Zoo!

Hailey and Makayla had today off from school because of Easter. We decided to visit the zoo with our extra-long day together.

First the girls fortified themselves for the visit by devouring an entire small watermelon. Makayla, as you can tell by the piece in her hands, eats melon down to the dark green part of the rind. She complains that the rind tastes yucky, but she eats most of it anyway.

When we got to the zoo, the first thing we saw was this peacock reclining in the shade.

After waving good-bye, we headed over to the...

....very scary bears.

I'm sure glad I brought my wagon to carry girls. 

It ended up being such a good coat/blanket/shoe holder.

We checked out the reptiles,

and found Favio's (Ashley's snake) cousin.

We watched the tiger pace its cage for a bit.

Makayla read the sign by the cage for us. According to Makayla it included the instructions, "Don't let the tiger eat you" and "Don't let the tiger come to your house". Dang. There go my plans for the day.

Hailey's favorite exhibit was the beavers. She loved the way they tried to scratch through the glass to come and be with us.

Hailey describing the square, big teeth beavers have.

It was a great day to be at the zoo--warm, but not hot. 

At every exhibit, Makayla asked, "Are they going to get me?" 

and Hailey asked "Can I take him home?" 

No and, um, no.

I watched the pink monkey exhibit for a while,

then spent an hour or so watching the same monkeys play on the zoo playground.

 We had lots of fun at our little zoo and pretty much wore ourselves out. We got home just in time...

 ....to relax and listen to Grandpa tell us the story of "Jackette and the Beanstalk".

Graduation Day!

We had one of those extra-fun parental experiences over the last three days as we made a quick trip down to Idaho to enjoy the company of our children and grandchildren and Ashley's graduation. The roads at this time of year are predictably yucky. This doesn't discourage us hearty Montanans, however...

 ...as we left Billings and drove into the storm, we discovered that our windshield wipers would not turn on. We had the windshield wiper motor replace just two months ago--apparently it didn't take. No wipers are kind of a problem when it's snowing wet snow, semi trucks blow past you spraying mud and slush onto your windshield, and the road is slick and icy, but you can't really see it.

 

 I drove and every few miles Stan got out and wiped. It was sloooow going on the way home.

We stayed with the Backman's and admired our cute Idaho grandkids.

Krew is the funniest little guy. He cracks us up. Here he's saying "Mom, that girl, her breathe on my toys!" I was careful not to point out that she was slobbering on them, too.

 Grandpa doesn't get to see these guys as much as I do, but Krew was totally into Grandpa. Here's Krew and Grandpa playing "Tickle Monster"

and "Grandpa, why is my toy dangling off of your ear?!?!?" It was fun to see these two playing.

 

Between packing up her room and finishing her semester's work, poor Megan was pretty much MIA.

 I think she's going to enjoy a little time off.

 

 Soon it was time for graduation. Cute little Brinlee could not wait to see her Mom get that diploma.

 Brinlee was amazing--she sat happily through hours and hours of speeches and ceremony without complaint. We just passed her back and forth, and she kept us all entertained. At 9 months old, she's crawling well and standing alone for several seconds. She's a bundle of activity and always smiling.

Elder Ballard gave an interesting and wonderful speech and then

it was time for Ashley to graduate. Here she is on the giant TV screen.

Getting her all-important empty diploma holder...

...and pausing for the "I am a graduate" pose.

Brinlee liked Mom's new hat

but thinks it looks better on her.

The proud parents and hubby

and the two cute, look-a-like sisters. Jorden stayed home with Krew, which was so nice- hours of sitting through the day with a two year old would have been tough.

  

I love this snugly picture of Brinlee and Grandpa....

...and this one too!

I'm pretty sure McKay and Ashley know everyone at BYU-I.

We went out for a celebration dinner. The new graduate seems to have a 'tude. That's okay Ashley, you're completely entitled. We are so proud of you, and we know how much work it's been to graduate with a baby in tow. You are amazing!

Stan and I drove home on Saturday, but I will be back in a week or so to collect Megan after she gets home from her Texas adventure!!

Me N' Target

I have a troubled history with our Target store. It's a dangerous place. Don't forget, 

The Target Toilet

 ate my phone last year. However Hailey and Makayla needed some sandals, so I decided I'd be brave and head to my favorite store.

 After all they have these nifty feet-measurers.

As well as thousands of shoe choices, which Makayla lost no time in trying on.

Hailey fell in love with white dress sandals with a 1/2 inch heel. Makayla fell in a heap on the floor when she couldn't find sandals in her size with any amount of heel.

 Somehow we managed to come home with a couple of pairs of sandals each, as well as a few treasures from the dollar bin.

That dollar bin is just full of can't live without items.

We also managed to find a few headbands....

for holding all of that long, flowing, luxurious hair out of our way.

As long as we're shopping it makes sense to whip out my 25% off coupon and get some spring-weight jackets, right?

As I punched in my debit card PIN number, I just couldn't help but marvel at how expensive those sandals were.

Yep, that Target is a dangerous place!!!

I'm Looking Forward to....

I have a dozen tempting sour cream chocolate cupcakes with homemade sour cream frosting leftover from our Stake events of this past weekend....

 ...as well as a couple dozen fruit kabobs from the same event

I"m looking forward to the day I have the discipline to reach for the cantaloupe

instead of the chocolate.

On Monday we got 4 inches of snow.

Today it's going to be in the 60's and my flowers are beginning to seriously break into bloom...

I'm looking forward to a more permanent spring.

On Tuesday, Hailey's crown fell off her tooth. I took her to the dentist right during lunch time, meaning we had to stop and get non-school lunch type food before returning to school. You can see how disappointed Hailey is.

After school, Hailey drew me some pictures: this one of me smiling because I "put my reading glasses on and can see the sun"....

...and this one of me running in terror from Angry Birds.

I'm looking forward to seeing Hailey's future works in The Louvre.

Makayla and Amy have been really sick. Today they tested positive for Influenza A. Don't let Makayla's sweet smile fool you--she's been keeping her sick mom up all night with a 104 temperature.  I ran into them on the way home from the doctor, getting Tamiflu at the pharmacy.

This is no fun. I'm looking forward to the day they feel better, and I'm pretty sure Amy is too.

This is the Joneses' exercise hill. It's about 1.5 miles round trip from our house. It's steeper than it looks. Stan and I have been running jogging walking crawling it several times a day in an effort to get in shape for all the walking we may do our spring trip.

Now THAT is something I'm REALLY looking forward to!!!