Hogle Zoo

In our attempt to be fun parents, Dan and I decided to take Ellie to the zoo. Our family is far from being early birds, but we actually got out of the house before noon (really it is quite the accomplishment!!).

Ellie had a pretty good time, the zoo was pretty crowded, I'm sure a lot of it had to do with school finally being out for the summer.

Ellie's favorite animal was the giraffe, she said it was massive (only with a "th"). Hogle Zoo had a brand new baby giraffe, I think Ellie was expecting to be a lot smaller!!

Dan and I fancied the gorillas, they were both napping, but one was curled up in a blanket. Also in the small animal and reptile exhibit there were some cotton tail or cotton haired monkey-type animal, they were really cute too. When we were holding Ellie up to see them, one came right down and stared at her.

While waiting for the train, Ellie and a bunch of other kids played with the big, black, water ball. Ellie loved the train ride, but while on the train ride, she spotted the playground.

If Dan and I are going to be honest, Ellie loved the playground the most!! Which actually makes going all the way to the zoo a waste of money!! While Ellie was on the playground, it was obvious she needed to go potty, as you can see pictured below. We got to her just in time!!

Dan decided that he needed to take a picture of Ellie and me, because I am usually the one behind the scenes. We are showing off our colorful tongues (we just finished our snow cones).

It has been over two years since we took Ellie to the zoo. The last time we went, baby Accara, the orangutan was about ten months old...the same as Ellie. She was the cutest thing ever, we were excited to compare them again.

As for my critique of the zoo...it makes me sad, some of those big animals look SO depressed!! Ellie would ask why all the animals were sleeping, and I would tell her it was because they had been running around in their small cages...:( Dan told me I need to quit being such a tree hugger...whatever that means!!

We dropped Dan off to see the Real game, and before we even left Salt Lake...Ellie was out!! I brought her upstairs to take a bath, she got upset, laid down on the floor, and was out again!!

Ellie and Lucy

Excuse the double post for today...I'm working on my blog book from blurb, and I have two or three more pages until I am at 100!!

My grandma and grandpa came to visit (at my parent's house) today as they were headed home to Mt. Pleasant (my cousin graduated yesterday in Logan). Aaron brought over Lucy too, it has been a while since I have taken pictures of them together so I took the opportunity to do it today. I didn't get many because Lucy is big enough now that she can push Ellie away if she is bugging her.

Ellie has also become very good at riding her tricycle (also a death trap for the potato bugs she finds). She can pedal and steer (somewhat!!).

Gymnastics

Ellie started gymnastics in September (I think), and she has absolutely loved it!! Ellie had gymnastics twice a week. On Mondays she had Coach Nicole, and on Wednesdays she had Coach Shane. She loved Monday's class because she usually got to play with the parachute ("carachute"). You have never seen a child more excited to play with the parachute than Ellie, she would scream and laugh...she thought it was the best thing ever!! She loved her Wednesday's class, but mainly because she had a huge crush on Coach Shane. She would do anything and everything to get his attention!!

I get so excited to see Ellie excel in gymnastics...I especially love to see her do something none of the other kids can do (I'm becoming a competitive parent!!).

Today was Ellie's last day of gymnastics, and at the end of the year she can walk and hop on the balance beam all by herself. She can hold herself up on the rings and do straddles, a tuck, and practically hang upside down. On the bars, Ellie can "rock the baby", "spin the cat", and walk like a bear all by herself. She can also jump in circles and do straddle jumps. Ellie is also a pro at forward rolls.

I can't wait to see what she is capable of doing at the end of gymnastics next year!!

Bless You

As Dan was getting ready for his softball game, he sneezed. Dan told Ellie, "Hey, I just sneezed, you are supposed to bless me..."

Ellie replied, "Our dear Heavenly Father, please bless daddy..."

Needless to say, we were both cracking up!!

High School Pictures

I know you all have been waiting to see what high school photos I could come up with for the high school tag...I had a ton, and you can consider yourselves lucky if you didn't make it to post!! :)

This picture was Homecoming '99. I went with Scott...

So, my "wild parties" in high school consisted of dressing up in my Grandma's old clothes and posing for pictures (Swens, I know you want this picture for your post, but I have a really good one for you, it involves a lamp shade!!).

Now this picture just cracked me up. This was for Preference (I think)...my date was Jake, and Tasha and Sam rode with us (Tasha and I are total twinners). I can remember Jake chipped his tooth right before the dance. I laugh because I look disgusted, and he has a "deer in the headlights" look about him!! Oh, and I'm wearing Katie's dress...she was so nice to loan it to me!! :)

This was the Senior dinner dance...I have a ton of photos from this night too. Don't worry Jaxon was not my boyfriend, but all of my pictures involve hugging some boy!! I went to two dances my Senior year with Jaxon. He claims to have had "busy hands", I claim "not to have noticed".

This photo was taken at Cheer camp, it is of all the Senior cheerleaders.

Bowling and Bad Pictures...

but let's pretend they are artsy!!

Dan and I had a list of things we wanted to do with Ellie today (ride Trax, The Children's Museum, Hogle Zoo, etc.), but when you finally get ready at 2:30...options are limited!! So, we decided to go to Sizzler (Ellie's favorite restaurant, she still eats free so it is ours too!!), and then we went to Fat Cats for some family bowling.

I've mentioned before that the Jessens (well my immediate family of Jessens) are notorious for either having a full memory card or low batteries when taking pictures. My folly was low batteries (the batteries were new, and I didn't charge them...my badness!!). Anyway, Ellie loved bowling, and she was so funny. She got so excited when any of us knocked down any of the pins (she would jump up and down, and say, "Cool dude!!"). She is SO independent too, she insisted on carrying her ball by herself to the ramp, and when she knocked some pins over she would give us a round of high fives. Anyway, Dan won, Ellie was second, and I was last...SHOCKER!!

Ellie liked her bowling shoes so much that she tried to steal them...

So cute...

Dan loves it when Ellie comes to bed with us. Dan once told me that Heaven would be having a dozen babies crawling all over us while we were lying in bed (personally, I think it sounds like Hell). Anyway...we got home especially late from our friend's house last night, and the only way Dan could convince Ellie to leave their house was to tell her she could sleep in our bed.

As soon as we got home, I bathed Ellie (yes, I am one of those anal mothers who bathes their child every night...). As soon as Dan and Ellie's heads hit the pillows, they were out. When I was getting ready for bed, I couldn't help but take a picture.

Ellie is such a cuddler. When she wakes up in the middle of the night, and Dan brings her to bed, she snuggles right up to me, and I love it!! Dan usually complains about it, because he wants her to cuddle with him, so since Ellie was cuddling with him...I thought I should preserve the moment with a picture.