smiles

Katie has started to smile and not because of gas.

Really Expensive Balloons

I am taking a note from my father in law who says he has really expensive pens etc. He brags about his several thousand dollar jacket which came with a free pivot ( wheel line to water the fields). So here are my expensive balloons which came with several free beds. They are being delivered on Tuesday. We are excited. We were leaving as they were trying to lock up and they were getting rid of the balloons so here are our expensive balloons.

Here is Chantelle(Jessica's sister) trying out the fancy beds.

Zoo Day

The reason this picture is included first is to show how Claire watched the zoo. She was so intent on not giving up the stroller spot she would just watch from it and rarely move from the seat. She was afraid to lose her seat. The zoo was great all the animals were really close.

There were several viewing places so if animals were at a different side of the exhibit you could move around to see them. The areas were also fairly large.

Here were the kids with the penguins

... and here is Claire with the penguins.
Once again inside the reptile house.
This chimp had a sense of humor. I watched him do it to several people. The windows were all filthy but there was a sign explaining that the chimps had taken over the cage and were refusing to leave so they could not get it cleaned.

Part of the chimp exhibit had the hand sizes for the different primates.

As I was saying you can get really close to the animals. This gorrilla was using the disk as a scooter type thing.

Just a fun video of Gorrillas here

I was amazed at how close the lion was. There were about 4 or 5 different places around the lion cage that you could see them from. This Lion was inches from that glass.

For $10 a person ($50 for a group of 6-10) could go in and touch and feed the elephants.
The elephants seemed to enjoy it. This cage is just where the elephants were cleaned and the paying patrons could pet them. On the other side of the wall was a huge open area. They also had underwater viewing for the hippo water tank. Claire actually got out of the Stroller for this one.

Then back in for Todd now to push her.

There was a tram that circled the park and it was free.

This was a waterfall you walked behind in the jungle house. The kids are hiding behind the water. You can see Claire(in the stroller) and Todd's orange shirt. Rachel is in there somewhere.

Since it is warm there are misters all through the park. Todd loved stopping at everyone. Bathing (including rubbing his hair like he was shampooing and then...

...Splashing in the water puddle next to the mister.

Just a nice day of strolling around the zoo.

Our 1st Week in Wichita!!

Since we hadn't found a place to stay, we had no where to cook. We ended up eating out alot and the kids were usually taken out before everyone was done eating. Here are the kids outside of Olive Garden waiting for Grammie Gail.
We also decided to give the kids a break from looking at houses, but I will say this Claire actually asked to look at houses today even though we found a place to live.
This is our version of Bouncin' off the Walls, but they call it Pump it Up out here and they have a free for all for $6 a kid every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday at certain times during the day. They had a blast!!!

The slide wasn't as big as the Bouncin' off the Walls but the kids made it up and made it back down.

Our Trip to Wichita!!

Our first day we went all the way to Denver. WE had reservations at a hotel and when we showed up they were overbooked and we got sent to another hotel with bad directions. In the end, my mother-in-law got a room to herself and this is the crew getting Grandma.
We had the best breakfast that morning and I will probably never have another one like it for a while. It was wonderful fruit and french toast.
The second day we went all the way to Wichita. We finally checked into the hotel in Wichita at 2A.M. But we thought we would entertain you with a picture of the kids taking a break in the middle of Kansas somewhere. Don't they look like they are having fun!!

Our Last Night in Rigby

Craig and I went to pick up the kids way too late the night before we left and they all crashed in the car. They looked so cute!!
Then the family had a campout on the living room floor. Craig and I didn't sleep very much but the other kids got a great nights sleep.
Claire woke up in the middle of the night and went looking for Mom and Dad and didn't realize that Mom and Dad were right down the row. She ended up crawling onto Grandma Gail's back in the middle of the night to get warm and spent the rest of the night with Grandma Gail.

Happy Birthday Paka!!

We celebrated Paka's Birthday. You can tell who loves their Paka!!

Here are the kids on the "trampolina."
Rachel packed that lunch box all over that day.

Katharine's Blessing

Here are the Rushforth Ladies. We are so happy that we could add one to our number.
Katharine is wearing the blessing dress that I was blessed in. It was a beautiful day and our last Sunday in our awesome Garfield 2nd Ward.