At the Zoo

I should really never under estimate my son's love for animals. The concept is super foreign to me but last week we decided to embrace it with a trip to Hogle Zoo.

Love that the weather was so beautiful and love that admission was free. We waltzed in after his afternoon nap and didn't feel a smidge guilty leaving just an hour or so later.

The elephants were super fun for Crew. There were three animals in varied sizes so Crew immediately labeled the Daddy, Mommy and Baby.

Birds and fish were also a favorite. So much in fact that:

I had to keep pulling him off the ground to keep him from trying to touch them under the partition.

But hands down, I think his favorite part of the zoo was walking around with his favorite "snah."

We have a new love/hate relationship with the fact that Crew has learned the difference between on-the-go snack food and what we really eat at home. Judging by the way he is gripping the cup, can you tell which is his favorite? :)

We've been so spoiled this year. I have no idea what we'll do when winter decides to come.

Med School Bound

No. Not us. Thank goodness.

But my younger brother, Ben, recently was accepted to Midwestern University in AZ for med school. He has spent the last two years filling out applications, flying all over the country for interviews, praying over a handful of offers and is now ready to head off on this new adventure.

We got the family together this month to celebrate his decision plus the fact that we get to keep him around til his program starts this Fall.

Love you brother! We are so proud.

A Dallas Christmas

We're still basking in the afterglow of a wonderful 10-day trip to visit the Lansfords in Dallas. We are blessed to see them often but it's always a blast to return to Cole's hometown and reconnect with the friends and places we love so much.

My pictures don't do the trip justice as I stopped snapping pictures after Christmas morning but lets just say we had more than our fair share of shopping, sports and FOOD, FOOD, FOOD!

We had a Christmas Eve baking day where Rylie led us through making nearly 70 cupcakes, dipped pretzels, cookies and the prime ribb (ok, we just watched that one). But we had a great time.

Crew helps with the icing

Tony and Gail make a salt bath for the prime rib

The Lansford's LDS ward met at 8:30 am on Christmas morning so we postponed breakfast and Santa a few hours. We enjoyed the meeting and took the opportunity to snap this picture afterwards.


Once everyone was back in their new jammies, we commence the gift giving. Crew's reaction to his gift from Santa was exactly what we hoped. I was worried he might not really understand how to play with the bike but as you can see, the only thing better than the bike was a figurine of Jesus on the side table. Thank you, Nursery!



Merry Christmas!