Zoos are More Fun with Kids!

It's true. Last year I wanted to go to the Zoo for my 22nd birthday. I don't have any kids yet, but it turns out, zoos are even more fun with them! It was Kate's first time, and I am just amazed that she is always looking at pictures of animals and even knows what sounds they make, but she has never seen them in actual size. That's got to be a pretty crazy experience for any child (even though she's only 2). She got even more excited when she saw the elephant peeing- I guess it's good to see that they do that too.After our fun filled day, we took a ride on the train.
Tim's favorite was the bear.
The girls love their grandpa. This was a regular occurance throughout the week. So sweet!

Utah's Olympic Park

During our stay, we visited Olympic Park in Park City. We got to see the ski jumpers practice, then we all went on this huge zipline down the ski slope. It seemed so scary first, but ended up being a lot of fun and not scary at all! We also went on a metal alpine slide thing (newer than the regular Alpine slide) that went so fast! Tim said he didn't brake at all down the slope, but I was afraid of flying off the side and down the mountain, so I did.This is us getting off of the ski jump...

We May Not Be Homeless Forever!

After a LOT of work from a LOT of people, we have a place to live once we get to DC. It's called Fairfield Crossing, and it might be kind of old, but I feel so much better having this elephant out of our way. Here's my story...
Tim was in charge of finding an apartment this time and has been looking for a few weeks. We found some places we liked, but none had availability. He eventually called Fairfield Crossing and they had a one bedroom opening up August 1st which is actually priced at a deal at the time. Tim told the leasing agent we were interested, and the agent sent Tim an application to fill out and overnight with the deposit check. The application took a little work to get all of our information, and some things happened and we ended up mailing a day late priority rather than overnight. I called the leasing agent the morning after it was mailed to tell him our situation, but he told me someone else was interested and whoever got the information to him first would get the apartment. I went into panic mode and woke Tim up (it was still only about 8 am). We discussed our options, so he called Scott (his brother who lives there) to see if he could write a temporary deposit and take it over during his lunch break, but Scott didn't have a checkbook, so Tim called his mom and found out Scott could get a cashier's check from his bank, called Scott back, etc., etc. In the mean time, I printed and filled out another application (those things have to have a lot of information on them), then we drove to a copy center, which ended up being closed at 9:30 am, so we drove somewhere else, and faxed our information, while Scott made a few errands on his lunch break so we could get the apartment. The agent ended up understanding our situation, and he was really helpful. He has to go to extra work because we require a co-signer due to the fact that we don't have jobs yet, so it's been a lot of work to get this apartment, but I am so glad! We really appreciate Tim's family and their help so we could get this apartment. I think it will a good place to live. At least it has a dishwasher!

4th of July and Midway

Our first full day in Midway was the 4th of July, so we went to the pancake breakfast in the park. The rest of the day was spent swimming at Uncle John's and then having dinner and fireworks there with cousins. Mindy's family arrived just in time for dinner, so it was fun to see the little girls play together, especially with their second cousins. I wasn't thinking, so I didn't have my camera with me, but luckily, Kristen and Mindy both have pictures. Kate really liked the fireworks we did in the street (we found out when she was thankful for them in her prayer that night), but both girls were scared of the ones put on by the city.Here are some picture of us playing outside of our condo in Midway. The mountains were so beautiful, and it was cool enough for us to love playing outside a lot of the evenings.

Kate and Makayla had a lot of fun trying to figure out all of the games. The top middle picture in this collage is Makayla with badmitten birdies against her eyes, and the second line has Kate with her eyes closed so we can't see her.

Grandma and Grandpa Larsen's Backyard Project

Grandma and Grandpa Larsen have been so nice to let Tim and I stay while we have been "homeless," so we've helped them out by replacing some timbers around the back porch. It was a big job because they have been in there surrounded by dirt and bricks for over 10 years. We ended up creating a bigger brick-laying job for grandpa, but did a nice job with the timbers.

Vacation Preview

I have another post before all of our vacation in Midway pictures, and the computer I'm on doesn't have Picassa, so I can't do the collages, but here is a preview of our fun 4th of July vacation in Midway, Utah with my family. We had a great time with nieces and nephews, and we already miss them.Kate always wanted to "wun" down the "mountain." She seemed to never get tired!
This is me and the biggest dog I've ever seen. It's just sitting right now, but it was huge!
Tim enjoyed the little boys, Will is now getting big enough to play ball with, but he also loved jumping, which Tim helped him do a lot!

Hmm...So Many Things to Say

It's been a while since I have been able to upload pictures onto a computer, so I don't know where to start. I guess I'll just add a few pictures and do my big vacation blog later.



Our boxes as we packed up our apartment in Provo...
The yellow house is a reminder of all of the cute houses here. Tim and I love going on walks and picking out our favorites! We named this one "Cynthia's House" from the Mitford Series!






My trip to Farm Country at Thanksgiving Point with the nursery kids in the ward. It was fun, and only $3.50 (Kids 2 and under get in free), but I was expecting more of a petting zoo, and cooler animals.












Our Pine View High School friend potluck in the park. Thanks everyone for coming, we had a great time!