NC Zoo -- the day after Thanksgiving?!?

Z and a sea lion or is that a seal?

Two crazy animals :)

More animals :)

And some more animals --

two of them we had seen before :)

Want some cracker, Mom?

This is exactly what I wanted to be doing :)

Jer and Z in the Bamboo Tunnel


Z and an elephant

The kids minus B -- she was still sleeping :)

Yep -- after my early morning shopping spree we went to the NC Zoo with some friends from the ward (the same two girls I went shopping with -- yeah we were crazy!!) The original plan was to have the husbands take the kids while the shoppers slept, but we ended up all deciding to go. What a beautiful day -- which is the only sane time to go to our Zoo because you have to walk a million miles. We put B in some long pant pjs just in case, but we all ended up shedding our jackets quickly. I would have never thought I would be able to go to the Zoo after Thanksgiving and have such a nice day, but we are in NC after all.

Black Friday

The day after Thanksgiving I was invited to go shopping -- Black Friday!! I had never done this before -- Jer didn't think I would be able to get up, but I was ready and gone by 4:30 a.m. If you know me I don't even know what 4:30 a.m. means :) We first went to Walmart where I bonded with some strangers at the Leapster display. At one point a lady came by and asked if we all knew each other -- we all said "No" :) All of the deals were on palettes and wrapped with shrink wrap. The poor workers were instructed to not let us touch anything, but we did do some illegal searching because a few of the games were hidden behind cardboard, but we never took anything out. I was on the side of the pink leapsters, so I made a deal with a lady to grab me a green one and I would grab her a pink one. I also had to deal for a game that was on the opposite side. My two friends I went with were stationed at other spots around the store to grab other things that we wanted. Tons of people lined up by the things they wanted until the store let us grab things at 6:00 a.m. I was so glad that we have a 24 hour store so we could be inside the store and not bunched up outside trying to run in all at once. We got out of Walmart unharmed and actually in good time. We then went to JcPenney, Old Navy, and Michael's. Last we got breakfast at the fast food place that is the reason people are fat, Biscuitville (so yummy and always so crowded) before we headed home. I was home by 8:00 a.m. It was crazy and funny and I had a great time!!

Thanksgiving

Working hard and making a mess!

The finished project -- cute huh?!? We put them by every one's plate, kind-of like a place card without the name :)

The pilgrim hat Z made in preschool.

One of the first times B ate a lot of solid food --
she loved the turkey.

The Group

Trying to get a good picture of B -- cute girl!

We were so lucky that we have friends that took pity on us and invited us over for Thanksgiving Dinner. It was hard to not be with family, but this was definitely the next best thing!! First Z and I made Oreo Turkeys. I had seen them somewhere and thought they were so cute. Of course I couldn't remember where I had seen it and had to search forever, but I think they turned out really good. Z was a big help. One tradition that my family does on Thanksgiving is the story of the 5 grains of corn. The story makes you think about all the things to be grateful for so I decided I wanted to keep this tradition. Our friends obliged and I used the candy corn in the turkey's feathers to retell the story. I think it went well (of course it was the first time I had to read it -- it is my dad's job)! Dinner was delicious and thankfully I didn't have to provide any of the food that is hard to cook :) All of us there are far from home and it was so nice on a family day to be with friends -- thanks!!

Picture Tag

My friend "tagged" me to find the 4th picture in the 4th folder on my computer. This is it! What is funny is I put almost the exact picture in Jer's Happy Birthday post. This picture is Jer and Z in 2005 at Christmas time (I know you couldn't tell) in our beautiful house in Utah :( They are wearing the matching pj pants that my sister-in-law made for them for Christmas. Aren't my two boys cute? I have seen some of you getting this "tag", but if you haven't please do this -- it is so fun to look at "old" photos!!

It has been a while since I have updated my blog (sorry to anyone who cares) -- I have lots of pictures and adventures to share, so I will work on it soon!!

Building stuff with dad

Great job guys!!

Z and Jer went to Lowe's on Saturday to make a project together. Z likes to go and hammer stuff. Good quality time out with dad -- so cool :)

Soccer Party

Cool trophy!!

Z's soccer team was sponsored by a company in town.

They provided the jerseys and trophies.

Z had a soccer party after the season was over. The team was supposed to eat some fun treats, get their trophies, and then play at the playground -- it didn't end up exactly as planned. It was so cold that day!! The party only lasted a few minutes, but it was great to recongnize the kids!!

Fall Soccer 2008

Go #6 -- Yea!!

Run Z -- playing against the Pink Team

that was made up of some of the

girls from preschool. He liked that :)

Z was usually running beside or behind the action.
Jer tried to bribe him with money to
kick the ball -- 25 cents.

Get it Z . . . Get it!!

The goalie shirt was one of Jer's old soccer shirts
he wore when he was little. Z loves wearing it!

Z enjoyed being a goalie, but he sure would be

upset when he let a goal in.

This is what the parents did after each game.

The kids thought it was great!

We even had some of the other teams

want to come through too. :)

Just waiting his turn.

B wasn't always thrilled to sit on the

ground to watch the game,

but it made it easier for me

to take some pictures.

A little happier this time :)

Z with his dad getting goalie tips.

Good Job Z!!

Z cheering on his team! :)

Z sure loved playing soccer this fall.

His team was great and it was so fun to watch.

We can't wait for the spring! Great Job Z!!

Carolina Soccer Game

WHEEEE!!! This is B's little trick :)

Z was upset that I kept trying to take a picture of him and he let me know!!

On Saturday Nov. 1 we went to Chapel Hill for a University of North Carolina soccer game. We were invited to go with a family in our ward and we had a great time. The night was beautiful and such nice weather -- we had expected it to be cold, but it wasn't. B did a great job, but Z was ready to leave within the first 10 minutes. In the end I think Z did enjoy the game. Carolina lost, but they were playing Wake Forest which is also a university in NC so I guess it turned out OK :) !!

Happy Birthday Jer!!

Happy Birthday Jer!! You are such a wonderful husband and dad. Thanks for everything you do for us -- We love you so much!!

I love this website!!

I love this website -- Look at all of the fun General Conference packets you can copy for your kids. I just got called to teach in Primary and there are so many great things to use on this website. I am all for using others' cute ideas!! :)

Our crazy garden

We have a very small backyard (if you can even call it a backyard) and all these tomato plants that we did not plant started coming up out of the bark -- we have a small forest that just seemed to appear one day in the backyard. Things grow so well here except grass it seems. These vegetables were picked in August, but we still have lots of tomatoes. We did plant some zucchini, squash and also a few tomato plants, but they didn't do as well as our wild tomatoes. YUMMY!!