Dear Daddy...

I know my whole travel log is probably getting BOOOORING...so in lieu of a whole play by play, we are sending a note out to Brandon with our pictures from the day...

Love, Us

Who's who at the zoo?

Today we packed ourselves up and went to the zoo. The pass my mom and dad gave us for Christmas got us in there for FREE! YAHOO! I am LOVING all the places we can go with this pass!!!

We got to take my nephews with us, and my sister Abby.

The goats were the main attraction. The kids loved them!!

Spencer was nervous...at first. But once he got to brush the goats, he laughed and laughed!

Anthony and Kaden ridin' the Lion!

I have a strange fascination with zebras. I think they are stunning!

From left to right...Kaden, Anthony, Jenna, Drew, Spencer.

And since it wouldn't have been nearly as much fun to be at the zoo by ourselves, we chose to go on a day where at least 80% of the children who are still in school were attending a field trip there. Nothing quite like making our way through crowds of kids.

We found a nice, quiet spot on the lawn outside the zoo to have lunch afterwards...ooooh, my momma packed a tasty lunch!

We ate and talked about the animals we saw...I think this was Jenna's interpretive motions for the penguins...UNTIL we were mobbed by a group of what appeared to be 1st graders...playing red rover right in the middle of our picnic.

And Kaden LOVED the lion! Grrrrr!

Abby ran around with the kids as they made funny animal motions...

This picture below is more for Brandon...no real reason except that I think Spencer is looking more and more grown up every day...and he misses his daddy.

GREAT GRAPES! Geesh, my kids go crazy for grapes! Kaden was so funny when he saw me open the bowl of grapes. His eyes got big and he licked his lips and exclaimed, "MMMM! I LOVE GRAPES!"

After the zoo, we took some sleepy kids home for naps and sat in silence (except for my sister Abby who insisted she was bored just sitting there. I told her to have kids and that once she did she would cherish every minute she didn't have to be doing SOMETHING).

Late afternoon brought me a piece of heaven in the form of an hour long full body massage. My mom was so nice to get each of her girls gift certificates for one while they were here...and I couldn't wait to use mine! CRAZILY, the massage therapist was BLIND! He did a heck of a job--I feel a TRILLION times better. However, I had so many questions running through my mind while I was getting the massage...

You see, the massage therapist is married to a woman who is ALSO blind (she lost her vision in a tiger attack...my, how the plot thickens!). They have 2 children together. Now, I can barely take care of kids with 2 sets of adult eyes...HOW ON EARTH are they raising 2 kids with NO sets of adult eyes...who grocery shops? Who does laundry? How does he get to work? HOW does he work???? Has anyone every ripped him off? (he can't tell if anyone is giving him the right amount of money!! And he is the only one in the office).

Anyway, my crazy questions could go on and on. I am just stunned at how successful he has been with such limitations...if you are in this area and need a massage, he was really great. Weirded out by a guy giving the massage? Look on the bright side...he has no clue how pasty white your skin is, no idea if you are wearing makeup or not, and you don't have to worry about flashing him. (although, ironically enough, he does leave the room while you change. :)

When I came home from HEAVEN, the boys were leaving on a father-son campout, so we had some DELICIOUS maderine chicken and fried rice for dinner--and Abby teased her hair like a crazy gal! Jenna LOVED it and thought Abby was the COOLEST. And then she begged for her hair to have the same thing.

wow....

Anthony, my nephew who is sporting the mohawk, wanted in on the crazy hair fun and had my mom spike it. :)

And since grandpa and the boys were camping, Jenna got the idea that she wanted to have her own campout. The only place I could think was the trampoline. Of course, Kaden had to follow. I placed verbal monetary bets as to how long they would stay out there.

I would have gotten rich tonight if I had truly gambled.

By about 8:15 they were begging to come in...scary clouds were rolling in...

But they were sure cute talking out there...

Whew...it's been a day! Signing off...to go to sleep now. :)

School's out for summer!

Today I found myself in a foreign place...high school.

Last day of school + sister in town = LUNCH together!

Wow...am I getting old. It's been at least 11 years since I have eaten in a high school. And I sure felt it...

My fun sister Abby wanted me to bring some lunch in because she has some fun friends she eats with in the debate room. So, I picked up a pizza and brought it to her for us to eat together. VERY entertaining...

Thanks Abby for not being too embarrassed of me...I loved hanging out with you.

Happy Summer!

P.S. For all my friends and fellow bloggers out there, please know I have not forgotten you! I wish I could comment on every post...or even SOME posts right now, but we have been so busy! I have been doing good to even get a post up from our day...so I hope you all know I probably won't get back to normal commenting routine until I get back. Just have to spend as much time with family as I can... :)

Visit to grandma and seeing old friends!

While we were in Boise, we got to go visit my Grandma Hiatt. She was our final stop before heading back to the Eastern side of the state.

Grandma was stocked with bubbles and a basket of toys--which the kids loved. But the top toy of the day was the hand grabbers that she keeps around her house to help her out. :) I think I should invest in a few of these for cleanup...the kids sure thought they were great!
Grandma provided the best lunch! She let us pick out whatever we wanted and order it...so everybody got just the right thing.

I ordered a calzone...it ended up being a CALZONE! HOLY MOLY! This thing was HUGE! Went home with leftovers...lots of them!

Pics of the kids with their great grandma--

And me with my grandma...

We stopped in Twin Falls on our way home to see some old friends. It's hard to think I haven't seen them in SO many years because we have kept in touch through blogging and I have watched their kids grow and have more babies come and move on to jobs and new cities...but it just felt like we have been hanging out all these years!

This is my friend Charlotte's daughter Livi.

And Kaden cheesin' it for the camera.

And my friend Hannah's daughter Olivia. (she has the most BEAUTIFUL blue eyes!)

I had a great time hanging out at the park with them and visiting for a short while. You girls are great! (ironically, they didn't know each other before--or didn't remember knowing each other before. But they both just recently moved into the same apartment complex and became friends. Small world that they both happen to know me!)

Left to Right...Charlotte, me, Hannah.

After our visit we went over to see the Twin Falls temple. It was beautiful...really beautiful. I went to college for a few years in Twin Falls and never would have imagined there would be one there.

It's been a whirlwind of visiting, travel, and family. I have loved that. But I must say I am excited to settle back here in Idaho Falls and have some kind of routine--and I can't wait to start to visiting all our friends in this area.