The Zoo!

Dad has a couple of friends/patients that happen to be veterinarians, but on the side they also run their own zoo, out of their backyard. Periodically they let us stop by and visit their growing family of animals. Here is a small run down of some of the animals they have:
kangaroos
wallabies
wallaroos
porcupines
kinkajews
coatimondays
flying squirrel
hedge hogs
potbelly pigs
camels
zebra
zedon (zebra/donkey)
fainting goats (yes, they faint)
exotic birds
lemurs
kangaroo rats
dogs
cats (including a midget cat)
anteaters
turtles
monkey
patagonian cavy
snakes
sloths (they're really creepy looking)

I don't know if I even got them all, but you get the point. It was AMAZING! And this time our grandma got to come with us.
Holt family, thank you so much for sharing your incredible animals with us!


Click on picture to see more pictures from the zoo

Holt's Zoo

Rebels After Dark

Last year, Julie took Amy and me to Rebels after dark with her. It's a fun event that the university does to get students involved. Both last and this year they had caricature artists there, so I thought I would share both renditions of us with you.

Bunkerville

A few weeks ago, Dad, Amy, and I took a trip up to Bunkerville for some dove hunting with Uncle Bob, Brian, and Jonathan. Little did they know what they were getting themselves in for. The day started out well. It was a beautiful morning and the guys got in some good shots. Amy, Johnny, and I got kind of bored just chasing after doves. So we jumped on a couple four wheelers and took off. Well, I took a hill that was more than I can handle and it's lucky that Johnny and I weren't killed. Johnny came out alright, but I got pretty knicked up. The four wheeler rolled over my leg and at first I thought it might be broken. Thank goodness it wasn't, but it's still not great. I've had just about all of the colors of the rainbow in my bruises and for the first few days it was swollen really big. My arm is starting to heal (I landed on my arm when I was thrown off the four wheeler) and Mom and Dad are hoping it won't scar.


On a lighter note, after all of this trauma, we got to try out our cousins' new swimming hole. Really, it's more like a small lake. They have a zip line and a high dive and a rope swing. It's amazing.

Our own author

Kristianne has decided that she is going to be an author. Every few days she writes a new book and then sits me down and insists that I must hear it. They're so cute and it's best to hear it from her, so Kristi, take it away.

Among Kristi's other books are titles such as:
What are we doing? (a book on exercise)
I love Jimmy
Little Bear and Emily
I love Mom
I love the plants
I love books
I love Julie
I love Richard
I love primary
I like to finde fethrs
I love the USA
I love my dad
I love toys


She has some interesting spellings, as you can see in "I like to finde fethrs."
kumpuotr- computer
wadr- water
joolry- jewelry

Happy Feet

As some of you may know, Mom has enrolled Jimmy in tap dance classes. For mom this is less about dancing and more about socializing, learning that it's okay if Mom isn't holding his hand all of the time. But it's still pretty funny to see what he's been learning. Here's a little sample:

Back To School and Back on the Road

Well, it's that time of year again. The smell of new shoes and freshly sharpened pencils is everywhere. In our house, going back to school has certainly been an adventure. With students in four different schools, juggling cars has been interesting. This has only been intensified as car after car has fallen apart. First, on our way home from our hiking trip to The Subway (see post on the Subway for details) the tire on one car went out and all kinds of problems were found. Next, another car wouldn't start. Not lastly, the catalytic converter was stolen off of another car. Lastly, the second car was found to have a leak in the brake system. But we still have one stalwart and brave car left without problems... knock on wood.
Other than that, we've been doing pretty well getting back to school. Amy's finding her AP classes are very time consuming. Julie's finding her Senior year as social as ever. And I'm feeling completely overwhelmed by my Freshman experience. Kristi is doing best of all. Whenever asked about school, she will respond with a report of her lunch. Although, now that she has had some time to go to the fun classes (e.g. art, music, pe) she is making sure that we all learn everything she is. It's great fun to see her get excited for school, though.

How many wigs can one Linda make?

I've been growing my hair out for at least a year in the hopes of donating it to Locks of Love. I figured with as much hair as I have, they could make two or three wigs. And I finally decided it was time to do it. Your hair has to be at least 10 inches for them to be able to use it, so I've had to wait a while to get that much length. It was really weird when she first cut it. I kept thinking, "What am I doing? This is a huge mistake!" But once it was all over and I got to see how much hair I was able to donate, I felt really good about it.




BEFORE















DURING


My hair looked like a little squirrel sitting on the table.












AFTER

It was a big shock to lose that much hair at once, but I've really enjoyed it. You can do so much more with short hair and it's really quick and easy to style.
Hooray!