hotels like it that I've stayed at. The bed was extremely uncomfortable and squeaked badly. The only thing besides the bed to sit on was a little, hard, wooden bench. They didn't give us any options for breakfast besides what to drink. The cinnamon roll they brought was totally burnt and gross. So I was disappointed. I did like the big jetted tub, though. We had planned to go for a hike in the morning, but after taking a soak in the tub, we were too relaxed to do anything strenuous so we went to the zoo instead.

Besides the baby elephant, we liked seeing the new Nature's Nightmares exhibit. Lance got this great picture of these huge African fruit bats. A lady working there said you can build bat perches in your yard to attract bats. The bats will then eat mosquitos and other bugs. We thought that sounded like a good idea!

Overall, it was a fun anniversary. Thanks for sticking it out with me all these years, Lance! Here's a little, bad quality movie I took with our camera at the concert.

Happy Birthday, Skye!

The last week has been a whirlwind. I have so much to catch up on. I'll start with Skye's birthday. She turned three on Tuesday! My mom made this cute butterfly cake. Skye loves M&Ms so we decided to decorate it with those. As we were pondering what to do, Skye just started putting them on so we thought it would be fun to let her decorate it. She wore this cute apron that the relief society president in the ward made. My parents go home teaching to her and her husband. She'd made several of them and had one left over so she gave it to Skye. It is so darling! Here's the finished product. We put the face on and Skye did the rest--including the belly button!

Skye's special treat was seeing her cousins, Oren and Audrey. Lance's sister from Montana was down for a visit. We hadn't seen them for two years and Skye was sooooo excited to see them. They instantly bonded!

We had cake and opened presents at the park with all of my family and much of Lance's family. Skye got spoiled this year! She asked her cousins to help her unwrap things. They were very happy to do so!

We ended the evening at Boondocks. Audrey and Skye did roller ball (little kid bowling). Skye would just throw the balls down on the lane. I was sure the floor would crack!

Audrey looked like a pro!

Coming over to give me high five!

Most of the time, Skye wouldn't even wait for her ball to hit the pins before she'd throw another one down. Lance got this great picture of three balls on her lane at once!

Audrey was so nice and offered to play with Skye in the Kiddie Cove. They had a blast! We all did! I love having Boondocks in Kaysville. It was hard pulling Skye away. It was the craziest, funnest birthday ever!

Kids Really Do Say the Darndest Things

Skye is at that age where she says some pretty random and funny things. Here are some cute pictures and funny sayings. Skye was eating strawberries. With a smile on her face and a strawberry in her cheek, she said, "Christmas is good like strawberries."

Skye had a sippy cup in the car with us. She started shaking it and then said, "It doesn't sound like a rocket, but it still makes a noise." How random is that?
A month or so ago, a boy with dark hair and glasses passed us the sacrament in church. Skye asked, "Is that Harry Potter? That look just like Harry Potter." I couldn't help but laugh. The funny part was when Lance asked me why she thought that and I told him because of the dark hair and glasses. He still looked confused. Later, I found out he thought she had said the boy looked like Heavenly Father. He couldn't understand why hair and glasses would make her think that!

Skye was drinking some chocolate milk with dinner. When she noticed a piece of her bread had fallen in she responded with, "It's okay. The bread can swim."

Skye is convinced that she's a cat. Seriously. She really thinks she is a cat. So she likes to eat the same way a cat does.

Okay, so most of the time she eats like a normal person, but I wonder if this cat phase will ever diminish. That's my cute, little Skyebee!