Hogle Zoo

Claire absolutely loves surprises.  In fact, there are times when we are at the store and she has earned a treat and she will close her eyes and ask me to pick out her treat just so it can be a surprise.  She loves it when I tell her I have a surprise and she will spent forever trying to guess what it is.  And I must admit it totally makes me day when I get a big hug and she says "Mom, you always have the best surprises for me."  So when my sister and I decided to take the kids to the zoo I decided not to tell Claire until we were on our way.  She squealed with delight when I told her we were going to the zoo and she got even more excited when I surprised her again by picking up Steph, Rilynn and Caitlynn. 

Last year she was a little nervous to get a drink out of the lion mouth but this year she was all for it.

This log was Crue's favorite part of the zoo.   He would run back and forth and peek out the hole and just start laughing. 

We loved the new exhibits and me and Crue kept trying to get a good peek at the seals and otters.

Isn't he just the cutest!! 

Claire was so excited to ride the rhino.  There were so many kids playing on it when we got there but she insisted on waiting so her and Ri could get on.

And since we got a zoo membership I think we will be coming back quite a bit this summer.

Who's Awesome!!

That would be my man!!  Several weeks ago we were in Home Depot and I mentioned that I wanted a new mantle.  We spent a little while walking around and pricing things out and figuring out just how we would make it WHEN we would eventually get around to making it.  Well sometime during our little trip to Home Depot Luke decided just to get everything we needed and he would make it that night.....and he did.

Fifty dollars and four hours later we went from this old mantle.....

 (Notice how I have not really done anything with it.  I was not very deep so everything I put up there had to be lined up so I just didn't really bother doing much of anything.)

to this amazing new mantle....

Well almost this....don't ya hate it when you are almost finished with a project and then realize at nearly midnight that you are out of paint and all the stores are of course closed. But other than painting he had my new mantle done that night.

AND I LOVE IT!!!!

The old mantle had been there for as long as I can remember.  I remember my grandma and grandpa had pictures lined up along that mantle so I was a little sad to see it go.  But since we have slowly been re-doing the house since we bought it, it was definitely time for something new. 

I even had a little help from this little munchkin who has insisted that the entire house needs to be decorated, inside and out, to get ready for the parade.  And yes, she is wearing her Halloween witch costume from two years ago as she makes Independence Day decorations.  Her full outfit for the day was her witch costume, a cat mask, pink cowboy boots, and she wouldn't go anywhere without carrying her baking soda volcano toy that our neighbor gave her. I LOVE THIS GIRL!!

Did I mention that I love my new mantle... but not nearly as much as I love my hubby.  Thanks Babe!!

Fathers Day Weekend

Last month I was talking to Claire and told her that we needed to do something special for Luke for Father's Day. It needed to be something special, something that he would like, and it needed to be a surprise so he would know how much we love him. This is what she came up with, "Mom, I have a great idea. Lets get him a big juicy carrot."

Well, needless to say, we didn't get him a big juicy carrot although that definitely would have been a surprise. Instead we decided to take him camping. I recently heard about Crystal Hot Springs so that is where we went. We spent hours going down the water slides, playing in the swimming pool, and relaxing in the hot mineral pool. We ended the night by eating dutch oven pizza, dutch oven apple crisp, and lots of smores. YUM!!!






The next morning we decided to head on down to the Chalk Art Festival at the Gateway but along the way we took a little detour.  We  passed a sign for the Golden Spike Historical Site and decided that since we weren't in any hurry we would stop by.  Plus Luke and I like going to see historical places.  I thought it would be right off the exit but I was so wrong.  Lets just say that it is literally out in the middle of nowhere.  But it was neat to see where the Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroads met and the golden spike was driven in to connect the east and west coast.  And an added bonus of the detour was seeing how creative we could get when Claire insists on us all playing "I Spy" when we are surrounded by nothing but sagebrush for miles on end. :)

 

It was a great weekend!!

The New Do

We have been talking about it for about a year but three weeks ago we finally did it.....We made the big cut.

12 inches to be exact!!!

Crue was a little impatient but a bag of M&M's fixed that problem real quick.

Look at my little cutie!!  It was so cute because for days she would reach up to feel her hair just to make sure it was still gone and I would constantly catch her posing in front of the mirror.

I wanted to get a picture of her holding her ponytail but she said that it was just disgusting.  It was a stretch just to get her to hold the envelope that held her hair.  She was so excited to donate her hair.  There is a lady on our street whose granddaughter is Claire's age and was diagnosed with leukemia a few years ago.  Claire has played with her a few times and she was really excited to help out a little girl just like her friend. 

Starting Our Summer Out Right

  We seriously love summer around here and want to take advantage of every second of it.  Claire spends the majority of her day outside playing and Crue absolutely loves playing on the trampoline.  Luke put the net up a few weeks ago and one of Crue's favorite things to do is have his daddy chase him around the tramp.

Last year Claire was one of the few kids on our street and rarely had anyone to play with.  Boy, things sure change a lot in a year.  We had about 15 kids (and half are cousins) move into our  neighborhood in the last few months and now there is never a dull moment here.

And we are still doing soccer and having fun.

Crue just hanging out at a soccer game.

Crue has decided that he really, really, really likes daddy.  Not only do they play on the trampoline but daddy also plays on the swing with him.

It didn't take Crue long to figure out how to get on the trampoline all by himself so we immediately had to move the slide away.

And he mastered climbing the slide all the way to the top pretty fast too. 

And he is always so proud of himself once he gets to the top. 

We have been setting up the waterslide/slip-n-slide quite frequently and within minutes we have a backyard full of kids.

Isn't he just so cute wearing his cape that the Easter Bunny brought.

And while the big kids are playing on the big water slide we set one up just for Crue too.

  And this is totally random but I went to check on Claire and found her sound asleep with Sally next to her and they were both using their matching blankets that Grandma made them.

We got tickets to a Bees game from Luke's work.  Claire has been begging to go to a game and she was so excited when we found out that they were doing fireworks that night too.  So what happens...it is freezing cold when we got there and windy and just miserable.  I felt so bad not staying for the whole game but we left after about an hour.  Claire must have been pretty cold too because she didn't complain at all when we left early.  We will make it up to the munchkin in a few weeks and take her again. 



Claire's Preschool

Claire has absolutely loved going to preschool.  I honestly think she would go everyday if it was an option.  She had the best teachers and made so many friends.  Right before school got out for the summer she had two field trips and I signed up to go on both of them with her. 

The first one was at a farm.  There were lots of animals there but the only thing she would touch was this little kitten.

And then her favorite part was going on a horse ride with her best friend Alabama. 

Here they all are eating a treat before going home. 

The second field trip was at the fire station.  The kids were so excited when a fire truck showed up at the school, loaded them all up, and then drove them to the fire station.

Lets hope she never needs to stop, drop, and roll because instead she just wants to cover her face and ignore what is going on. 

They took us in a room and showed pictures of all the past fire chiefs and here we are pointing to Claire and Crue's great-grandpa.

She seriously loved the fire trucks.

For her last day of school we all went to the park for a picnic and listened to her class sing some of the songs that they learned during the year.  And she made me promise to get a picture of her with her teachers.