To the ZOO!

On Thursday the kids and i went to the Oregon Zoo. The lady I work for won 4 free tickets so I took Kennedy, Adam, Blake, a friend of Adam's, and we left Josh at home. We spent most of the day at the zoo and had a ton of fun!

Kennedy standing in the Eagle's Nest

Blake, Kennedy, and Adam
(one of the rare pictures with Adam since he refuses to have his picture taken.)

Kennedy is standing next to a life size scale of the bears. Look how tall they are, especially the polar bear! I wouldn't want to be left alone with one of them!

Now the monkey house is always interesting! The baboon walked right up the the glass and stared at everyone! Then he decided to pee in front of everyone...lovely. The rest of the monkies also put on a show for us.

Adam and Blake on tricycle once used by a circus elephant.

The boys with their sno-cones while we watch the birds of prey show.
Ken with the zebras


The last exhibit we visited...the Penguins, cute but Stinky!
Here are the 3 stinkers...

Well the Zoo turned out to be a fantastic outing!
We had a blast!

This is what I did today...

Kennedy and I played "Pollies" today. These are her Polly Pockets (which are much bigger and funner to play with than the Pollies I had when I was little!) We played for most of the day!

My girl's name was Olivia Tyson, called Livy by her friends. She is a grad student studying Early American History and doing her dissertation on the role and influence of women in the founding of this country.

She lives in a small house with her pet turtle, named Tortuga.

The top floor consists of her study, with a computer, bookshelf, and trusty globe. And her bedroom, she's too poor for a bed but has lots of clothes! :) The bottom floor has her entry way, with some more books, and her kitchen. On the kitchen table is a picture of her boyfriend, Jack, who lives in a foreign country. They correspond through letters.

She has a little shop in the Mall where she sells homemade purses, hats, and an occasional shirt or skirt. She works there in the mornings and in the afternoons goes to classes. Her money goes toward paying for her education.

Today Livy's adventures included a sleep over at Sarah's house(Kennedy's polly). They went to the beach. She went to work and sold a few items, attended classes, met with her Mentor and discussed her dissertation. Livy took Tortuga to Vet Sarah and bought him a new cage. Sarah came over and they relaxed in the hot tub. Livy did her homework and cleaned her house. She took Tortuga with her to the post office where she had a letter from Jack. She planned and took an extended vacation to visit Jack in the foreign country he lives in. She ordered take out and pizza and attended a horse race in which Sarah raced her horse and won! Afterwards they went out for icecream and Livy chose hot caramel over hot fudge.

This is what I am paid to do everyday. Isn't it great?

Summer update!!

Man I have really fallen behind this summer! I can't seem to stay up to date on my blog, not that I've done anything too exciting lately. I have also failed in taking pictures! Ahh! What's happening to me!? :)

So what have I been doing lately besides obsessing over John Thornfield? Well, I took the kids to the Clark County Fair last week. I wasn't too excited but we ended up having fun. I bought the boys all day ride passes so we split up and while they rode the rides all day Kennedy and I visited the animals, other booths, and watched a juggling show! We also got Jumbo Elephant ears, which are truly enormous!Ken with the Llama...

Ken with the rope she made!

Miss Kennedy...isn't she cute?

One thing I forgot to mention about the fair, and that I didn't get a picture of was the Belly dancers. Kennedy and I stumbled across them in the "Kids Park" area of the fair. After a few minutes I began to wonder why they were in the children's section because they were a little disturbing...One dancer was probably 8 months pregnant and the rest were not thin at all! Most had belly flab hanging out with stretch marks and the dancing was not very good. Oh and I'm quite positive one was a man dressed/changed into a women. Soon I was hiding Kennedy's eyes and walking quickly away! haha, oh the things you see at the County fair!

Well, I've just been working and now I am beginning to think about heading back to Rexburg. I leave September 4th, Mom and Dad are driving me down. My goal is to pack light this year, I seem to accumulate so much junk every year! Maybe once I return to Rexburg I'll be better at blogging!

Let me introduce you to...

John Thornfield
of Elizabeth Gaskell's North & South

He's right up there with Mr. Darcy and Capt. Wentworth in my book, although he is more like Mr. Darcy than Wentworth. He's headstrong and proud with a temper but also completely charming and sexy.

Yesterday Mom and I went to our friends Sandy and Brittany Ririe's house to watch North and South. They have been wanting us to watch it with them all summer and Brittany and I had the day off so it became a date! It is similar to Pride and Prejudice but a little shorter and with a deeper plot than just falling in love. The main character is Margaret Hale who's family moves from the country in the South of England to a cotton mill town in the North and find the culture quite different as they try to adjust. This is where John Thornfield, a Cotton Mill Master, enters. It is so good, I recomment it to any of you who enjoy Pride and Prejudice or Wives and Daughters. Mom and I thoroughly enjoyed North and South and are so glad the Ririe's, who share our love of Jane Austen and like authors and mystery and romance, shared it with us.
Watch it...it's AMAZING.