Hogle Zoo

Jeris and Suzanna had Monday off, so we took a trip up to Hogle Zoo. Some of you may know that Sam is a little bit of a scardy-cat, but he LOVED the zoo. Every animal was exciting and interesting. His favorites included the meerkat (see video), a crazy black squirrel, the tortoises, and the great apes.

I need some better pictures of Jeris and Suzanna.


Sam played this game with the Meerkat for about 5 minutes.

Tulip Festival 2008

We went to Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point this year, but sadly due to our freezing cold spring there weren't too many tulips. However, we did have a wonderful time just being outdoors and we got to spend the afternoon with some of our favorite people: Aunt Dottie and Sarah.

These were the best of the blooms and they were very pretty.

See last year

Credit where it's due: I stole this outline from my cousin Challis's blog

Two years ago this month(2006): I was impatiently waiting for our little Sam to be born. I was already enormous and had three long more months to go. Pictures sent to Andrew when he was in Brazil at this time had him asking, "What are you guys feeding Jenna?" Nice.
Oh, and Daniel was "graduating" from BYU. (As an aside, that English class that he still lacks to be an official graduate will be completed this week! Hurray! And only two years later. That's some sort of graduation record in this household.)

Five years ago this month (2003): Daniel and I got engaged! The day after finals at BYU we went up to Idaho and I got my wisdom teeth out. The next day we decided to take a drive to Yellowstone. I was drugged (Lortab) and we were the only people there and I kept having Night of the Grizzlies flashbacks. I was sure some beast was just waiting up ahead on every boardwalk. When a jackrabbit jumped out of the bushes, I jumped out of my skin. Other than that it was beautiful and fun. Then I sent him off to Virginia for the rest of the summer and that pretty much sucked.

Ten years ago this month (1998): I can't believe this was 10 years ago. I was getting ready to graduate from Hillcrest High School. Ashley and I had picked out an apartment in Rexburg, which committed me to Rick's College. Yeah, I know. Most people pick a school first right? Good times ahead.

Fifteen years ago this month (1993): I can't even remember what grade I was in. I'm thinking 8th. (We all know math is not my strong point.) That would mean that I was probably just getting the cast off my leg. I broke that sledding at a Young Women's activity, prompting a ban on sledding at church gatherings. Actually, now that I think about it, that was 7th grade. Middle school was a wild rough place. Generally I thought I was pretty cool. We all know I wasn't. Let's all forget it.

Twenty years ago (1988): 3rd Grade? I have no clue.
Probably reading Little House on the Prairie for the hundred millionth time. I think this was the year my friend Tara introduced me to Watcher in the Woods. Scary stuff.
I remember my math teacher Mrs. Williams and something about fences. This could have been an effort to teach me about decimals. Hopeless, scary stuff.

Twenty-five years ago today (1983): My world changed. My little brother Jeris was born. Although I distinctly remember plotting his demise, I eventually have warmed up to him.
He is one of the nicest, most generous, easygoing, fun to be around people in the world. He is sweet to Sam and adored in return. He has a beautiful and kind wife, whom we all love. He is one of my best friends.

Happy birthday Jeris! We love you!

Sam's new favorite pastime is"hoops". We had to get him a real hoop because we were tired of having to stand there, arms in "hoop" position, and let him aim basketballs at our faces. He can do this for hours. Daniel went out and bought this one night while I was at work. When I got home at 3AM, Sam came running into the living room to greet me and said, "Bastball, hoops!" and proceeded to show me his basketball moves, completely unaware the children should be asleep at this time of night.