Utah's Hogle Zoo - Happy 4th!

After packing our day bags full of snacks and water, getting lost on our way to the zoo, thanks a lot MapQuest for your crappy directions, we finally got to the famous Hogle Zoo for the 4th of July. We really wanted to make it a family weekend and that is exactly what we did. It was fun to see Bella react to all the different animals. Here is just a taste of what we did...

A rare white alligator...the first animal of the day.

Bella's life size Ellie the Elephant

Picture perfect Zebras :)

My favorite animal in the whole world!

Look how close they got to us!

A Meerkat staring right at Bella...she would follow the glass up and down when it moved up and down.

The carousel...Bella wanted a bench, not an animal.

The last thing to do...the train ride.

The Beginning of the Day...............The End of the Day

The girls were awesome, we loved the whole day. The only thing left to do was naps and fireworks!

Build A Bear or Bust!

We were extremely blessed to have the company of our best friends for the 4th of July weekend. Heather, Aaron, and their daughter Lilly went with us to Utah for the weekend for a family fun weekend. After staying Wednesday night at their house in Pocatello, we left Thursday morning to start our family fun in Utah. After almost 3 hours of driving, we went to the Gateway outdoor mall to have our daughters create an animal to remember the whole weekend that we had together. After getting to Build-A-Bear, Bella changed her mind 3 different times on which animal she wanted. She finally decided on an elephant. It was fun to see how Bella reacted to the first day of fun! :)


After Ellie the Elephant was filled up

Daniel helping Bella give her new elephant, ELLIE, a bath. So cute!


Picking out an outfit for Ellie...a white and pink sparkle top, pink shorts, and pink bows.



After Ellie was dressed, we got a birth certificate for Ellie who was 16 inches and 11 oz. :)

Storytime Pottery

So I was trying to think of things that Bella and I could do together during this summer since I finally had the time off from school. The community had a storytime pottery class at the local pottery shop called 'Hands on' once a month. In May we did "Ten Little Lady Bugs" and then we got to paint a ladybug after they read the story. My mom just happened to be in town that weekend, so she went with us, and then Bella wanted to give my mom the ladybug that they painted together for Mother's Day. It turned out really cute. Then in June, we did "Grow Flower Grow" and after the story we got to paint a flower pot. Dan was able to go with us this morning to help. It turned out soooo cute. When we got the pot home, Bella picked out the flower that she wanted to pot. What do you think?

Bella's homework

Dan is always saying that Bella is a little miniature me. I would just laugh at her every time I would see her grab her little purse, but on her dress-up high heels, blow kisses and try to leave the house. I realized that she notices everything when the other day, on my last day of school, she decided that she needed to do homework too...of course she needs that supermodel pose to go with it. :)

Guitar Hero...round 2

Alright....so we all know that Guitar Hero is one of our favorite games lately. Well Dan decided that it was time to get my mother hooked on it as well.....

She would say "my hand is starting to hurt"...Dan said "You want to stop?" "No, let's do one more song." This went on for 30 minutes or so. We have now been told that we need to bring this to all family functions from now on. BIG HIT~~~

Brunch and Bunnies

Easter weekend was great. I had that whole week off for spring break and I took that time to finish the final touches on my gorgeous sister Corrine's bridal shower that I was hosting at my home. The theme was "Lemons" since it was her project Lemonland that took her to London in the first place where she met the man of her dreams. I spent weeks planning this shower and couldn't wait to finally see it all come together. The day was perfect, the food was great, and it was so nice to see all of our family together...it has been awhile. We had a full house, and played a game to see how well Corrine knew Andrew...By the way Corri, the score was Andrew 15, you 4. :)

Easter came, the Bunny left his tracks, and Bella was definantly going to have a sugar high. :) She got some cute things, was able to spend the day with her cousins, and then have Easter dinner at my Aunt Janet's house. Easter...lots of family...lots of love...lots of fun.



Bella, Eddie, & Nathan...mmmmm, candy! CHEEEEESE!!!

Dress up

So as some of you know, Bella got a ton of dress-up clothes for Christmas, and she can't leave them alone. This is one of her latest outfits...I think that she is warming up for Disneyland that is a year away. One of the many times that Bella is too cute for words.

Also, like many others, Guitar Hero has become a favorite game is this house...Heather and Aaron, we challenge you 2 to a duel the next time you are in town. :) Bella of course had to be a part of the action.