Montgomery Zoo & the Civil Rights Museum

Last weekend we went over to Montgomery to check out the zoo. It was cloudy and humid, but at least it didn't rain on us. In fact, it started raining a few minutes after we left - what a blessing! We also went down to see the Civil Right Museum after the zoo because it was within 5 minutes of the zoo. It was a really fun and enlightening excursion with the kids and I'm glad that we got to go.

Our kids were fascinated by the turtles - especially Dayne.

This was inside the bird sanctuary. Unfortunately I had a hard
time getting the birds in the picture.

We took the kids on the train that went around the zoo. Fortunately we took the train after we had walked around the whole zoo and seen everything. You really couldn't see the animals from the train. However, the kids didn't care - they just wanted to ride the train!

After the zoo we went to downtown Montgomery and went through the Civil Rights Museum. This monument was designed by the same woman who designed the Vietnam Memorial. I wish we would have had more time because there are a lot of Civil Rights Historical sites in downtown Montgomery. If you get a chance to visit us make sure that we take you there.

The Best Mother's Day

This last Mother's Day was by far my favorite. Ben really went all out and I really appreciated it. He had just finished his last assignment for the semester (from hell) the Thursday before so it was a wonderful Mother's Day simply because he was home.

On the night before we went out on a date. Ben had to go somewhere right before we were going to go out so he had me drop the kids off at our friend's house. When I got back, he was home and there was a huge bouquet of my favorite lilies on the dining room table - they were so beautiful! We decided to go out to eat, but we forgot that it was graduation so everything was a really long wait. We ended up going to Outback because it was the only place without an hour or more wait (it was away from the busy part of town, so not as many people there).

That night as we were going home Ben said, "Oh, by the way, you don't have to worry about dinner tomorrow night. We're eating with the Hirts (friends of ours) and Sam (Hirt) and I have it all worked out." Can I just tell you that those words are some of the most beautiful words a husband can say to his wife?


So on Mother's Day at about 3 o'clock, Ben took the kids over to the Hirts and Kim (Hirt) came over to hang out with me at our house. At 5 o'clock the guys called us to tell us to come over because dinner was ready. When we showed up the kids were already in the process of eating and almost done. The guys had set the table really nice and had made us Parmesan chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, croissants and punch. The punch was pretty ingenious - it was cranberry juice with 7up and they had raspberries and blueberries in it. It was really good! Anyway, the kids played while we ate so we didn't even have to get up and get the kids food or entertain them - we just got to eat (what a concept!). Oh ya, and the guys had the kids draw pictures to "decorate" the walls around the table. Our husbands thought of everything. It was a Mother's Day to remember. The only problem that I have now is - what am I going to do for Father's Day? I don't know how I'll come close to that!

Our awesome husbands!!!!

The older kids eating when we walked in.

Lexi got her ears pierced!

Lexi got her ears pierced last Tuesday. She's been going back and forth on the ear piercing thing for the last year. She's really wanted to have it done, but she was afraid it would hurt too much. Anyway, last Tuesday she came home from school and said that she wanted to get her ears pierced - so after dinner we went to the mall. When we got there we found out that they only had 1 piercing gun so they had to do each ear one at a time (instead of the easier way of piercing the 2 ears at once). She was sitting in my lap as they were piercing her ears and after the first ear was pierced Lexi put her head into my shoulder and said, "I'm brave enough. I'm brave enough. I'm brave enough." It was so cute. She let them do the 2nd ear with no problem. She has been so excited to have pierced ears and she can't wait until June 16th because that's when she can put in another set of earrings!

Ward Campout

This last weekend we went on our first family campout. We've been meaning to go camping for a while (like 7 or 8 years), but we never seemed to make it when we were in Oregon. Our church congregation was having a campout so we decided to make our family camping debut. It was so much fun - and so easy! We showed up about 5pm, set up our tent (took longer than we thought it would), and went and had dinner that was provided. Later that night we endured a fun (and cheesy) variety show then had s'mores which was the highlight to the kids. The next morning we got up earlier than I thought possible and hung out until the breakfast was ready. This is definitely the way to camp. We only had to bring our bedding, pajamas, and tent. We didn't have to bring any food (except for snack food) and the campground was only 3.5 miles from our house. It was the best!!!

Ben being confounded by the set of instructions that came with the tent.
Seriously, it was like reading Latin. Thankfully we were finally able to
put up the tent (after enduring much ridicule from our fellow campers!).

Well, here's a picture of my belly. It doesn't look so bad - until you
realize that I'm only 3 months along (barely 3 months).

Here we were enjoying the free dinner. It was so awesome! We were eating something called "Hirt Dogs." A family in our church congregation has a secret sauce for these and they taste so good. One day they are going to be famous. Remember you heard about it here first!

Lexi and her friends hanging out inside our HUGE tent.

Sam patiently waiting for the s'mores - his favorite part!

This was so weird. Normally Dayne is up at the crack of dawn. Apparently camping takes it out of him because he slept in about an hour longer than the rest of us - and it was really bright in the morning.

This video is so awesome. Lexi and her friends were practicing for the variety show. They are singing "Old MacDonald" and the girl that is pretending to play the Ukulele does an awesome job - she even is pretending to change keys.

Rocket Run

Lexi's school had a fundraiser recently. They had to get pledges from people for how many laps they ran around the basketball court. The classes have been practicing for weeks in P.E.. The minimum laps to run were 20 laps - Lexi ran 38. She was on a roll. She ran all of the laps which goes to show you she's her father's daughter (I do not like running).


Lexi running her laps.

Sam and Dayne on the sidelines (wondering when it was time to go home).

Lexi's class after the run.

Sam's Pictures

I'm sensing a theme for Sam and getting his picture taken. The first picture is his school pictures that he just got back and the 2nd picture is one I've posted before. It cracks me up that he looks so proper. I'm raising an English dandy in Alabama! =)