A Day at the Zoo

My cousin Megan and her family came down from Idaho so I went with her, her kids, my cousin Britni and her son to Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake. It was a beautiful day, and so much fun!

Allie and the elephants

Joey and Dainan with a giraffe

Jace

Adorable baby elephant

Britni and Mason

Flowers on Temple Square

Last weekend kids (and by kids I mean people my age) from my church group went up to Salt Lake to help with landscaping on Temple Square. It was a GORGEOUS day, which was good because it's been pretty wet here. When we got there they had us pull up flowers that had reached their prime and then spread mulch on the empty beds.






Karaleigh, getting ready to pull up some flowers

Some of the pretty flowers

Yeah, that hurt

After we finished our work we noticed that the observation deck of the LDS Church Office Building was open for visitors. After checking to make sure we weren't too under-dressed for the occasion we were taken up and the view was amazing.

Ireland!

About a month ago I went to the gorgeous and incredible land of Ireland. I cannot begin to express how much I loved this place. I loved being surrounded by ruins and history, I loved the architecture and the culture, and I especially loved the people. They were so friendly and nice. We flew into Shannon, on the west coast, and stayed our first two days in Limerick. We'd rented a car (which was both fabulous and crazy - it was hard at first, but I really liked driving on the left side of the road, the challenge was fun) so we drove all around. We went to the Cliffs of Moher (aka the Cliffs of Insanity) which was really cool. Apparently they only put up the rock wall a few years ago - up until then you could walk right out and it wasn't entirely uncommon for people to get blown off. Me, I rather like the rock wall. After Limerick we drove south and around Dingle Peninsula - extraordinarily charming. We stayed for two nights in my favorite place, Killarney. We spent time in the national park there and also took a day trip to Blarney Castle, further east. From Killarney we drove up to Dublin via the Rock of Cashel. I am, without a doubt, a city girl, but as soon as we got to Dublin I just wanted to get back out to the countryside. That is really saying something. We didn't spend a lot of time in Dublin, we saw a little of the Irish Museum of Modern Art though. We also drove to Newgrange, which is an incredibly old passage tomb; built 500 years before the pyramids. I loved, loved, loved Ireland. I recommend it to all and hope someday to go back.

King John's Castle, right in the middle of Limerick

Bangers and Mash from the Locke Bar in Limerick - tasty, tasty, tasty

Someone's house in Limerick

The Cliffs of Moher

Dingle Peninsula

Hanging out in Killarney National Park

Lindsay, me, Kendra, and Britni at Blarney Castle

The Rock of Cashel

At the Irish Museum of Modern Art

I fully realize and am not a little embarrassed that it has been nearly two years since I've posted on my blog. I think it's one of those things that once you're not doing it it's just easier to keep...not doing it. Nevertheless I am attempting to mend my ways and fill in at least a little bit of the last few months.

Last summer I went to Alabama to hang out with my sister and her family. I helped Caitlyn catch bugs and played baseball with Jackson, we took the kids for picnics, went to the BEST fireworks show in Opelika, and spent a day in Montgomery. It was HOT and wonderfully humid.

Jana and the kids at the First White House of the ConfederacyCaitlyn by the dining room

There was also a museum that had a bunch of activities for the kids and clothes for them to dress up in.

Caitlyn, sitting at an old deskJackson, all dressed upJackson, waiting for that amazing fireworks show to startMe and Cait

Jana and Ben

I also spent some time at home. We had a 90th birthday party for my Grandpa (my Dad's dad) who was able to come visit from Hawaii. Other than that I mostly just hung out and spent time with my family. After a few days I went up to Seattle to see my brother and my Mom, who was visiting from Florida.

Mom and Jason at a coffee shop where we had breakfast one morningI'm an unabashed city girl, and I absolutely, positively love SeattleWe spent time downtown, many hours in the bookstore (no surprise there), and went to a Seattle Sounders soccer game which was a whole lot of fun. We also drove down to visit my Mom's parents in southern Washington. The traffic was terrible, a drive that should have taken two hours took SEVEN. But we had fun. :) We stopped in Olympia and found a record store and a really yummy sandwich place for lunch. We listened to music and chatted and it really didn't feel like that long a trip.

The capitol in Olympia and a pretty statue outside

So summer was fantastic...and then school started...and that was good too...and then I went home again for Christmas (time passes fast, huh?). Jana and Ben and the kids (plus one more! sweet and beautiful little Lauren) all came up for Christmas too.

Dad and LaurenCaitlyn and Rosie, our giant goldendoodle doggy

My beautiful sister and her beautiful baby

We took the kids to play on the playground at the elementary school where Jana and I went. It was VERY COLD but the kids had fun.

Jackson on the slide (sorry it's a little blurry)

Caitlyn on the jungle gym

And then she wanted to take a picture of meCaitlyn wrote a play about an elephant getting stuck in the mud. She and Jana and Ben are performing the play (this is right before the part where she jumped into Jana and gave her a black eye...)Aaron and Jackson by the Christmas tree (with Caitlyn running around in the back)

So those are pretty much the biggest things that have been going on. I'll try not to go another two years before posting again... :)

Lake Powell

A few weeks ago I went to Lake Powell for the first time and fell in love! (with the lake) One of the counselors in our Bishopric and his family were going down with some family and they had extra room on their houseboat, so they very kindly invited us to come down. My friend Amy and I went for three days and it was WONDERFUL! Sadly I forgot my camera, but thank you so much to Sarah who very kindly shared her pictures.

The lake

The boatMe and Amy on Luke's boat Amy, Sarah, and Emily tubing with the kids
A really cool scorpion that I WISH I had been this close to, the boys found it near the boat on the shore

Sarah organized a treasure hunt for the kids that was a lot of fun, this is our map

The kids getting ready for their treasure hunt, all decked out like pirates

Finding treasureSarah and Branson Me and Amy again

Playing Killer Bunnies, the most randomly cool game

Me, Amy, and Sarah