Fabulous Friday!

Michael had last Friday off so guess where we went...

It was a beautiful day to go. We saw....

Alligators

Seals

Flamingos

Meerkats

Big horn sheep


Zebras


Gila monsters


Gorillas

Tigers


Lemurs


Giraffes

Chimpanzees

Michael thought he had a big wing span until we saw this sign. We actually saw some California Condors in the wild at the Grand Canyon a few years ago and they are HUGE!!!

This was Emma's "in case I get lost" picture.



It was pretty hot so everyone got a treat to help cool themselves down. Lucas' slushie didn't come out of his mouth until it was almost gone!

I actually ended up dumping water on both the kids heads to help keep them cool. They both thought it was funny! Plus, we had a small water gun that I kept squirting them with! Lucas especially loved it when I would spray it straight into his mouth.



Just imagine this little guy lunging out of your arms to see EVERY single animal and then pointing at them and going, "oooo oooo!!" He LOVED the zoo!

Can anyone tell what this says?

A lesson in modesty

In addition to celebrating Nick Jonas' birthday on Wednesday, we also had an activity based around modesty. We talked about what modesty means and what kinds of clothes are or aren't modest. Then the real fun began! I gave each of the girls a roll of toilet paper and they had to create a modest outfit with it! It sounds much easier than it really is.

Jennie and Sasha (Sasha is THE future Mrs. Nick Jonas which is why we had cupcakes for his birthday)

Kimberlee

Kimberlee made Jennie's outfit. It looked pretty good until Jennie started moving around and the toilet paper broke and came unraveled.

I think I did a pretty darn good job with Madeline's outfit...even if she doesn't agree!

Sarah even got in on the fun!

HOLY COW!! Check out that baby bump!!! Nothing shows it off quite like a beautiful toilet paper dress!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NICK!!

So, for those of you who don't know, Nick Jonas turned 17 last Wednesday!

We celebrated by making him some cupcakes (sorry Nick, you didn't show up at the party...
so we had to eat them all ourselves!).

Even Lucas got in on the birthday fun!

Etiquette Dinner

Last week for our combined activity, we had an etiquette dinner. Sister Hansen from the Colonial Ward came and taught us all about how we should behave at dinner. The kids looked GREAT!! They got all dressed up and really had a good time with it.
Brother Harr, just to the left of me, let out one outrageous belch during the middle of the meal. It gave us the perfect etiquette opportunity. If someone belches (or lets any other body functions go) you are supposed to ignore it and keep on going like nothing happened. Emma didn't quite agree and told me later that you should always say, "Excuse me" if you burp during dinner. She obviously didn't learn that one from me!!

Josh, Kimberlee, Jennie and Joey


The girls both wanted their own "glamour" shot. :-)

Emma loves to go with me to activity and be one of "the big kids". She had a blast after we took all the tables down. We put on some music (Jennie Phillips "Lightkeepers" CD) and she danced the night away with Josh and Kimberlee.

These kids are such good sports! They will go along with pretty much anything we throw at them with a smile on their faces. I am so grateful for the chance I have to be able to serve with them. They lift me up in ways that they don't even realize. I can't tell you how many times I've gone to the church in a bad mood to be reduced to giggles in no time by these girls and boys. I love them!!!

Boating with the youth

A few weeks ago (I know, I'm lazy) we had a really fun boating activity with the youth. A family from another ward, the Fausett's, let us pile into their boat and spend the day out on the lake! It was so FUN!!!

Joel and his family came down for the day and got to play with us. I LOVE having them so close!!


This was Emma's first time on a boat and she LOVED it! When we lived in Vegas, one of her favorite things to do was to go to Bass Pro Shops and look at all the boats. We tried really hard to convince her and Zac to go on the tubes but neither one of them were game.

Yes, that is my brave husband out on the tube. He didn't last for very long (I guess that's what happens when you get old) but I was proud of him for getting out there with the youngsters! Chelsea, the girl next to him, ended up ripping her thumbnail off a couple hours later...OUCH!!!

Everyone on the tubes kept jumping back and forth trying to knock each other off which usually ended up with both tubes upside down and EVERYONE in the water!

The shore crew.

The intellectuals.

Kaitlyn and Sasha

Lucas disappeared on me for a few minutes and I found him under the table, with a bag of yummy goodness all to himself!!

We had so much FUN!! Anyone want to join us next year?

PS Thanks Sister Hampton for most of these pictures!