An Animal Filled Memorial Weekend

We had a really fun, and really hot, Memorial weekend.

Kansas City Zoo

Taking Sadie to the zoo has been on our to do list for a while now. We finally took her this past Saturday! She had so much fun. All day long we talked about the animals. Her new animal to imitate is a sea lion (thanks to Mimi's sea lion impression using flippers and Sadie's 'Elmo goes to the Zoo' book). Everyone was so excited to find out there was going to be a sea lion show that day. Sadie kept clapping her hands and saying "arrr arrr" everytime one of the sea lions made a sound. It was great.

At the beginning of our day, this goose decided it was hungry and Sadie had food (probably because she was holding her hand out, pointing at the goose). It came right up to her and pecked at her hand. Sadie was startled and didn't want anything else to do with the goose. Thankfully her fear wore off quickly and Sadie was fine feeding geese the following Monday.


Here's Sadie with a Chimp.


Sadie loved the lions. They are one of her favorite animals to imitate. The male lion never came up to the window, but three females came right up to enjoy some shade.


Hangin' out in the stroller.


The other show we watched was elephant painting. One of Five elephants was painting by request. People in the audience would pay their 'donation' of $25 and select colors. Then the elephant would paint a picture for them and pose for the camera! Animals are amazing. The elephant in the picture with Sadie and me is the one who did all of the painting.


One of Sadie's favorite parts of the day was the carousel ride. She loves them! Every picture we have of her on this ride is like the one below, ear to ear grin.


Even though it was a really hot day, we had a blast watching Sadie take joy in all the animals.



Deanna Rose Children's Farmstead

On Monday, we asked Sadie if she wanted to go see more animals. That was a mistake. For the next hour all she would say is 'animals' and if she felt like we were not going to see animals now, the world was ending. It was a long morning. I can see why parents don't tell their children they are going to a place like Disney World until the night before they leave.

When we got there, we were pleasantly surprised to find out admission was free Monday-Thursday! You can't beat a free outing. Well, we did buy ice cream for us and food to feed to animals. But still, under $6 is great.

Sadie could have spent all day at the bells. It was just two beams with three chains strung between them. Attached to the chains were different sized bells. To Sadie, this was heaven. She could make all the noise she wanted and we just smiled and encouraged her to make more noise. It's a dream come true.


There were lots of animals to pet at this farmstead. Here's Sadie petting a calf.


She loved to feed grass to the goats. This was a no stress activity for her, because a fence separated her from the goat.


Feeding a bottle to a goat was a different story. All of these goats rushed to Sadie and tried taking the bottle from her. I was worried she'd get trampled so Alex picked her up and helped control the thirsty animals. I think Sadie prefers feeding them grass through a fence.


The weather continues to be really hot and humid. Today it was 95 degrees. This is not unusual for the week. Thank goodness for AC.



Violin

Today was my first violin lesson! I've been nervous all day, but it actually went very well. I'm not as bad as I thought I'd be. Maybe someday I'll be able to play a song and then I can post a video.

Sundays

Yesterday was such a great day. Stake conference was fabulous. One of the speakers talked about how many children don't need the 'birds and bees' talk, because they already know about the topic. BUT, that doesn't mean they shouldn't be talked with about the subject. Parents need to teach their children about the sacredness of marriage and how God fits into everything. It was a great talk, really made me think.

We were going to walk around the Arboretum and Botanical Gardens after church, but instead we decided to visit Liberty Jail and Independence. These were both very spiritual experiences.

The church has reconstructed the jail, but left a wall off so you can so into it and really get an idea of how horrible the living conditions were. For four months, those men couldn't see the sky, couldn't stand up straight, and had to endure the bitterly cold weather with little protection. They also only had a bucket to use as a toilet, which was emptied once a week. Yuck! I learned that they actually tried to escape twice, both times unsuccessful. I don't know how they survived this experience. What a trial. Thankfully, God revealed D&C 121, 122, and 123 to Joseph a few days before the men were released.


Independence was also a testimony booster. The visitor's center is amazing.

At the end of our visit, four sister missionaries sat us down in front of the Christus and sang a beautiful song which testified of Christ. Sometime during about the third verse, Sadie looks at me and then points to Christ and says 'sesus' (her version of Jesus). I fought back tears of joy to think this little child of God is feeling the Holy Spirit and knows her Savior.


On the way home, Alex and I were singing songs to Sadie in an attempt to keep her happy. After we ran out of animals for McDonald's farm, I made up 'Little Miss Sadie had a Zoo.' We sang our funny new song and then Alex tells Sadie, "Mommy's weird." Sadie just says, "Oh" like everything made sense now. It was so funny.

Then she started to get fussy about three minutes before we got home. Alex tells her he thinks he can get us home before she counts to two (she's a very good counter). I tried everything to get her to count. I counted as an example and I said, "Sadie, what comes after one?" She just looked at me like I was stupid. Alex pulled into the driveway and then Sadie said, "Two!" What a stink. She was holding out on me the whole time. I love her! She's so much fun.

Enjoying the Kansas Sun

This weekend, Garmin invited us to attend the Great American BBQ. We thought this would be a good opportunity to experience the flavor of the Midwest, plus there was a firework show Sadie would enjoy. When we got there, it wasn't quite what we were expecting. This is mainly due to the fact that we got there early on Friday and the BBQ judging didn't even start until Saturday. We ended up only eating and taking Sadie on a carousel ride. She loved it! Alex said she said 'whee whee' the entire ride, while she had a death grip on the pole. Since we discovered the fireworks didn't start until 10 pm, we decided to just head home. Next time we'll have to plan a little better.



The giant pink elephant is the Mother's cookies mascot (one of those frosted animal cookies). Sadie thought it was pretty neat to see a huge, pink elephant. I can't wait to take her to the zoo agian.


In other news, I finally bought a jogger stroller. We got a double, since we are planning on another child some day. I know it looks a little funny only half full, but it's worth it. Sadie loves when we go jogging. She points out all of the bunnies and trees as the wind blows through her hair. Pardon my appearance in the photo, this was taken just after my jog. It's obvious I need to get more sun too! Just look at the cute baby in the cool stroller.

FYI, this is the Navigator stroller by Baby Trend. I really like it. My only complaint is that it's bulky. At first I was concerned about the front two wheels. They would really shake when I started picking up speed. Alex pointed out that the front wheels need to have the lock on when running and off when just walking around. This made all the difference. The wheels also needed to be pumped up when you first take them out of the box, but this is no big deal. There's lots of storage and it's a really smooth ride. I love it!

Today, Alex, Sadie and I went and looked at what kind of home we could get for our money in this area. We were pleasantly surprised! We fell in love with a beautiful four bedroom home with a spacious yard. One of my favorite things about this yard was there are no homes behind it so your view is a nature reserve! It's very beautiful. Here's the house and a shot of the yard.


We have many more adventures to go on while in KS. After our stake conference tomorrow, we're going to walk around the arboretum and botanical garden. It's a great walk where you can really enjoy nature and a variety of birds. A fabulous Sunday activity!

Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore.

Well we are! That's right, our small family is now located in the windy state of KS for the summer. Alex got an internship with Garmin's aviation department. Basically, him going to this job is like a child going to a playground everyday. I'm glad he is enjoying work so much, it's just a bit hard to not be close to our families and friends. It will be an adventure, though.

We are lucky enough to be staying with a family in the ward. They had a couple bedrooms and a bathroom they weren't using, so they let us move in for a really good rate. Sadie's room was filled with toys when we arrived! She has a play kitchen, easel with a chalk board and place to finger paint, a play vanity, and desk. What fun she will have this summer. There is also a trampoline, with the fancy spring cover and netting, outside. Yesterday, Alex and I played with Sadie on the trampoline and she roared with laughter every time one of us bounced on our bottom. :) It was adorable.

The weather will be an adventure too. One day it's 80 degrees and very sunny. The next is incredibly rainy and windy and the news is reporting twisters. Interestingly, the twisters are not my biggest concern, chiggers are.

They are tiny bugs, so small you can't see them, that live in the grass. They crawl up your body and find a nice spot to bit you. They feed on your skin and cause lots of itching and a sore that looks like a welt.

(Not my leg, or Alex's, thank goodness.)
They are related to ticks. Speaking of ticks, they are also a big problem in this area. The other creature to watch out for is this poisonous snake that lives in the water. Yikes! I'm scared to go outside. But the more I think about it, there are little pests to look out for wherever you live. For instance, Utah has it's rattle snakes and scorpions. The East has those dangerously gross spitting camels. You just have to adapt.

We'll keep you updated on all the sites we visit while we are here.

Congrats Graduates!

I just wanted to congratulate Brian, Kasey, Kiara, and soon to be Darwin (with his Masters) for graduating from college. What a great accomplishment!

Brian and Megan


I was able to make Kasey's, Kiara's, and Darwin's graduation cakes. Kasey's is the green cake a few posts back. Kiara's and Darwin's cakes are below. Kiara's is the UVU logo and Darwin's has the Mississippi State logo. They were fun to make. Thanks for letting me be a part of this huge milestone in your life!


Congrats again! Now go buy yourself an ice cream cone.