From Hogle to Timp Caves....

Another blog entry another lame title. Anywhoo, a couple of Thursdays ago Teeny was talking to me about taking the next day off (a common temptation for me). I usually end up going to work, but this time she mentioned the zoo and the tickets we had from our Coke points (yes, it does have its payoffs besides the amazing taste). I thought about it for a whole second, then I couldn't get it out of my head. So, the next day, Friday, I drug up a half day and we headed up to the zoo. It was the perfect day for it.

The weather was about 75 degrees tops and we had a great time visiting the animals. We did the white alligator, and the bird show which the boys loved. Funny side note here, as we entered the bird show, Teeny had to take the stroller to the stroller parking and so I walked in with the boys. Then as she was walking in the lady taking tickets said, "I think it's mean for parents to dress twins up the same, they are individuals". Of course she didn't think about Teeny being thier mom until she shot her the evil eye. We had a good laugh. We understand they are individuals more than anyone else. It's just fun to see them the same while they are little. We're sure it won't last much longer. The clothes they wear are the only thing similar about them. The rest of the day at the zoo was really fun. We even were able to go to the zoo playground without it being total chaos.

T and the Alligator

N holds his ears when he's scared/ unsure

Classic A and the Lion

Turtle T

A at the water world

This sign was made for Teeny. Her and her loco high school friends used to play on this slide when they came to the zoo. The sign now says you must be shorter that it to play.

These bears were fun to watch. Looks just about like our kiddies at home.

This eagle is supposed to be one of the largest in the world. It was huge. It's from Japan and Russia and could have eaten us all.

The next day we went to Jenacees birthday party. It was a carnival themed party and as we walked in the first thing I noticed was Miles with a garbage sack over his head in the hot sun taking pie after pie in the face. There are things people do that merit a lot of reward, and this I think has gotten Miles into the Celestial kingdom. Seriously, you had to have seen it. If any of our kids get that idea, they will be sorely dissapointed. The rest of the party was a hit with the kiddies. They had a magician there that was great. It was good catching up with friends. We need to catch up more often, and more frequently. Thanks Jensters!

Miles earning his wings.

The magic show was pretty funny.

We love Thanksgiving Point. It is so nice to have somewhere to go that is so fun every time you go. Our kids love all the things they have to do there and Teeny and I love taking them. We headed to Farm Country one night and were just about the only people there. The kids got to ride the horses and feed them too. They had a bunch of new baby goats there too that A really got a kick out of. A was really brave and fed the animals. N and T, not so much, but getting there.

A feeding Junior here.

N and T hanging out on the rail.

N and T are in preshool, or joy school, whatever you want to call it. They go Tuesday and Thursday for about an our and a half and love it! Teeny and a bunch of other ladies from the ward are doing it together and all the kids get along great and have fun learning. A couple of the ladies have done this before and so it is very organized. N and T have known there ABC's for a while now and love coming back telling us what they learned about. We love when we ask A what he learned about in Kind. N and T pipe up too with what they did in joy school that day. They are very into having a back pack too. When we had it at our house, the boys were almost dissapointed they didn't have to put on their back packs. Funny those two.

On thier way to school.

Mr. T

Noly-oly

We ventured out to the duck pond this last week too. Lately the response I get from Teeny when I ask her if she wants to mow the lawn or do yardwork is, "That's for the birds", which is fine with me. We bust our humps all summer taking care of the yard and now things are growing a little slower and we can let it ride for a little while longer than usual. It is great spending more time together doing something fun too. You can mow the lawn any doggone day.

Feeding the ducks.

There were tons of acorns. I'm pretty sure they boys tried to gather them all too.

Ready, Jump!

T was pretty sure he found a Heffalump.

A conquered the stairs.

This is an awesome view of the back side of Lone Peak.

Our garden this year left much to be desired. Our tomato plants were big, but the tomatoes themselves stunk. We've gotten a few zuchini's as well, and our peas were OK, but over all it just didn't do that great despite us having brought in topsoil and raised it 8 inches. Our carrots were the cream of the crop this year though. A lot of them were shorter, but some were pretty decent sized. We had some of them in Teeny's cheesy vegetable soup yesterday. Delicious!

Errr....What's up Doc?

The harvest.

Well, the other day Teeny and Jayne (her sister) went over to Beck's to pick pears. Teeny already picked and bottled a bunch for us, which are amazing. As they were talking Jayne mentioned that she was going to Timp cave the next day and that is was FREE. Did someone say FREE?? We were all over that. We headed up there early thinking we could hammer it out in the morning and get to other things that the 'birds' had still not done. Note to those going up to Timp Cave: You have to get tickets in advance or wait 5 hours to be able to start hiking. We got there around 10am and couldn't start hiking til 3pm. So, to the delight of Ariel (our niece) we had some shopping to do. After lunch and shopping we headed up Provo Canyon and drove the Alpine Loop. Amazing! The colors this time of year are simple incredible. We almost got run off the road a couple of times because the road is so narrow at some points, but it was well worth it. Then, we hit the caves. The trail is about 1-2 miles up there. We had a back pack for one monkey (N on the way up, T on the way down) and A hoofed it the whole way. It had been years that any of us had been there and we really enjoyed revisiting the cave. Tristan (nephew) had some key observations about where the potty exits may have entered the cave. I was taken back to when I was a kid. Everything seemed bigger then, but I was still amazed at the beauty of it. The hike down was quick and the boys all slept really good last night.

These quakies were on the back side of Timp. The colors were amazing!

The crew.

T just had to get as close to the edge as he could.

One of the two tunnels on the trail.

A and T in the cave. It was pretty cold in there.

Finishing up and heading down. Our legs are still sore from the way down!