Phoenix Zoo

This year, I spent my 27th birthday at the zoo!  Michael had the day off work and we've never been, so I thought it would be the perfect day to go since it was a weekday, (less crowded) the weather was likely to be nice, and the kids are old enough to appreciate it.

We got there as soon as it opened and stayed until nap time.  (My kids are NOT the type to sleep in the stroller.  Ever).  Matthew had slept horrifically the night before so he was a bit cranky, but he'd been looking forward to going to the zoo for weeks so he would snap out of the crankiness whenever he'd see a cool animal.

Apparently the Phoenix Zoo is not all that impressive, but I wouldn't really know because I've only ever been to two zoos in my life, and the first one was a reeeeally long time ago.  (It was the San Diego Zoo).  I remember that I had a blast and I distinctly remember the hippo and the monkeys, but that's about it. Anyway, I thought it was way fun and the best part was seeing how excited Matthew and Kate would get over seeing all the animals they've been learning about.   

 Matthew was on Could 9 when he got to see the elephant. It was what he'd been looking forward to the most.

HUGE tortoises!

This jaguar looked like it wanted to rip our heads off.

Rafiki-ish type monkeys

petting zoo

See what I mean about Matthew?  :-)  He looked like this unless he was looking at an animal.

Toucan Sam

zebras

After the kids went down for naps I went shopping for a few hours by myself, which is seriously heaven. Ha. And then we all went out to pizza for dinner. Perfect birthday!  Big shout out to Michael for being awesome and making the day so great!

February

What in the world!?  Where did February go???  I mean, I know that February really is quite literally the shortest month, but it feels more like 2 weeks long.  Well anyway, here's what we were up to in February:

My parents came to town at the very start of the month and we went to the Gilbert Temple Open House.  It is BEAUTIFUL!  Seriously.  I am absolutely thrilled to be able to call it my home temple, and beyond grateful that it's only a few miles away.

This photo was taken by my dad.  Not bad huh?  It's now hanging in our front room.

The weather has been amazing.  We go to the park at least once a day - often twice a day!  A lot of February has been spent on the swings, slide, and playing in rocks and dirt.

 Matthew mostly uses the "big boy" swing now, but this time he wanted to swing next to Kate.  It really depressed me because it was the first time that I thought he actually looked awkward in the baby swing.  Ugh, does the whole my-baby-is-growing-up thing ever get easier?  :-(

Cheese ball.

Speaking of babies growing up, Kate started WALKING!  Ahh!  She pretty much never crawls now.  I LOVE when babies first start walking.  The unstable wobble is the cutest thing.  Obviously she still falls a lot, but she got good at it really fast.  Matthew finds it quite entertaining and loves cheering for her.  "Kate is WALKING!  Kate is WALKING!"

Valentine's Day!  I took Matthew on a date to McDonald's for an ice cream cone.  (We started that tradition last year).  It's amazing how unbelievably happy and excited he was about his ice cream cone.  I love this little dude so much.  He is so fun.

When I say the weather has been beautiful, I really mean it.  We even had a couple pool days:

On this day, we were walking past the pool and Matthew wanted to go see it.  We were not dressed to swim, but I figured, "Oh hey, putting our feet in would be fun."  That was dumb.  Of course putting their feet in wouldn't be enough for them.  They were having SO much fun so I basically just let them go nuts.  Fullest diapers EVER.  It was an interesting drive home.  :-)

 Lesson learned.  Yay for proper swimwear!

I am now in the market for a hat that fits him.  Ha.

Matthew is a really good reader.  He literally could read before he could talk.  We read a lot, which means trips to the library....

....and lots of practice with his "ash cards!!!!"  (flash cards)  I have no idea why he likes flash cards.  They're pretty boring, in my opinion.  Whatever works though, right?

And of course, lots of splashy bath times.  Pretty sure my bathroom floor is going to start molding from the insane of amounts of water these two monkeys manage to splash out of the tub.

February, you were very good to us.  Bring on March!