Day at the Zoo

Saturday I was a 'deer hunt widow' so I convinced my family that we needed to take Mya to the Zoo. It was a gorgeous day, I haven't been to the zoo since I was right out of high school so it had changed a lot. I was really impressed with all the improvements that they have made, but was kind of sad that there weren't lions, jaguars, or hippos anymore.

Mya was absolutely in awe at all the wild animals. It was so fun to watch her stare at each animal so intently. It was pretty serious business, you know. We wandered through the monkey habitats and she would stare at them and point and 'meow' at them. But, she pretty much 'meowed' at everything that was small, fuzzy and resembled a kitty in any way.
Aren't we lovin' McKay and My Happy Faces! So pretty.

Checkin' out the Elephants with Grams and Gramps.

She was so cute watching these two. It took quite a bit of convincing to get her to turn around long enough for us to snap a picture, she just wanted to keep watching them. When we finally walked away we asked her to say 'bye' to the elephants and she kept saying it over and over and waved as we were walking away.

It was really nice that it wasn't too crowded, there was always a spot we could take her so she could get right up next to the glass or cage to see the animals really well.
McKay and I couldn't help but think of King Julius off of Madagascar when we saw these little lemurs.

Seein' the bears with uncle 'K'

'Raffs' are the one animal that she does recognize and call by name. It was so fun to see her point and say 'raff' when we walked up to them.

There were so many baby animals at the zoo this year it was so fun. The baby Elephant, Giraffe, and the baby Tigers were all out in their enclosures but there were some other brand new babies that were still too little to come out.

Ah, who can resist putting funny hats on their toddler's head, not me!

Apparently, neither can McKay.

Yelling at the poor 'meow', which really is a fox but how does one explain that to a 16 month old.

By far Mya got the biggest kick out the the Meerkats. There was a whole troop of them that were running and wrestling and just going at it right by the glass and that to Miss Mya was the funniest thing she had seen all day long. She laughed and laughed at them.

That giant heap in there is an orangutan, the big male, complete with moon face. He was just happy to be there and Mya was content to stare at him.
Such a fun Saturday activity, thanks fam for coming with us it was so much fun! I can't wait to take her back next year!

C-C-C-Courage!

It's finally happened! Little Miss finally decided to get up the courage to walk by herself. There have been many false alarms and a lot of chickening out but she is now officially a walker. She walks with her arms above her head, like and orangutan, it's pretty hilarious. I'll admit that I think it's pretty dang cute to watch her little drunk walk across the room. I love it!

Conference Weekend in St. George

For Conference weekend we headed down to St. George with the Hansen clan for a quick get away. The sunshine was fantastic, especially since it has been sub zero up here for the past little while.

Saturday morning we braved the wait at Bear Paw and enjoyed a heavenly breakfast. That place is my absolute favorite and Cody is in love with their home fries. Mya and Glenn became instant pals because he let her 'fish' in his ice water. Half his glass ended up on the table but she was having the time of her life.

Later that afternoon, Kim and I hit the outlet malls while some of the fam went 4-wheeling. Then we all met back at the pool for a swim.

Mya started throwing out new words this weekend that we had never heard before.
Plane, splash and watch all took us by surprise.

Auntie Kim, Nanna, Kenz, Adam and Camarie

We had so much fun spending time with the whole fam, and watching conference together. We love you all so very much! It was such a wonderful conference. I was so thankful for the spirit of love that radiates from our leaders. It inspired me to better; a better wife, mother and saint.

She's Free!!

Hope you all notice that Mya has 2 shoes on and not just one!

Friday the 25th we had her cast removed and everything looks great.

The removal was a little bit of an ordeal, they have to shove these long plastic ruler looking things down her leg so that they can cut along them with the saw, not down her leg. One side got a good scratch from these but what can you do when your toddler is fighting the procedure, there's bound to be a casualty. The saw was terrifyingly loud and my poor little girl screamed the whole time. There was no consoling her, singing did not work. I felt so horrible, it's a good thing that Dr. Glade is fast.

She favored that leg for a few days and hasn't been brave enough to walk alone yet until yesterday. So hopefully this hasn't set her back too far. Occasionally when she walks with us she still lifts her leg like she has her cast on, it's pretty funny.