We're goin to the zoo, zoo, zoo!

Last week, we spent a day at the zoo. All day. Not kidding. We went as soon as Lena woke up and ate breakfast, came home for her to take a nap, and then went back when she woke up. The zoo is only like 20 minutes away, down back roads I might add, so we thought we'd take advantage of the free re-entry on the same day deal.

Lena had a blast. She saw monkeys, fish, a rhino, gorilla, brown bear, black bear, sting ray, turtle, polar bear, cheetas, bats, snakes, and so much more.

The monkeys were here favorite. The little ones that swung around on the tree limbs and bars.

But also the big ones who just hung around and slept.

Showing off the monkey to her new friends.

Then we found a giant gorilla. And I thought Lena would want to sit in his hand. But nope!

A little scared.

And she also loved the fish.

In the aquarium, there was a "touch and feel" section and she actually touch and felt! I didn't think she'd want to, being as shy and timid as she is, but she went right in and felt with both hands right from the start!

We also went on a tour around the dinosaur island. Lewis LOVES dinosaurs. Always has ever since he was a little kid. So when he found out there was a dinosaur island, we HAD to go :) Lena was so cute on that ride. She had her own seat since we had to sit in a boat to travel around. She sat up straight, staring intently at everything going on around her, all the movig dinosaurs and even trying to find where the sound effects were coming from. She played with her thumb the whole time. Super cute to watch.

She was in awe when the T. rex came in the scene. Her eyes got big and she was mesmerized.

We're gonna watch land before time as soon as we can ;)

We had such a good time! I think I'm going to buy a member pass so that Lena and I can go back once a week!

St. George

Just this past weekend, Lewis and I were able to take a little get-away to St. George. Without a baby.

It was our first time leaving Lena for more than a few hours and we were a little nervous. But we knew that she was in good hands. We left her with Clark and Alicia, my brother and sister-in-law, and we just knew that they would take the absolute best care of her. They adore her. And she sure has fun when they're around. We missed Lena while we were gone, but Alicia and Clark kept us fully informed on what and how she was doing. Complete with picture updates via text. She sure had fun without us.

A few weeks ago, Lewis found out that Brian Regan was coming to perform at the Tuachan in St. George. I LOVE Brian Regan. And Lewis has always known that. I'm always quoting him or making him watch some of his skits. I was so happy and appreciative when Lewis said he wanted to buy us tickets to go see him.

We left Lena with Alicia on Friday afternoon and started our little trek to southern Utah. The plan when we got there was to go out for a nice romantic dinner. We looked up information on some of the best restaurants in St. George and found Sakura, a hibachi Japanese restaurant. Jumped right on that plan. Lewis had never been to a place where they cook right in front of you, so we made sure he enjoyed it!

The only bad  thing about these places? They throw shrimp at you to see if you can catch it in your mouth. Even if you don't like shrimp (like me), and you even tell them you don't like shrimp, they just say that they don't care and they throw it to you anyways. I've mastered the fake "I'm trying to catch it but it just always seems to miss my mouth" act.

After dinner, we headed to the show. It was so funny. The opening comedic act and Brian Regan were well worth the money and the trip.

the Tuachan stage.

After the show, we went to Smiths to buy all the supplies that we'd need to roast marshmallows. We just forgot to bring a flashlight. So at 11:00 at night, the fire pit was hard to find and decided to put this idea on the back burner. The next morning, we hit the outlet malls, grabbed some lunch and headed home. Lewis asked me to drive since he was tired of being behind the wheel. He'd driven to Vegas and back just a few days before this trip. So I gladly took the wheel! While he took a much needed and deserved nap.

Both the trip there and the trip back were filled with laughs, road trip games, and just good quality time spent together.

We decided we're doing this every year.

the perfect weekend

This weekend was perfect. Here are a few reasons why:

• Lewis had Thursday and Friday off of work, so we took Lena to the zoo [or at least tried to take her to the zoo]. But after 2 and a half hours in the car wondering why it was taking so long to get there, we realized - it's spring break. and the only sunny day all week! So after almost 3 hours in the car (the zoo's only an hour away), we decided just to turn around. But we had come all this way! We needed to do at least something. So we went to the aquarium, found a parking spot in the first row, and took Lena inside. And boy did she love it. At least the penguins. Loved the penguins.

watching them swim around!

she doesn't look happy, but I promise she was. She never smiles for the camera

you can't really tell because the guy with the BYU hat is in the way, but she's reaching out to touch the penguins

• We went to Lewis's mission reunion for the Honduras mission and Lewis was able to see a lot of the individuals he served with. We had baleadas. Which are basically just eggs, beans, sour cream, cheese and avocado on a beautifully thick tortilla, eaten like a taco. Delicious.
• Conference was this weekend. And I was able to hear some much needed words of wisdom and guidance. Loved being reminded how to be a better wife, mother, and missionary. If you're interested in hearing what my church teaches, you can listen to the talks here, until they're printed in a few weeks. Ask me how if you want a copy and I'll get the talks to you!
• Lena [conveniently] naps at 10 and then again at 2, which is exactly when conference airs! So Lewis and I were baby-less and able to snuggle (almost) the whole time.
• Alex, Kim, Brannon and Emily came over for dinner. And we ate our fair share of burgers, chips, vegetables (I'm trying to teach myself to like more veggies), and banana bread.

Bucket list

Lewis and I are moving. We don't know when or where yet (oh the joys of graduate school applications) but we know it's happening. Could happen as soon as late December/early January or as late as June or July. We're hoping for January so hopefully the odds (or God) are (is) ever in our favor.

Because we're getting ready to leave Utah, we decided to make a bucket list of all the things we want to do before we leave:

Happy Sumo's
Cafe Rio (multiple times)
Ike's
Tucano's
Noodles and company
J dawgs
MOA - restaurant and museum
Bean museum
BYU creamery
Cracker Barrel
DP cheese steaks
Magleby's fresh and regular Magleby's
JCW's (also multiple times)
Brick Oven
Malawi's
Zupas

Notice all but one of these "to-do's" involve food. We love to eat. And it looks like we're eating out at least once a week from here until Christmas.

It's a wonder we're both not 400 pounds.

photo challenge day 14

Person you love.

Lewis doesn't work on Thursday mornings, so we decided to spend some nice family time together and go on a walk in the [freezing] morning. Lena was a good sport and went with us when it was 38 degrees and we haven't bought her a coat yet.

love him

love her

We didn't end up going out for very long because we could tell little Lena was getting cold (and tired. and probably hungry). But it was a fun morning anyways.

and the winner is...

This handsome man!

All because of that stupid turkey (which he keeps saying looks like a chicken). His last ditch effort to use the laffy taffy. Pretty creative idea, I might add.

Well played, my love. The turkey was definitely more popular.

cupcake wars

Today, Lewis and I had our own version of cupcake wars. It was a mixture of cupcake wars and chopped. Lewis knows I love the cooking channel. We had a theme (like cupcake wars) and then had to use specific ingredients in all the decorations (like chopped).

The theme wall

The decorations: icing, candy letters, halloween eyes, laffy taffy, nerds, and  sweetarts

Cutest idea ever?

Yes.

And he didn't even get the idea from pinterest.

I got to pick the theme. I chose theme 3: the fall. We each had to decorate three cupcakes that had to do with the fall season. Using one of all the decorations. Unlike the show, we didn't have any judges to judge our creations. This is where you come in. You will help us choose the winner.

Option A:

a pumpkin

"BOO" for halloween

leaves

Option B:

a graveyard

fall colors

a turkey for thanksgiving

So who will win?

Option A:

Option B:

Leave your vote in the comments! Lewis thinks he's got this in the bag. Let's prove him wrong? Thanks.

The cannon center

Today, Lewis fulfilled one of my childish dreams. I have been wanting to go to the cannon center for lunch or dinner and relive the life of a freshman.

As a freshman, we loved [and live in] the cannon center. The canc. El canano.

All you can eat with one swipe of a card? Yes please.

Today we went.
And filled three trays with dishes.
Made our rounds at the beginning to see what was available [and worth eating].
Got something from every section of the cafeteria.
Ate dessert in the middle.
And at the end.
[Lewis wouldn't let me eat it at the beginning, too.]
Went back for seconds.
[and thirds]
Topped off my meal with [2 bowls of] cereal.
And got another [3rd] cookie as I left. For the [30 second] drive home.

I think Lena even enjoyed herself too. It was a wonderful date. Something that I think Lewis has been waiting to cross off the 'Kara list.'

I'm not needy I promise.

dino date

Lewis has always told me that he loves dinosaurs. Ever since he was little, it has just been one of his passions. So I thought of the best date idea. Ever. Get this. We'd go to the dinosaur museum. Come home and eat dino-shaped chicken nuggets (totally cute), and then watch Jurassic Park. One of Lewis's favorite movies. How is that not a good idea for a date. I was so totally stoked about it. And Lena would be along for the whole ride! Except the Jurassic Park part. No TV until she's 2.

Anyways. I was really excited for this date. I asked Lewis if I could take him out tomorrow. Then, I thought it would be a good idea to call the museum just to make sure they're open on Saturdays. Turns out, they're not. So. Game change. We went today instead. I told Lewis all that I had planned. But because I was going to go buy the dino-nuggets tonight, we were nugget-less. So we got dairy queen instead. Totally makes up for it.

And I was going to rent the movie tomorrow. So we were Jurassic Park-less also. Basically, this date is happening in parts. We did the museum today. We're ditching out of the dino nuggets because they're a bit too expensive just to be cute (cute idea, though, if I do say so myself). And we'll probably (maybe?) watch the movie tomorrow.

Here are some pictures of our trip. Obviously Lena is enjoying the whole thing. We took her during nap time, so she was less than thrilled.

Lewis, Lena, and the T-rex (I think)

Lewis and the head of a crocodile. The head alone was as big as me.

These fossils of dinosaurs were found in TX. I had to make Lewis take a picture by them

Lewis and his favorite dinosaur. The head of a triceratops

Babymoon

A few weekends ago, Lewis and I decided to take the weekend off and take advantage of a nice bed and breakfast in Sandy. We wanted to take a little get-away trip before our cute little angel comes (who still doesn't have a name, by the way... we're struggling). We found Castle Creek Inn on a Wednesday night and decided to make that Friday our holiday. Here's some fun pictures of our trip.

Castle Creek Inn (and a very excited Lewis)

The little man right outside our room

Fish pond out back

Pool table in our room! Guess who won?!

Love him

While the babymoon was fun (although I picked a movie that Lewis didn't like very much), I'm excited for this new adventure we've got going. Only one month (plus a few days) until baby.