Fall Break Part 1-OUT of AfRiCa

We have this cool exhibit near our home called- Out of Africa!

it recently was moved up here from Phoenix when they lost the land to do it. Dan and I have never been because of cost...

BUT one of Dan's patients gave us free tickets!

In Arizona, all schools , typically get a week of fall break as well.

So this past Saturday, was the first day of Fall Break

AND

A perfect time for us to go visit!

We made a day of it and had a BLAST!
We had a blast feeding the camel
(and he even kissed some of us-no spitting, luckily)

Visiting the new baby zebra's

Checking out all the wildlife typically found grazing the plains in Africa

we even had a rare find with these little African deer babies...I guess they are so skittish no one ever gets to see them!

The ostrich had laid some unfertilized eggs that we got to hold

They were quite heavy with leathery skins!

We got to pet the HUGE boa banana snake!

AND quoze in a show of Tiger Splash and Bear Play

They play with these untamed animals and just see how the show goes

The bears had quite a time waking up

and the tiger gave us some great splashes

It was a HAPPY (and warm) DAY as a family!

They GRoW UP!

Sometimes I take pictures, and look at them and think,

"when did this happen?"

Nap Nanny

Soo the rare occurrence happened where Rhett fell asleep out in the Family Room!

He has loved this nap nanny bed since he was born, that we had borrowed from a friend (thanks Nikki). It is made for reflux babies and keeps them upright.

He does not like to sleep in it, but he loves to hang in it most days (we have taken it everywhere with us). However, it is made to sleep in, thus the name nap nanny.

There is a strap for when that happens.

WELL...

This day he fell asleep in it while hanging out with the siblings, so I quietly carried him into his room. About an hour and a half later I hear this high pitch screaming coming from him and walk in to find this!

At first he looked petrified, but after I was laughing and grabbed the camera he thought he was quite funny!

I learned they make straps for a reason!

I am grateful he was fine and on top of the bed!

A Glimpse into our Family Home Evening

Ryland had the lesson for FHE this week

(After Sterling gave a phenomenal lesson last week on keeping the sabbath day holy- with a glossary, self written story, quiz and all- Dan and I were floored BUT the camera was out of batteries)

AND he had us each draw one of our favorite scripture stories.

It was kind of fun to see what everyone drew and their personalities!

Here are the final results!!!Mom- Feeding the 5,ooo with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish

(age 35)
Dad-Shadrach, Meshach, Abend-nego
(age 35)

Colton- Noah and the Ark (singing the words included)

(age 9)

Sterling-Samuel the Lamanite

(age 7)

Ryland-Samuel the Lamanite

(age 5)

Dacie-The fat wicked King (Noah)

(age 3)

It was a GREAT idea and it was fun to see what everyone had drawn, and hear their interpretation of the story!

We {heart} Family Home Evening!!

Tornadoes in ARIZONA?!!!!!!!

Tornadoes in Arizona?! Yeah Right,

Those are my exact sentiments...

(You can see the hail jumping off the tramp- that was fun to watch!)

That is until I got a call from my friend in the school office telling me we had been put on yellow alert in the schools for a tornado, and the kids were under their desks.

That is when the hail started falling...

AND I lost our satellite transmission for the TV

SO I got online and watched as the reality of a tornado was evident!

The hail turned to walnut size balls (not shown)

and I knew that Dan would be cursing me for converting our garage into a toy room-as the van took the beating!

The air got still and a little green.

So after all the phone calls, reading and watching~ I thought we should hang out in our master closet
for a bit (Dacie, Ryland and Me)

(Colton demonstrating to me what he did for 1.5 hours -and fell asleep- doing at school)

A tornado did ruin some homes and derail a train about an hour from us. There was a touch down 5 miles from the school. Colton's teachers have a weather station set up in their pods out back and so they were watching all the cells forming all over.

(Sterling's teacher one of my good buds sent me this pix text to let me know Sterling was OK- he is on his laptop-their grade got a grant for them- doing educational games)

Colton's class would send updates to the school district. Thus the reason why he probably had to cover his head for most of the 2 hours. They were not allowed to use the bathroom or anything!(closets and buckets)

Dan thinks this was all a big joke and extreme. Some may claim that. I am indifferent and grateful that the school takes the safety of our children so seriously.

It made our DAY an ADVENTURE!!!

Happy Birthday Aunt Cara!

(Could not have picked better weather for your day!- this is the view from our back deck)

It is very apparent Aunt Cara lives in town by us.

Sunday October 3 was her BirthDAY!

and since she does not blog/email or the like...I thought I would let you in on her day a little bit!

We decided to have the Higleys (Aunt Cara) and the missionaries (since Dan was just called as the ward mission leader last week) over to watch afternoon conference.
Afterwards, we had a birthday dinner and PARTY!

We did the dinner, and John did the YUMMY cake
(he sure can cook a moist cake with the best of em')

of course, the kids are EXCITED to have any kind of birthday around these parts!!!

AND they love to make cards, go through all their toys and give everything away!

Dan enjoyed watching the weather

AND the boys favorite part was THE CAKE & ICE CREAM, of course!

HaPpY BiRtHdAy AuNt CaRa!

We {heart} you!