Zoo Trip

Last month we took Emma to the zoo. We have a year-long pass with our friends and old neighbors, the Linton's. This has been the only time we've been able to go together as a family. Emma loves seeing the animals at the zoo. It's fun to walk around and see her reactions. She has some favorites, like the elephant. She tries to imitate what the elephant says.






Daddy and Emma at the Elephant exhibit. Every other time we've been to the zoo it's been too cold for them to be out. It was fun to actually see them this time.


The Elephant was very big. Emma was a little scared.


Another one of her favorites is the Giraffe. She has a painting of one in her room that Broc Buttars gave us for a wedding present. She always points it out when I'm laying down to get her asleep.



The Black Bears gave us a show and decided to play fight. It was pretty fun. They drew a pretty big crowd.

Chad's favorite is the gorilla. He was chowing down on a coconut when we went to visit him.

They have a little play area for kids. This is Emma in a big Dinosaur Egg.

Chad had a hard time even setting Emma up on this gigantic spider. They are by far his biggest fear.

Emma had fun in this little tunnel thing. They have similar ones at the Bountiful Park that she likes to play in.

The Groundhogs have a little playground where we could pop our heads up and look at each other. Emma thought it was so cool poking her head out of the ground.

Emma thought spinning this big ball covered in water was the funnest thing she's ever done. It was hard to get her away from it. This was at the end of our trip and after a crowd came she left the ball. We were watching very closely from a bench not too far away, but she didn't see us. There weren't many people around and I just wanted to see what she would do. She just wandered. She didn't seem to care that she couldn't find us. She looked at bugs and just walked in circles. When she started to get too far away I called out to her. She turned around, saw us, and just kept walking. Aparently she wasn't too concerned. We took that opportunity while she was distracted from the big water ball to head for the exit. She didn't even see it coming.

This is a clip of the bears fighting. They went at it for a while. I think they're cute, but of course we were on the other side of a huge fence. It wouldn't have been so cute if that fence wasn't there.

This is one of Emma's very inventive ways of getting through that tunnel. She sure does have a mind of her own. As you can tell, she's having a blast.

Another version of Emma crawling through the tunnel.

Emma again in the tunnel.

Cynthia's Visit

Cynthia and Emma at the Aquarium


Emma walking on the dock at the Aquarium. She though it was so cool.


Emma, Jen, and Cynthia at the Aquarium. This is the Nemo tank.


Emma saying "Hi" to the fishies. She's the only one who could fit under this little tunnel thing, even though Chad really tried.





My sister, Cynthia, came for a visit back in May and I'm just barely getting some pictures up. We had so much fun. She got here on the 10th of May, Mother's Day, and we were able to go over to my Grandparents to eat dinner with them. The Merritt's were there also. Then on Monday we were on-call at the Mortuary, so it was fun to stay home and watch movies and just hang out. Then on Tuesday we went down to Boondocks. That was a lot of fun because we saw Deron Williams there. He plays for the Jazz NBA team. So, you know that was Chad's favorite part of the whole trip. We also went out to eat at Sweet Tomatoes Restaurant. That's one of our favorite places, but it's all the way down at 90th South, so we only go there when we're down there anyway.

On Wednesday we were on-call again, but Cynthia went to the zoo with Aunt Sue. And, guess who she saw AGAIN! Deron Williams. What are the chances? Then on Thursday we went to the Gateway Mall to the Clark Planetarium. We also went to the Aquarium. That was pretty fun. Not as big as the one down in Las Vegas, but for Utah I thought it was great. It's geared more towards little kids. Emma had a blast. We wanted to make it in time for the iMax theater that was showing an Under the Sea adventure thing. I have never seen an iMax film. But, we were a little late so we went to the Dome Theater and saw a space documentary. It was still pretty fun. And, Emma loved it. We were the only ones in the show so we just let Emma say her "ooohhhs" and "aaahhhs" as much as she wanted. That was pretty entertaining.

For Friday Cynthia, Emma, and I went shopping with my Grandparents. Cynthia got some new work clothes and some much-needed jeans because the Merritt kids were playing with her and her old ones ripped. It was funny, but it left her with no pants to wear.
That night we had Emma tended and Cynthia, Chad, and I went to a movie out in Layton. We saw Seventeen Again with Zac Efron. It was pretty good. Before the movie we went to the Olive Garden to eat, another of our favorites, and they don't have it in Alaska so Cynthia really wanted to go.

IT'S A BOY!

Well, it's official. We had our 16 week ultra-sound on Monday and we found out that Emma will have a little brother. Neither of us were very surprised except for the fact that when ABC4 news did that DNA test thing it came out as a girl.

This whole time I've been trying to convince Emma that she's having a sister, but all she says to me is, "No, boy." And, she was right. Maybe this will teach me to listen to her next time instead of science. And, Chad thought it was a boy the whole time, too. In fact, he purposely didn't call the baby a "she" or "her" or "girl" because he didn't want to be calling his little boy a girl. He may have slipped a few times, but he did pretty good. When we "found out" it was a "girl" from the DNA test it took me a little while to get used to. I was always hesitant and never quite sure if it was right. As soon as I finally got used to it then I have to change.

I am so excited to have a little guy running around. And, Emma's not going to be missing out on too much. She'll get a sister one day. She's already surrounded by boys to play with. Her cousins, the neighbor, she can't seem to get away from them. It's a good thing she's so girly to balance everyone out.

Emma loves The Little Mermaid. She probably watches it at least 4-5 times a week. This is her favorite song. It's so cute when she tries to sing along with it. She just says all of the words at the end of the phrase. You have to listen kind of closely. It's pretty cute!