Hogle Zoo

We wanted to take the kids and do something fun for a weekend so we decided to stay at Joye and Gilbert's and talk them into going to Hogle Zoo with us! It was a hot day and we were all super tired by the end, but we had so much fun! The kids loved the train and all the animals, but we don't even have a picture of their favorite thing there: The life-sized dinosaur replicas that spray water!! They loved it!

Huge Elephant
Measuring my monkeys

This girl picked the snake herself....I don't think we are related!!!

Ashton on his lion cub!

The bird show was amazing! I took this pic a little early, it seriously went right over our heads!

You give the bird a dollar and he puts it in the box!

Jeffrey the Giraffe

Uncle Kris took them for a ride in Grandpa's 'Cuda!!

The funniest thing happend Saturday night when they were going to bed. Joye had let Gentri sleep with her Tinkerbelle flashlight and I had been laying in bed for a minute when I saw a light out in the hall. I opened the door to find Gentri and Ashton sneaking down the hall toward the livingroom, they saw me and froze! They looked SO guilty it was hilarious. Apparently Gentri had left her stuffed animal out there and they were on a retrieval mission. They just looked so cute and so old! Like a precursor to all the trouble they will get into with each other over the years. Love them!!

Mexico from 6 months ago...

Let me just say that this was THEE most amazing trip EVER!! 100% paid for by Stock Building Supply and I think Andrew gave them a run for their money, he ate like 7 times a day! The first full day we were there we went on our excursion to the caves and had a blast!! There were ziplines, repelling down into the caves, snorkeling in the caves, sky bikes that took you all over, and a crazy roller coaster that finishes in the water. I have video of the roller coaster, but can't get it to load:( That was our "strenuous" day and then everyday after that we literally only did two things: eat and hang out at the beach. (Maybe there was time for one other thing) But it was SO NICE to just be together and chill! It was the most fun, relaxing, beautiful vacation, ahhh I want to go back!!

The "swim up bar"

So pretty at night!! This is one of the restaurants we went to, yummy!

The beach!! There were golf carts to take you down from the resort or sweet BMW bikes to ride down. We had so much fun on those bikes and even saw a few crashes:)

The view from under the cabana, heaven.... The view from our table, another amazing pool.

Swimming into the stalagmite cave

This zipline was so fun, you end up in the cave and land in the water!

Andy on the sweet sky bikes that take you all over the jungle and through caves.

Me, pedaling away!

Andy on the zip line

Hogle Zoo

My Beautiful Tender Mercy

I am sitting here with tears streaming down my face as I think about what a blessing Gentri is to me. She was the tiniest thing I had ever seen, and also the strongest. She wanted to run the day she was born and once she could, she never stopped. She is strong-willed and stubborn (which I love, my dad says she is like me) and also the sweetest thing to ever come to my life. When I was pregnant with Ashton and so tired, she helped me with the laundry and handed me dishes from the bottom rack so I wouldn't have to bend over. My beautiful tender mercy. When I have had as much as I can take, suddenly I hear them giggling so hard they can't breathe, chasing and tickling each other. My beautiful tender mercy. When she is sad, she crawls into my lap and lets me hold her. Suddenly everything feels ok, and I am so happy to hold this precious girl: My beautiful tender mercy. Today I am sick like Ashton and I set him down (I have been holding him most of the day) just to go to the bathroom. He cries the saddest cry and she says, "I can hold you Ashton." She tries to pick him up and carry him, he starts to smile and she tells him she will go find him a toy. My beautiful sweet tender mercy. I hope that I can help her as much as she has helped me. I have grown in patience (I want to be MORE patient) and love the last three years we have been together. I love this little girl more than I can say. She has been my angel from the Lord and I am so grateful for her.

OOPS!

Just realized the picture of my loot didn't load, I got a few shirts and then
he put money in my favorite Christmas candy to go shopping with. Thanks babe!:)

A late Christmas post!

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! I loved this year SO much!!! Christmas Eve we get our new jammies on, fill our thermoses with hot chocolate, and drive around looking at the lights listening to Christmas music. Love this tradition! This year we also did Secret Santa on our drive and since it was a near disaster, I will tell you about it. Andrew dropped me off a ways down the road and was going to round the corner and park up the street behind their house (they live on a corner) well the first thing I notice is a huge fence with bolts on the gate, so obviously there will be no knocking and running... There car is in the driveway so I decide to open the door and leave it on the seat then honk and run hide behind a bush. Well they came out and started panicking because their door was open and lights on, I think they thought they got robbed! The dogs start barking like crazy and she ALMOST let them out to come attack the robber!! She finally came out and saw the present but by then the dogs had found the bush I was hiding behind and were barking like crazy at it. I heard her go back inside and I look back and I can just barely see Andrew's truck...he would have been hidden if I could have put it on the doorstep. I really hope she didn't look around too hard and make out the truck!! We will definetly need to plan our stealthy attack better next year!:-) These are some pictures from Christmas morning with all our loot! Ashton is a little glazed over because we woke him up and he was NOT ready to wake up:) We had so much fun with the kids this year, Gentri was really excited about her presents and Santa coming. She put on a dress Christmas Eve morning and I asked her why she said "Because Santa is coming tonight!" The pic at the bottom is my new fav decoration, it's a Christmas card holder made from a crib spring! I love it... Hope everyone has a Happy New Year, lets make 2011 the best year yet!





Oh and Ashton LOVES that bull! Gentri always squeezes the bull's ear for Ashton while he's riding (it plays music) and sometimes she even hops on with him!

Happy Birthday Ashton!

My baby is 1! Can't believe the year went by so fast, it seems like just the other day I had a new baby. Now he is running! He can climb up and down the stairs, off the couch, lift the toilet seat up and put his sister's dress up shoes in and all sorts of other mischief!! He can clap and can say cracker and when you tell him to say ma ma he YELLS da da:) He gives the best kisses but hasn't figured out how to close his mouth...He is so happy all the time and LOVES to play with Gentri, they chase each other and giggle till they can't breathe. He is such a blessing and I love him so much!