Safari Park

Every Monday and Thursday I get the privilege of babysitting for my sister while she goes to work, which means I get to do some pretty fun things with the boys! Since it is summer, Easton isn't in school so it's been fun having them both all day...even when it's also very tiring because two boys together is pretty much non. stop. action.


Today I took them to the San Diego Safari Park because I finally got my (very) expired zoo pass renewed. I absolutely love the zoo and safari park so I am pretty much ALWAYS up to go. I love that I have two little nuggets close by that love to go almost as much as I do.


Also, I finally broke out my fancy camera and tried to get some photos of the day. You're welcome.


Oh, and another note: I told you it's nonstop action with these two, so naturally they RAN through most of the park...and for those of you that have been to the safari park, you know its quite big and full of hills. Keeping up with them was a challenge sometimes!

It is really hard to get a clear picture of the two monkeys I brought with me.

Again....hard subject to get in focus. The lions in the back on the rock stayed still though ;)

This kid. He LOVES the camera!! Constantly saying "more, more" and posing/smiling when the camera is out. haha (*update: I didn't realize Easton was picking his nose in this picture until I posted it. It's such a cute pic of Jude though...)

Easton would not talk to me the whole tram ride. He didn't want his animal watching to be interrupted.

Like I said, this one is really camera shy...

Obligatory Safari (Wild Animal) Park photo.

I also got to go with Maren to Easton's swim lessons after she got home. Which meant more time to practice my photography on my favorite little subjects...and watch Easton pretend he's a fish.

When I asked for a picture, this is what I got.

It's funny how two little kids can make you so baby hungry one minute, and 30 seconds later have you saying "yeah, maybe not quite yet......." hahahaha! I love them to pieces though and am grateful to have been around for so many fun memories!

Christmas recap

I obviously failed at blogging every single night we were in Mexico. Oops. 

The trip was fantastic and I find myself missing it every single day. I feel like a part of me was left in Mexico City (besides my parents, of course) and I can't wait to go back. The first three days we were there we hung out in the city exploring. The last day in the city we got to see the castle in Chapultepec park (it's like Mexico city's Central Park, but with a castle in the middle of it) and we rode a little paddle boat around the lake. We then headed out of the city and went through these mountains that literally smelled like Christmas. There were pine trees everywhere. It was amazing! Definitely not what I think of when I think about Mexico.... We then ate at Costco (I swear it's better in Mexico) and then kept going to my parents house. The neighborhood they live in is incredibly safe (at least it feels that way) and pretty clean. We got up the next day and it was Christmas Eve so we spent the day relaxing. On Christmas we all slept in and then spent the day relaxing again and enjoying our time together. We didn't do gifts this year, and to be honest, I didn't miss it one bit. It was so nice getting to be with family and focusing on what Christmas is really about that I didn't miss all the gifts and new things at all. My mom made her delicious cinnamon rolls and an amazing Christmas dinner and we were incredibly fat and happy all day!

The next day we went to Puebla. I absolutely fell in love with that town. We spent the day looking at beautiful hand painted pottery and other little gems and topped the adventure off with delicious (but SPICY) tacos. I hope we get to go back next time we go down there because I couldn't get enough of the colorful buildings, cobblestone roads, and sweet people. If you're ever in Mexico City, make sure to take the drive to Puebla. You will not be disappointed. 

The weekend was spent hanging out some more (while dad worked, some things don't change I guess) since Harper and Blair had to leave Monday. Sunday we went to church in a little town right by the volcano. That volcano by the way, is huge. Monday my parents took H and B to the airport and Anthony and I stayed home. I laid by the pool and Anthony kept asking if I was bored yet from laying out. Clearly he doesn't know me well enough ;) Tuesday was spent at home with my mom while my dad went to work. Wednesday was a dream come true for Anthony because we went to Teotihuacan (Aztec ruins). He was so excited. It was amazing to be able to climb one of the pyramids. It's hard to imagine people building those things without the modern day tools we enjoy today. 

Thursday we flew home and Anthony had to practically drag me onto the plane.... It was so fun to spend some time with my parents. They truly love the people of Mexico and the missionaries who have been sent to them. This was definitely a special Christmas I will never forget. 

Mexico City, Day 1

We are here!! Finally!! I am so happy to be in Mexico to spend Christmas with my parents. Today was our first full day here and it was amazing. I don't know the names of the places we went/saw but I do have some pictures, which (I'm convinced) is the only reason anyone looks at blogs anyway. 

So, Saturday afternoon we jumped in the car and headed to Phoenix because our flight left Sunday morning from there. We spent the night with one of Anthony's old mission buddies which was quite convenient since they only live 15 minutes from the airport. It was a short stay with them, but still fun staying up late talking and telling stories. The next morning we got up and were pretty excited to get to Mexico. Our flight was short and everything went perfectly. We were both a little nervous flying into an airport we had never been to, in a country where we don't speak the language but everything turned out fine! My mom, dad, Harper, and Blair met us in the airport to have some incredibly delicious tacos before heading out. We then went to the temple visitor center and walked around admiring the beautiful temple grounds. It was really nice to be there and get a little peace after traveling all day. After that we drove further into downtown to find the hotel we are staying at. The traffic and amount of people here is incredible! Seriously, I've never seen anything like it. And my dad maneuvers through all of it like a champ. I could never drive here! Once we got to the hotel everyone was pretty tired so we spent the night in so we could be rested for today.

This morning we all got up and got ready to go out and explore the city a little bit. They have these double decker tour buses that take you all over the city, past historical sites, and you can get on and off them all day long. It was pretty sweet. Even though I had no clue what they were saying on the tour, it was still incredible to see all the buildings and architecture of the city. Also, did I mention how many people are in this city?!? The crowds are insane. There are people pretty much everywhere you look, and LOTS of them. Anyway, the tour bus was a good plan because we got to see most of the city without having to drive our selfs around and find parking everywhere. We ate at an Italian restaurant (I know, random) and it was SO DELICIOUS! Thinking about it makes me hungry again. After that we ended up back on the tour bus on our way back to the hotel. Tonight we went out and explored a little more around our hotel and were not disappointed. There is so much going on all the time it's hard to keep track. We didn't stay out long since it was getting late and we were tired, but the Christmas lights they have put up are beautiful. And the ice cream shop we went to was the best ice cream I've ever had in my life. Not exaggerating at all. It was so good. 

I don't have a lot of pictures on my phone, but I have enough to make this post interesting.  Tonight's our last night downtown, but there will be more exploring and pictures tomorrow!

Outside the hotel, dad and I trying to perfect the "selfie"

These two looking good:)

Enjoying some incredibly delicious ice cream!

I will take more tomorrow on my phone.

Hope everyone is having a safe Christmas break!

Evergreen Plantation

I was told I need to be better about blogging. So, here I am.

Last Friday we went on a plantation tour with some of our friends. I have wanted to do one of these tours since we got here so I was pretty excited to finally go.

Growing up my parents always took us on these educational tours and I remember not paying much attention after a certain point. I always felt like they talked soooo much and I didn't know how my parents paid attention the whole time. I usually ended up harassing my younger sisters instead of listening...I was kind of a brat. hahaha. Anyway, after this tour on Friday, I totally understand how my parents loved all those tours back in the day. It's fascinating to learn about history (even if parts of it are quite horrific and/or heartbreaking) and I've always loved history classes, but going to historical sites is always a whole new level of learning.


The Evergreen Plantation is actually a registered historical site and the woman who owns it still uses the grounds for "entertaining" (apparently shes a super wealthy oil heiress and has lots of rich friends to entertain/impress). She is also 90 years old. Sheesh. They also still grow sugar cane in the fields, which I thought was pretty cool. We seriously learned so much that I can't even write it all down on this blog or you will be reading for days. You will just have to go on a tour sometime and learn it all for yourself!


I will post some pictures on here, but all the rest are on my Facebook if you want to look through all 70+ photos there :)

Dang I'm bad at this.

I really am not good at keeping this blog updated.  It's a good thing no one really reads this anyway ;)

We are still in Louisiana and I'm still thoroughly enjoying  it! We got another puppy (I know, everyone thinks we are insane) and she's a golden retriever. We changed her name everyday during the first week we had her because we didn't really love any name we came up with! (I know, I know, it's a dog) It was one of our friends that suggested the name Rue and instantly we agreed that was the perfect name. Gemma and Rue have become the best of friends. It's great because they totally play with each other and keep each other company so I can get things done and don't feel guilty about leaving Gemma all alone.

 Also, we didn't have to house train Gemma (some kind of miracle dog...) and it sucks so incredibly bad. Seriously, it's not fun.  But she's so cute you can't  help but to forgive her.


Nothing really exciting has been happening. Anthony works all day every day (except Sunday) and I hang out with our dogs or run errands. It's been a nice little summer off from school but I'm ready to get going again in a few weeks!


I do have one funny story for this blog post....and of course it has to do with some kind of wild animal.

The other night while I was outside with the dogs, I noticed they were really focused on something across the field by the fence...Gemma was over there pawing at something and cautiously sniffing the mystery critter. It wasn't long before Rue noticed that Gemma had found something interesting and made her way over. At this point I assumed it was a frog or toad since they were always in the grass at night. I got a little worried that Gemma hadn't tried to pick it up since she usually didn't hesitate long before doing so with a frog/toad. My first thought was "oh no, she's found a snake" but quickly dismissed that thought since she hadn't been bitten yet. Haha. (Also, I wasn't about to walk over there and find out what it was.) During this little mental debate, I was watching both dogs get super excited everytime the mystery animal moved. Rue had started jumping around trying to catch it and before I could even blink, she had snatched the  thing up and was booking it towards me...I, not knowing what it was (but I could hear something squeaking at this point) took off running for higher ground. I was not about to let her drop whatever she had in her mouth at my feet. Nope. Not happening. I ran up a few steps of the first staircase I came to and watched as Rue and Gemma ran right past me towards the next staircase where our apartment is. I could clearly hear squeaking now and was a little worried Anthony would hear them and let them in with their "prize". I knew it had to be some sort of rodent from the squeaking. What felt like minutes went by (probably not even 30 seconds) before both dogs and our neighbors dog came barreling down the stairs. I didn't see anything in any of their mouths and couldn't hear squeaking anymore so I figured it was safe to go back down.  I had no idea what Rue had done with the rodent, nor did I care as long as it wasn't in our apartment....  (I was about to find out that it definitely wasn't in our apartment!) a couple of minutes went by before our neighbor came down the stairs with a Tupperware in her hands.  I was a little horrified to find out that she had heard the squeaking and thought it was her dog needing to go out to the bathroom, but when she opened her door, Rue came rushing in and dropped a mouse in her apartment!!!  Hahaha so disgusting.  Oops!  The thing was so scared (and probably injured) it didn't even try to run, which made for an easy catch. We laughed about the whole thing for a good amount of time before heading back inside.


I don't know why I am such a wimp when it comes to rodents/critters/etc...but it's going to take more than a summer in the south to cure that wimpiness! 

I don't have any new pictures to share but there are a bunch on my Facebook if you want to creep:) 

I hope everyone has had a nice, safe, relaxing summer! 

Xo

P

P.S. Let's just be honest here...I probably won't post again until after our anniversary on the 17th.