Keeping Christmas Warm

Happy Belated Thanksgiving!

I know it's not techinically Thanksgiving anymore... but the spirit of the season is still here, so I thought I'd share some thanks day pics with you. :) It was a holiday of many continued traditions. We went to the Hogle Zoo in the morning, and then went to Aunt Crystal's house for the dinner party.

The following Saturday, Dad took me and my sisters on a four-wheeler ride in Butterfield canyon. We used to go every Thanksgiving morning, but five years ago we had an accident and Lexie broke her arm, so we vetoed that tradition until this year. Although it was actually two days after Thanksgiving, I still think it qualifies as satisfying the tradition (see previous post for pics.)

My favorite ever! Mr. Giraffe was having trouble getting to his holiday squash.

And the newbie baby giraffe simply munched on his hay all day.

How convenient, a do-it-yourself christmas card!

There was a cool new animal on display, called a Fossa (pronounced: Foo-sa) Like from "Madagascar'!

Two baby Amur Tigers played tag. So cute.

Penguin guys were up close and personal.

Young'ns galore! Baby elephant, Suri, and her momma ate squash for Thanksgiving dinner, too.

4-Wheel, For Real?!

Pics of the four-wheeler ride with Dad, Lexie, and Tara on November 28th. Butterfield Canyon.

Lexie was a sneaky photographer...

On the way, Tara's ready for the cold.

Here we go!

Dad's famous Grrrrr!!!!!

Can't beat sisterly love :)

Death by Fish?

I suspect I have been poisoned by food. Raw, fish like food to be exact... or, to be ambiguous. Saturday night I experienced "real sushi" for the first time, at a restaurant that will not here be named, but it was good; I liked it. Then, this morning, as I turned onto 75th and hit that rut in the road--for about the 75th time-- a sickly feeling started growing in my stomach and continued growing until I returned home from school. Now, I'm not positive it's food poisoning (how food poisoning could be positive, I have no idea.) But all I know is that I felt like an apple was stuck in my throat, parasites were swimming in my stomach, and i was so nauseated that any perfumed fragrance made me want to hurl. (The locker room after dance class was horrible; all the girls were spritzing themselves with body spray. It sent my head spinning.) I'm feeling better now, but boy did I learn my lesson: Don't trust raw fish no matter how many posters in the restaurant say "No worry, it good for you."

Fresh Air, Fall, and Family

My family and I visited our cabin this weekend-for the first time since July. Tyler is leaving on his mission in November, and my adorable sister Tara suggested that we all go camping as a family one last time before Tyler is gone. We rode four-wheelers as a family, had dinner as a family, watched Pirates of the Caribbean (on our sweet new projector tv) as a family, and even jumped in the huge pile of leaves that we made as a family. In addition to all this familiar stuff, I studied my little heart out, reading two chapters in my daunting history book and completing three packets of homework. To take a break from the madness, I conquered my fear of heights and joined my dad at the top of the scaffolding that he was using to seal the exterior logs of our cabin. I made it all the way to the top, which was as tall as our two-story cabin! Ahh! I took pictures.