Farmer's Market

This morning, as we were getting ready to go to the farmer’s market, Zoe started screaming. (I think just to hear herself) We told her to stop screaming and to use her words (like she understands what that means). I asked her what she wanted and she promptly said “Bacon”. Ha! She’s never had bacon before, and we weren’t even eating breakfast. Where in the world did that come from?

At the farmer’s market she discovered the fiberglass horses that have been placed around town. There were two at the entrance to the market that she enjoyed touching. Unfortunately one of the horses jumped out at Matt and knocked him to the ground when he went to chase after Zoe. Matt has a nice bump on his head and a headache. Zoe got to pet a real horse from the western demonstrations.

This afternoon she found a box that was filled with shredded paper. I was in the kitchen working on dinner and Matt was doing something on the computer. We found this:





Always up to something! Check out the rest of the pictures from today and the zoo trip.

Go to the zoo?

I ventured out with Zoe on Friday to the zoo while Matt went to work. It was a nice cool morning and not too crowded. The animals were out playing and making all sorts of noise. Zoe’s latest obsession is with the gorilla. I think it’s her favorite animal by far. There’s this statue of a gorilla outside the ape house that is as tall as I am. When she saw it she started squealing and beating her chest making gorilla noises. You’ll have to check out the videos from the day. Then, when we actually saw the gorilla she tried to climb up the gate to get to it. Fortunately she’s too little to have any success!

We also rode the train on this trip. When we were walking through the discovery zone where it is she heard the whistle and saw it coming and got all excited. She started squealing “Ride the train!” It’s not a very long ride, but just long enough to keep her attention. She’s turning into such a big kid.
















Zoe’s talking up a storm, and you can actually understand her most of the time. She’s saying sentences like “Where did it go?”, “There it is.”, “Ride the train.”, “Go to the zoo.”, “Daddy eat!” It’s really cute, and amazing. She understands so much!

Matt's birthday weekend

We took our annual trip to Colorado for Matt's birthday this past weekend. What an eventful weekend! We arrived late on Wednesday night and had some activity planned for every day we were there.

Matt took off on Thursday morning with his brother-in-law, Clayton, and Clayton's dad for a camping/fishing trip. This past year Matt's gotten into fly fishing and is taking advantage of every opportunity to be out fishing. They had a good time together, from what I hear. The exciting part was that Matt caught a rainbow trout. Too bad it's catch and release. I have a picture on Matt's computer that I'll post later. The bad news was that the fish caught Matt. While Matt was holding the fish to take a picture, the fish decided to make a break for it and the hook got caught in Matt's thumb. He ended up having to go to the emergency room on the way home and got a tetnus shot to wrap up the trip. Otherwise, a good trip.

While Matt was on his trip, Zoe and I went with Nana and Papa to visit her new cousin, Nehemiah. Again, those pictures are on Matt's computer and will be posted later. If you can't wait to see what he looks like you can check out his blog under Michael and Jennifer on my links list. He's a precious little boy, and so tiny! Zoe did well with him around. She said his name over and over and even gave him kisses. Her ultimate fascination was with her Uncle Michael's turtle, however.

On Friday Zoe and I went with Matt's family (he wasn't home yet) to a BBQ in Denver with their church congregation. We had good food and fellowship. I don't know many people there, but I meet more every time we visit. We had intentions of Zoe staying up to watch the fireworks, but she faded too quickly. Maybe next year.

Saturday we got up early and went to the Denver Zoo. What fun! Zoe enjoyed riding in a wagon and seeing many animals we don't have at our zoo in Salt Lake City. She even rode the train for the first time. Clayton and Rhianna and Papa went with us on this outing. Zoe's favorite animal this time was the gorilla. They have a big room that the gorillas play in with a window wall for observation. Zoe was up at the window when the gorilla came face to face with her. She beat her chest and made gorilla noises. She kept making gorilla noises for the rest of the day. We got her a plush gorilla as a memory of that visit that she's been carrying around. She calls it "go-ri-ra".















Sunday was Matt's actual birthday. His present was to take Zoe to her first Rockies baseball game. I was a little worried how this was going to work since the game was during nap time. She did beautifully and ended up sleeping the entire ride home and then some. Matt taught Zoe how to say "Go Rockies!" She's pretty good at it. Zoe enjoyed being outside and being able to scream as loud and often as she wanted. I don't think she bothered the people around us. :)
















We made it home safe and sound on Monday afternoon just in time for us to eat a late lunch and take a nap. Good fun and good memories! Take a look at the rest of the pictures and videos here.

Road Trip

Zoe and I took a road trip to St. George, Utah to visit friends from Texas. They were out visiting their parents who live in St. George. We've really missed our friends, so any chance we get to meet up with them, we try our best. Unfortunately Sandy and the kids are the only ones we have any hopes of seeing with any regularity. We do enjoy our visits with them, and send our love to all our other friends in Texas that we haven't been able to see.

The last time we went to St. George, Zoe was only a few months old. The drive down took a L-O-N-G time and we had to endure spells of screaming and crying, not to mention construction and traffic. This time around went much smoother. The trip is supposed to take around 5 hours from our house to the Ditoro house, and we made it in 5 1/2 hours. Amazing! And, Zoe was pleasant and slept for a good part of the trip. I'm so grateful that she's becoming a better traveler.

We were able to do a little site seeing of the city and a few places nearby. We went to a dinosaur museum and saw some pretty interesting footprints and tail drags. We drove through Snow Canyon and saw some beautiful rock formations. All that was interesting and more for the grown-ups. Zoe's favorite part of the excersions was the park. There is a neat place downtown that has fountains that shoot water out of the ground for the kids to run through. Zoe was very brave and enjoyed getting wet and watching the other children playing in the water. She slipped a few times, so eventually ended up just watching from the edge. There is also a "river" that the kids can run/walk through and splash around in. She enjoyed walking around and playing with the rocks. She's becoming such a big kid!

We were sad to have to leave our friends after such fun. Hopefully we can make it to Texas soon, and we'll definitely come down to St. George next time our friends are in town.

Check out the rest of the pictures and videos.

Summer nights

I'm so bad about keeping up with this blog. We have fun, and I take pictures, but then they don't ever seem to make it on here for you all to enjoy.

Well, tonight Zoe was especially cute. We have a dry patch in the back yard that doesn't seem to get water from the sprinkler system. So, we're having to water it the old fashioned way. Zoe came outside with me this evening to get it set up and decided that she wanted to check things out. She had a blast! I had a hard time getting her to come back inside.

And then of course she had to take a ride in the swing before calling it a night. Click on the picture to see the rest of the fun.

Happy Birthday Nehemiah!

Today our nephew, Nehemiah Richard Crill, was born. Finally! He's a week late and put his mother through 29 hours of labor! He is 7 pounds 10 ounces and 21 inches long. We don't have any pictures of him yet, but we do have a really cute video of Zoe saying his name over and over again. She's saying "Mia-miah".

Nehemiah shares his birthday with my niece Kylee, who just turned 6. Happy Birthday Kylee!

Riverdance

Zoe loves playing with her Daddy. One of her new things is to dance a jig. I caught just a few seconds of it today on video. Of course, Matt encourages all silliness and often joins in. They have lots of fun!

Check back soon for pictures and updates about our recent family vacation. I have the pictures on the computer at least, I just haven't had the chance to write anything down. I promise, it'll be soon!