Hogle Zoo

I've been wanting to take the kids to Hogle Zoo this entire summer. My nephew Josh had a birthday and he wanted to go to the zoo on Saturday, so it was a perfect opportunity to go with my family. The only down side was that JR and Isaac didn't get to come, but it was still nice getting to spending some time with just Cali. She had a blast with her Grandma, Aunt Annika, Uncle Jay, and lots of her cousins. I really enjoyed spending time with my family also. The animals were cool too :).

The first thing we did when we got to the zoo was see the bird show. I can't remember the last time I went to it. It was really fun and Cali was so excited with everything. It was cute :).

Here's the rest of us enjoying the bird show.

Here's one of the birds flying. What a wing span!

Here's Cali and a Meerkat. I wonder what it's thinking... :).

We were waiting behind some class to see if we could see the Tiger. All of a sudden the Tiger comes right up to the glass to get a drink. What a great view! It was beautiful! ...but I was definitely glad to have the strong glass there :).

Here's the baby giraffe in front of the momma giraffe. I thought it was a cool picture...if I do say so myself :D.

Cali got tired and cranky on part of our walk, so she hung out with cousin Nathan for a little while.

I thought this pic was cool too. I caught the bear right as it had climbed out of the water and was shaking off.

Here's Cali and I enjoying the elephants. The one in this picture is over fifty years old, and she's a grandma :).

I had to get this picture of Cali. I have one just like it when I was around her age. I'll have to compare the two now :).

Here's all of us getting ready to ride the train.

After we were done I sat down by zoo entrance with my mom to relax and Cali sat and played here for about a half hour! I need one of those at my house....

Peterson Family Weekend

Last weekend JR's brother Aaron was in town, along with his wife Angel and their new little girl AJ. She's the first niece I have on the Peterson side and it was so much fun getting to see her again.

Here's JR with AJ. I'm sure from their names they're going to be close :).

Isaac wasn't sure what to think about his new cousin. I'm sure he'll be tackling her in no time, though :).

Here's AJ. She's even cuter than the last time we saw her!

Here's three of the four Peterson boys (and Cali :).

L to R: Aaron (AJ's dad), Steve, and Adam

She's only three months old, but look how big she is! If you look close you can totally see drool on her mouth. I love it!

Here's Isaac dancing with his Aunt Rachel.

Isaac is always begging for food, so of course he had to beg for Grandpa's ice cream. What a stinker!

Black Family Reunion in Antimony

Ok, so this was two weeks ago but I still had to post my fun family reunion. Every year my mom's family gets together at my grandparents guest ranch for a big family reunion. It's loud, there are lots of people, and you don't really sleep well, but every year I always have so much fun. I really enjoy the relationships I get to have with my family and extended family. I feel so fortunate that my family has a place to get together for the whole weekend to really become close and develop lasting relationships. The kids love it too because there's horses, a playground, and lots of space for them to run around. And they get to spend more time with their cousins. Enjoy the pics from our fun weekend!

Here's us dancing around Friday night with the cool live band they had.

JR dancing with Cali. Too cute :).

What a great mom I have. My kids sure love their grandma Weeks!

Enjoying the playground with my sister Heather.

You can't go to the ranch without riding a horse. Look at Cali all by herself. She's getting so big!

Isaac enjoyed a ride too. Cali was a good big sister and held on to him tight :).

Here's my cute grandma Black playing with Isaac. She broke her hip last year and she's been using a cane to help her get around. But she uses it a lot like President Hinckley did - she just carries it around :).

Here's me, my grandma Black, my mom, and Isaac. Four generations!

Here's Cali and her cousin Josh swinging. She purposefully made that face because I was taking a picture. What a little stinker!

Here's my grandparents Rockin' R Ranch.

Here's the inside. I love lounging in here.

Here's my dad and more of the lodge. I have so many memories here!

Here's the back of the lodge.

I love going to Antimony because it's such a beautiful little town. And at night you can see a gazillion stars!

The sunset was so beautiful I had to share it!

The view from one of the balconies. I love it here!

Here's my sister Heather getting Isaac into the cowboy spirit :).

On Saturday night we had a program and we always do skits. This one was so funny I had to share. It was a "wet t-shirt contest". Each person was given a wet t-shirt that had been frozen. The first person to undo the shirt and put it on was the winner. Most of the shirts were frozen solid and it was so funny watching everyone try to put them on. Here's my bro-in-law Jay putting his shirt on. He was the winner, but only because his shirt wasn't as frozen as the others. My dad's shirt was so frozen he put it in the microwave and it didn't even make a difference! For anyone looking, this is a really cute game idea :).

For my mom's family's skit they did a spin off of "America's got Talent". It was so funny! Here's the judges (my uncle Lance, my grandma, and my cousin's wife Molly) and my cute mom dressed up as the cow Gladis. If you know the song you'll understand :D. She was so funny!

Here was another skit my sister and some of our cousins did. It reminded me of a dance my Dance Company did in High School. It was really funny :P.

Here's my grandma and grandpa Black. It's not a family reunion without my grandpa Black singing silly songs. I know they won't be around forever and I cherish these moments.

All my mom's brothers and sisters were at the reunion, so they took a family picture. Here's my four uncles, three aunts (plus my mom :), my grandparents, and Roger (the one in the glasses) who was basically adopted into the family. There are over 100 direct descendants from my grandparents. What a family legacy they've created!

(Thanks aunt Michelle for those last two pics. I copied them off your blog :)

Breaking Dawn...finally!

(Don't worry, no spoilers :)

I can't tell you all how excited I've been about Breaking Dawn coming out. I know I shouldn't be acting like a teenager, but once I started with the series I was hooked. I blame that on my sister Nicky for giving me Twilight as a gift :). Thanks Nicky! I got Breaking Dawn at about 12:10 a.m. on Saturday morning and of course I had to stay up for a few hours reading. I finished it yesterday afternoon (Monday). I have to say, for the longest book I've ever read I did pretty good on the time! Of course I had to neglect a few things, but my children have recovered nicely. hehe ;D

This book was so much different than I expected, but in amazingly good ways. I have to say that I absolutely loved it and it is my new favorite in the series. I knew from the start that it was going to be an amazing story, but having finished the book it's my favorite for so many other reasons. This is something I wasn't sure I was going to say when I started reading it. A little ways into the book I thought I was going to have to swear off Stephenie Meyer books! (OK, so that was a slight overreaction, but that's what happens when you get so caught up while you're reading :) I seriously got a little worried about a third of the way into the book (and no it wasn't because of the honeymoon stuff :), but luckily my complete addiction and curiosity won me over and I had to finish. I'm so glad I did! I have to say that this book has taught me so much about live, love, sacrifice, and about what's really most important. It's helped me realize that becoming the person I want to become isn't something that is going to just happen on it's own. It is going to take all my blood (hehe ;) sweat and tears. Anything that is worth having (or becoming) is worth fighting for. I'm not a person that gets symbolism or hidden meanings very well, but after finishing this book I was so deep in thought. Right after I finished it I couldn't wait to read it again. That was a first for me, since I'm not a big reader (or wasn't until the Twilight series :). The best part is that I didn't have to wait long because JR and I started reading it together tonight :D. Yeah! And it was actually JR's idea... I KNOW! I loved reading the other books with him and I can't wait to read this one together. I just hope I don't completely bawl in the process :).

I wish all of you out there happy reading, and let me know what you think when you're done. If the book starts to freak you out a little like it did me, I promise it'll be all worth it in the end :). I don't know if all of you will get the same things out of it that I did, but at the very least you'll hopefully appreciate and love your family more. Plus you'll get a heck of a great story!