If You'd Like to Make a Call...

When at my sister's today I came in the room to find Chloe doing this:
She would make a call on Haley's play phone,

 Start talking to someone,

 And then get super excited about their conversation.

It was so cute.  I just stood there silently and watched her play.  I love when I am able to observe their play without disrupting it.  Their personalities really shine and it makes my day to see them being creative and imaginative.

Rubber Duckie, You're the One

Chloe LOVES ducks.  I don't know what got her in to them, but she has a special place in her heart for them that's for sure. 
Bath time is one of her favorite parts of the day.  It is probably due to the fact that she has a gazillion ducks!  She likes to line all of her ducks up and carefully choose which one she will play with.  When she's done with it she will carefully put it back and choose another one.  It's so cute.  She is actually getting a few of her colors down now thanks to these little friends!

Our Park, I Mean Water Park

Yesterday was a LONG day, to say the least.  My workout got moved up a half hour and it takes a half hour to get there, so we ran out the door jammies, bed head and all.
My kids love Thursdays because they get to play at their cousins house and I love Thursdays because I get to be with my sister.
After a fun day there we ran back in time for piano lessons.  Then there was a little time to play outside in the sprinkler and then it was off around the neighborhood to deliver all the updated primary binders to all the new teachers (our ward just split).
My kids were troopers.  They were so hot and tired of our long "walk" so I told them we could stop at the park and play for a bit.
They made the most of it and soon discovered what can be done with a crazy water fountain.  They had so much fun shooting themselves in the faces with the cool water.  I guess it looked fun to a boy who has passing by because he came and joined in the fun.  I would apologize to his mother if I knew her because he ended up just as soaked, but was in nice clothes.  Oooops.  At least they had fun.

Zoo Day

We had a great day at the Zoo today.  Today was the first day in a while that it hasn't been deathly hot (Nate, if you're reading this, I know we don't really know what hot is, but we'd like to keep it that way!) so we took advantage of it and spent it outside.
We have a buddy of ours who comes and plays with us on Tuesdays.  Jonah and the boys are great buds and we were excited to be able to have him come with us.

Sam was our navigator and made sure we saw everything.

 He also made sure to schedule in snack breaks and travel in style with my shades.

 We saw elephants (even a baby one),

 Hungry rhinos,

 Curious lemurs,

 Played wherever we could,

 Admired the swimming seals,

 And watched the polar bear try to get his snack out of his toy.

 He put on a good show for us.

 When he got out of the water he was SOOO big!

 We found the grizzly bears having a snack,

 The giraffes enjoying the sun,

 An ostrich protecting its space,

 A leopard prowling,

 And a tiger on top of the world.

 The tigers we so active and up close.  It kind of scared us how close they were!

 The birds were playing in toilet paper,

 The turtle was having a VERY slow snack of grass,

 And we had fun on the Carousel.  Sam rode a "werewolf",

 James of course raced for his favorite, the panda,

 Chloe chose the "duck",

 And Jonah got the whole peacock to himself!

 We finished the morning off with a great train ride.  Mom and Dad and Chloe got to sit together

 While the boys got to sit right behind the engine!

 They loved it and made sure the engineer was doing it all right.

This seriously had to be one of the funnest times we've had at our Hogle Zoo.  Mornings are the way to go.  The animals were great and active and entertaining. 

After growing up by the San Diego Zoo, the Hogle Zoo seems pretty tiny and sad, but they really are doing some great thing to make it nice.  We have loved the tiger and elephant exhibits that have been updated and now the new bear encounter is beautiful and they have great viewing of the animals.  It was by far our favorite.

Quote of the Day

When walking into the store this morning James heard some construction work going on and said,
"I hear some one's Dad making money."
So funny!  Love how kids comprehend and explain things!

Presley's Party

We had fun celebrating the kid's cousin's first birthday.  Presley turned one and we can't believe it.  She is so big now!  Where does the time go?!

The kids had fun playing together and watching Presley open her gifts.  Then they really had fun eating the cake.  Then they had more fun on the playground and hitting the pinata.  Presley thought the pinata was awesome.  I thought she was going to break that thing herself.  This was the kids first experience with a pinata and they made sure to let everyone know that this was "the best birthday party ever!"

Here's all the cousins who were able to come

 I had to snap a shot of Haley just to give her a hard time since she wouldn't get in the picture

 The clubhouse at Matt and Natalie's was decorated so cute and fun

My cake went perfectly with the decor.  Love when that happens... :)

 The much admired pinata that the kids couldn't wait to kill

 Matt made sure that ever inch of that place was decorated....literally! :)

 Presley loved her party and was mesmerized by the balloons

 Presley being introduced to her loot

 She knew just want to do

 She was a little annoyed that she had to get all that paper off to get to the good stuff

 Her xylophone was by far her favorite

 Presley and her cake

 Presley showing the pinata who's boss

 Chloe was much kinder to that poor little donkey

James had a few good swings, but no luck

 Sam was swinging for the fences but couldn't get that donkey!

(Thomas finally broke it and the kids went crazy!)