out of africa

For spring break we decided to take the kids to Out of Africa.  When you first get there you go on a Safari ride where you can feed the giraffe.  It was really crazy to have such a huge animal come right up next to you and grab a carrot from your hand! 
 

This is Elizabeth taking a picture of her feeding the giraffe.  Right after this picture someone from across the jeep came to feed the giraffe and it had to bring its neck so far in that it was right in front of Elizabeth's and my heads!  It was a little scary, giraffes are big!

 

Jared took Zander to the front of the jeep to feed it.  He was a little scared but they fed it together.  When I fed the giraffe its tongue touched me.  Look at that tongue it was pretty long.


 

After the giraffe section we were able to see all kinds of animals.  The guide kept saying we needed to keep our hands in the jeep because the animals will bite.  Zander was just too excited to not try to pet all of the animals!  We could have gone on the safari ride over and over if they would have let us.  It was definently the best part of the whole park.

 

We then headed up to see all of the caged animals.  It was amazing that you were able to get so close to the lions and tigers.  This white tiger was being taken to another exhibit while we were standing there.  She was being taken to the tiger splash section where we were able to see her play in the water and go after pool toys.  It was fun to watch.

 

After we were done at Out of Africa we decided to go home the back way and stop in
Jerome, and old mining town.  We wanted to go to the mine but ended up making our way to some historic mansion.  After seeing all it had to offer we realized this was not part of the mine we wanted to see.  By the time we found the mine it was closing time and we couldn't get in.



We thought it would be fun to stop in Prescott for dinner.  Well that was a mistake!  After we found somewhere to eat, it only took us an extra hour to our trip, it was time to head home.  Jared put into his phone our address to look up how to get home and we took off.  Well after we read the directions wrong (unknowingly to us at the time) we ended up going the wrong way and went through Wickenburg only adding another 3 hours to our trip home.  Oh well it is funny now. :)

Riding and elephant at the Renaissance Festival a few weeks ago.

Blake

I thought I would write a little about Blake and tell you guys everything that is going on with him. Blake loves to build/create. He is always asking me if he can cook or build in the garage. Everyday (well unless he is grounded from cooking) he likes to "cook". He does not like to follow recipes but to make them up himself. That kid goes through so much cinnamon! Blake is always in the garage building a boat or a robot or a motorcycle or a house you get the idea. He is very ambitious in his ideas of what he can build.
About a month ago I was outside with him and noticed that he was riding his bike without training wheels. I asked him when he learned to ride a bike and if dad had taken off his training wheels. He told me that he had gotten one of Jared's screwdrivers and taken them off himself. What kind of mom does not even know her kid can ride a bike!
Blake also in the last month has started to call me mother. Everyone that hears him call me mother thinks it is adorable.
Just a few days ago Blake came in from outside and asked me if I would sign him up for Bull riding lessons. I have no idea where he got that.
When we went for our sonogram earlier this year we took all of the kids. When the tech told us we were having a girl the girls were super excited. About 3 minutes later Blake started to cry, "I wanted a baby brother". I think he is over it now as he is always coming up with names for her. Today he came up with the name, Peanut and the other day he wanted to name her Emily. I asked him where he heard Emily and he said he just made it up.
Blake also does not like to bathe. Yesterday I asked him when was the last time you had a shower. He told me it was 14 years ago.

Zander's first words

So Zander just recently said his first word. No it was not mom or dad or anything cute like that but his first word is Dog. He loves our Cleo dog and I can always get him to stop crying or being a pill by asking him, "where is Cleo?". So shock of shocks when in the last few days he started saying his second word. Any guesses? Of all the words out there he can now say Cleo.

update

So anyways here is a little update on what has been going on in the last few months. We just celebrated Halloween last night. Liz was Cleopatra (actually she was the  Cleo denial). Kayla was a  werewolf. Blake was Batman and Zander was Batman's sidekick Robin.

After trick or treating down our street Blake and Kayla decided they were done. So I ended up taking them home and took Liz and her friends out for another hour.

Jared just got back from his deer hunt. He and Liz were drawn this year. Jared got his buck opening morning.

Zander turned 1 last week. Jared just started taking a metal working class and his first class was on Zander's birthday. So Jared hurried home from work and we woke up Zander and had a little party. You can tell from the photos Zander is just waking up.

A few weeks ago we headed to Greer Arizona. We stayed in a really nice cabin and were able to go fishing. We caught 7 fish total. Blake caught the most with 3. We ate them for dinner and Blake made sure he ate the biggest fish.

On our way home we stopped and launched Jared's rocket. It went really well until the last launch when the rocket flew away and was never found. I just thought this picture of Liz was funny. Check out those glasses.

And here is our new puppy Shotzy (German for sweetheart). Jared and I picked her up on the way home from our romantic 13 year anniversary getaway. The kids were really surprised. We need to take more pictures apparently since this is the only one we have.
She is doing well on her potty training and has lots and lots of energy. Hopefully when the baby gets here in May she will be more calm like our Cleo dog.

Alright here is my recap of the last few months.

Zander was blessed with his cousin Kent.

Blake had his 4th birthday, which included a super hero themed party with all his friends. We played super hero basket (fruit basket tip over), we made spiders and spider webs, we tied up bad guys, and we had super hero cake and homemade root beer.

We had an Easter weekend with both sides of the family which included a trip to the mall for new Sunday dresses, playing in the splash pad, egg dying, 2 Easter Egg hunts, a BBQ of crumbled Belk burgers (lets just say we all ate a lot of chips and pie), and Sunday dinner with the Great Grandparents.

The girls have been taking music lessons this year. Elizabeth plays the violin and Kayla plays the piano. They had a recital which only lasted 10 minutes. Best recital ever! Oh and they played great.

Zander is getting bigger. He is 6 months old now. He can sit up, roll across the room, and get on his knees and rock back and forth. He has a jumping horse he loves to sit in and bounce. I wanted to upload a movie of him in it but it was taking to long to upload and I don't feel like waiting around all day. He started teething a few weeks ago and loves his rice cereal! I have never had a kid eat rice cereal. The first time I tried feeding him he did so well I asked Jared how many bites he thought Zander had taken. He figured around 6 (that would have been good for any of our other kids) he really ate around 30 bites! At his 6 month check up the Dr asked if he was sleeping through the night. Yeah right. He said he was old enough to do it, no need to say that again. That very night he was moved upstairs into Blake's room. I have no idea if he sleeps through the night but I can't hear him downstairs so I am sleeping good. :)

Blake and Jared went on their first Father's in Sons Camp out. When they got home Jared set up the tent in the backyard. We had a fire and roasted marshmallows and told "scary" stories like how dad went to the store and spent all the money. I like to tell that scary story alot. :) The kids then slept in the backyard. Well not the baby.

This weekend was my grandmothers birthday and she had recently told me she wanted some pictures of the kids. Saturday morning Jared and I thought it would be fun to hold a "photo shoot" in the backyard. It was actually really fun and after promising Blake he would get a star if he participated everything went smoothly. We even got a few smiles from Zander, of course those were usually in the same pictures Blake had his eyes closed! We were able to get a few pictures made for my grandma and were able to have a nice visit with her. It was also a nice surprise when we got to her house only to have the door be opened by my brother Richard! It was great to be able to see his family and see how big Kenton and Wesley are getting.









I think my favorite is the one with all four of them laying on the grass. What do you think? Anyways we had a great time as a family this weekend. After our mock photo shoot we went to the music store to get new strings for my/Elizabeth's violin and a new piano book for Kayla. Jared was inspired while we were there and has been getting out his old trumpet the last few days (even at 9pm when all the kids were asleep!) and yes he did wake up Zander and no he did not go right back to sleep!