we're goin' to the zoo, zoo, zoo ...

Blessing Day

Elaine was blessed on Sunday at my parents' home. Laney cried through much of the blessing, but it was still beautiful!

Lagoon

Last Friday was Mike's work party at Lagoon. It was quite an adventure; I think we had fun?

Within minutes of walking through the gate, Mike noticed a stroller tire was flat, and I of course had not brought our patch kit or pump. Mike's good thinking quickly found us a pump at the First Aid and Security office. But no patch kit. We ended up patching the hole with a butterfly bandaid Mike retrieved from our car. It held quite nicely. First catastrophe avoided.

Our first stop with a repaired stroller was the merry-go-round. Mariah saw the "see-see's" (horsies), and wanted to ride. She loved it until the merry-go-round started moving. I illegally bailed off of my horse to stand next to her, and then ended up having to take her off and hold her for the duration of the ride.


Our second stop was the log ride. Mariah saw the water and wanted to go in the boat. She loved it until the part where the log plummets down a slide and splashes at the bottom. I didn't remember how rough the landing was (maybe it was worse because we were in a log all by ourselves?), but when we hit the bottom of the slide, we flew forward, and I had to jam my knees into the back of the seat in front of us to avoid crushing Mariah. (I think the attendant should have warned us of such things). Near catastrophe #2 narrowly avoided. My knees are very bruised; they hit so hard there were traces of blue fabric left on the seat. (You can view the video of this ride in the slide show at the bottom of this post. Notice how well I'm pretending I didn't just barely avoid crushing my child.)

We stopped next at Rattlesnake Rapids and watched the rafters go under the waterfall. This was Mariah's favorite part so far. She was still talking the next day about how all the people "get wet."

Mariah loved the train!! It just goes around a little pond (takes about 5 minutes). It goes by cages and pens with different animals in them. All the most exotic animals (grizzly bear, tiger, lion) were not in their pens, however. We did see a zebra, some camels, some elk, ostrich, emu, geese, ducks, deer, and kangaroos.

Mariah was very pleased to sit on her very own bench on the train . . . until it started moving.








After the train, we finally stopped for dinner. I had packed sandwiches, peaches, grapes, carrots, and popcorn. We were all very hungry and feeling much better after we ate.






Our next stop was the little kid boat ride. Mariah watched for a while and then insisted she wanted to drive a boat. Mike helped her into one, and she was fine until just after I took this picture (the boats had not started moving). She decided she wanted "out, out, out," and she wriggled out of her seat belt and started to bail. This would have been a bad thing, because the boats really are in water, and there's no way she would have safely crossed the gap between her boat and the sidewalk surrounding the ride. Luckily she heard me yelling from outside the gate and actually obeyed me and stayed put until Mike could rescue her. Another near catastrophe.

That was it for the kiddy rides. We then met up with our friends, Ryan and Amberlee to ride some roller coasters. They waited in line and went on the ride, and then we were allowed to switch them places and get on the ride immediately rather than waiting in line again. A good arrangement. Mariah was a good sport to stay with them while Mike and I went on the rides. Elaine slept in the stroller the whole time.

We did "Wicked" first, which is my favorite! Just after the ride starts, there is a vertical hairpin. Riders are rocketed straight up, facing the sky, and then free fall straight down, facing the ground. For some reason, I love that. Then there are a few corkscrews and fast turns. A very good ride.

Then we did the old classic--the Collosus (which is now called the Fire Dragon - whatever). I always like that one.

I and the girls finished the evening by riding the train twice more while Mike hit the roller coasters a few more times with Ryan and Amberlee.

Here's a little slideshow with a few more pictures and a video.

Yuck!

Yesterday, I was clipping our roses, and I found this fine fellow. I've never seen a spider like it. Does anyone know what kind it is? He looked very menacing and most likely poisonous to me, so he met his end after I photographed him for history's sake. (Joanne, I'm remembering the spider you guys kept and fed in your backyard. I'm sorry if my cruelty alarms you.)The spider in the last photo set up camp outside our front window the day after pest control sprayed. Hmmm. In the photo, he's enjoying his lunch.

Another Day at the Park

Elaine graduated from the stroller bed to the doubles seat. I think she looks pretty cute in there.


Mariah wanted to climb the ladder up to the big curvy slide. I showed her how to get there--going up the stairs and across the bridge. I was surprised when she didn't even hesitate at the ladder, but went right up. I was even more surprised when she went down the slide. She immediately said she wanted to do it again. But by the time she reached the top, she was having second thoughts. She paced around on the little slide platform thing for 10 minutes. She'd walk to the edge of the slide, say, "No way!" and walk back to the ladder. Several times I helped her down the ladder; she'd immediately climb back up and start the whole routine again--walk to the edge of the slide, "No way!" walk back to the ladder, then back to the slide, etc. Funny girl. She never did go down again.

(Note the shopping cart in the picture of the guy playing the guitar . . . . That's what people do around here. They take carts from our 2 neighborhood grocery stores and use them to cart stuff around. This guy had his guitar and subwoofer in his. Lots of people also just walk their groceries home in a cart and then take the cart back the next time they want to shop. I think it's pretty funny, but I imagine the store owners/managers do not. They have to supply extra carts because half of them are out and about in the neighborhood.)

Banana Coffee Cake

I just made this banana coffee cake that is delicious!! I found the recipe on fat free vegan kitchen. And it actually turned out looking like the real thing! (I used evaporated cane juice instead of turbinado sugar, and honey instead of agave nectar). Very tasty! I'll test it out on Mike when he gets home for lunch, but I'm pretty sure even normal people would like it.

20!!!!

Woo Yahoo!! Mike got a 20 on the DAT yesterday! We are so excited! He will add that score to his 25 applications, and things should get rolling. He already has an interview scheduled for the end of October, in Indiana, but more should be coming his way. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers on our behalf.

Finally!!

We finally have a major health food store in Utah County!! I went on Thursday, and seeing all that great food in one place almost made me cry (I'm serious).

Tame the Mane

I tried today putting clips in Elaine's hair to control it a bit. As you can see from the different angles, any hair not trapped by a clip worked extra hard to be wild. It seems there's no taming the mane for now.

We love hand-me-downs!

I feel like I need to post something cute, so the spider isn't our top post. I've been wanting to post some cute pics of the girls in some of their hand-me-downs, so here you go.

This dress was in a box of fabulous clothes from Laura. They are mostly size 4-5. Mariah put this dress on all by herself. (There was one pair of size 2 jeans in the box. Mariah is wearing those in our canyon pictures. Laura, did you mean to send those? Please say, "Yes," cause they're her only jeans right now.)

So, thanks to everyone who has contributed to our wardrobes!

Heeby Jeebies!!

This is a black widow spider after she met her fate today. She was hanging out in her web on our porch, and I used about a quarter of a can of Raid on her (I wanted to be sure the deed was done). I called pest control, and they're coming to spray on Friday. Yuck!! (For those who get the willies . . . I only posted a small photo).

Cute Things

Mariah was playing with our little Leap Frog alphabet toy yesterday. She pressed the 'U', and the toy said "U." Mariah immediatly said, "W," clear as day. I had no idea she knew how. I learned that she knows where the W is and where the M is, along with a couple of other letters. Very funny. What a good mother I am.

Some of the other cute things Mariah says: "Yep, yep, yep." (but she says it "Gnyep, gnyep, gnyep") "Nice!" (She says this whenever she likes something or when someone is nice. Example: "Mariah, should we go to the park?" "Gnyep, gnyep, gnyep. Nice!") "No Way!" (she says this instead of "no," so it sometimes works and sometimes sounds very funny. Example: "Mariah, do you have a mess?" "No way!") "Wah-zup?" (she uses this to mean she wants to sit on my lap, or on a bench, or anywhere really. when she wants to get up, i guess. mike taught her a long time ago how to say it, but she made up her own meaning. It's very funny, especially when we're in public somewhere, and she approaches me and says, "Wah-zup?" People laugh, but all she is really saying is "Pick me up, please.") "Wow!" (She says this whenever she thinks she's done something great).

More of Laney II

(Wow, Lize, thanks for the tip about smilebox!) After you press play, you can click on the video and/or the photos, and they'll be bigger, so you can view them. This was a much faster way of doing the video of Laney talking. So, there you have it.

More of Laney

We got a better talking video tonight. I'll post it as soon as I can get some time to upload it. (Our computer takes forever right now cause we don't have much free space, and I'm waiting until Mike can take care of the problem). So, check back later for the video.

Laney Talks

Elaine was smiling and talking like crazy, but as soon as I brought out the camera, she was pretty boring. This is actually 2 video clips put together. She's a tiny bit more animated in the second half, and I think she's pretty cute even when she's just sitting there.

Vivian and South Fork

I and the girls met some friends up the canyon Friday night. We took Davie along. (Mike was studying for the DAT). One of our friends from Wymount organized the get together. The only problem was that she thought South Fork Park was called Vivian Park, so we waited and looked around at Vivian for an hour before I was finally able to track people down. We still had fun.

My Girls

(Side-note: These photos were taken moments after Elaine's shower, so her hair is still wet. You can see how it's a tiny bit more in control than usual, but not much.)

Elaine at 8 Weeks

Elaine was talking and smiling a whole bunch, so I got the camera out, and of course not much happened after that.

Stake Conference

It's 1:20pm, and both of my children are asleep, and the house is semi clean. This rarely happens; I'm not sure what to do with myself. Yes, there is a list a mile long of things that should be done because I rarely have time free of children, but now that I do have a few minutes, I definitely don't feel like doing anything on my list. I feel like doing nothing. So, I sit here blogging.

We had stake conference yesterday. I loved it (in spite of a very tired, restless one-year-old). It was broadcast from the Marriott Center to 135 stakes in Utah County. Elder Jensen spoke, followed by President Monson's daughter, Sister Dibb. President Packer and President Uchtdorf took the remainder of the meeting. I don't remember at the moment what Elder Jensen spoke about; Sister Dibb gave a great talk about living a real life, and not falling for Satan's counterfeits.

I loved President Packer's talk. He just seemed to be up there talking . . . but I think it was kind of on the growth of the church. He talked about the history of Provo and other church history things. Maybe there was a theme I missed while attending to children. If you were also listening, you could fill us in.

President Uchtdorf talked about staying faithful and protecting the family. Fabulous talk, of course. Both he and President Packer were very funny. President Uchtdorf told about how when he was a pilot, he would point out to his passengers where BYU was as they flew over Provo. He said it was wonderful to be the captain and have control of the public announcement system.

Oh, another thing that President Packer said that I really liked . . . near the end of his talk, he said there is no need to fear. "It will be ok." I like to hear our leaders talk with such faith. Sometimes, even though I know everything will be ok, I still get scared of what's coming in our world. Mostly, I think, I'm scared to raise kids in such a place. So it's always nice to be reminded that everything really will be ok. Also, President Packer always reminds me so much of Big Bud (my dad's dad), that I think his words were kind of like getting reassurance from my grandpa.

One thing I loved about the whole conference was that it didn't feel like a General Conference to me, even though it was broadcast, and the general leaders were the speakers. (Don't get me wrong . . . I LOVE General Conference!) But this felt more like a stake conference with visiting general authorities--I guess just more personal and less formal than General Conference--which I'm sure is how the speakers intended it to be. I don't know if that makes sense, but I liked it.

Queen for a Day

We don't have a bouncy chair or swing for Elaine, so Mike set up this make-shift "throne" for her.