Lions & Tigers & Bears...Oh my!

A few weekends ago Joel and I went to the Idaho Falls Zoo with Joel's best friend, Alex and his girlfriend, Raquel who is from Brazil (not that that has to do with anything). We've been hanging out with Alex and Raquel a lot lately and we've LoVeD it! They're just so much fun and put up with us well, so its awesome for us. Alex, just in case we haven't told you enough...WE LOVE RAQUEL!!! She is so much fun and we'd totally be okay if yall got married.

Anyway, we had a lot of fun on our Idaho Falls Zoo adventure. I've never been to that zoo and in fact, I haven't been to a zoo in ages. The last zoo I went to was the Greensboro, NC on over 10 years ago. If you haven't been to the Idaho Falls Zoo, it is a very small zoo and I feel that it stinks more than most zoos. Or maybe it's just because I haven't been to a zoo in ages and when you're little you're not as disgusted by foul smells. Despite the retched smell we did have a blast walking around looking at the animals and goofing off.

Oh, there were these tiny tiny little monkeys of some sort and they looked just like itsy bitsy Gorillas. They were precious! I kind of want one now! They were in and enclosed area behind glass so I couldn't get a good picture of them. Boo! Also, if I haven't told you... I HATE ZOOS!!! My family is full of animal lovers and it really made me sick to see these animals locked up. It didn't so much bother me seeing the animals that were lucky enough to be outside (although their space for roaming was rather limited. Lions and tigers need land... they're roamers), but I was seriously almost brought to tears (yes...tears b/c I am a softy and cry easily) seeing those animals who were in the enclosed area without any space at all (monkeys need space to swing, run, jump, etc.) and they had no natural elements in there... no trees, grass, fresh air, etc. And yes, I am aware that a lot of those animals in zoos are safer than animals in the wild b/c they're protected, but I still hate it!

Yet despite my spats of freaking out that these animals were caged, we had a blast and enjoyed a day of warmth and sunshine. Too bad I still do NOT have a tan! And I probably won't get one at all this summer since I'm cooped up in a trailer all day without any sunlight.

Alex wrangling the Pheasants b/c they were trying to escape!

I don't blame them!

(or whatever those darn birds are)

Joel & Alex

Apparently I'm smaller than a Golden Eagle!

Alex & Raquel

(typical Alex face)

I LOVE this picture! It's totally how Joel & Alex always are!

"It's a GOOSE!"

(five points if you can name that movie)

Oh Alex-e-o!

Joel carrying me!

b/c in the "Australia" section of the zoo the ground was this red dirt & I was wearing suede flats that would have been destroyed.

Am I a pansy? Sure if that means liking to keep my things nice & clean!

See...we did see LIONS...

And TiGeRs...

(and BEARS but the picture is crap)

Therefore the title of this post is legit!

So Long...Farewell...

This post is long overdue, as are the majority of my posts. But I will not give my usually disclaimer that I'm not super blog savvy and I just don't make it a priority, although I wish it was. So on to the post...

Recently, between mid-April and beginning of June, a BUNCH of our friends have moved away from good old Rexburg! What's even sadder about it is that quite a few of these friends left 3-4 months after we really started to bond and become amigos. Those who have left us consist of: the Broadbents, the Hagges, the Ryan Briggs family, the other Briggs (Andrew & Cassandre) & the Wheelers (just for the summer, but still not sure if we'll see them before we move).

Before everyone left, we had one last hurrah! First we went out to Olive Garden with a group of us buddies to bid farewell to the Broadbents, Ryan Briggs family, Hagges & Wheelers. Unfortunately the Briggs & Hagges weren't able to join, but Sadie & I made them these cute little "road trip" baskets of goodies for their move! Ah thank you...we're awesome! In May Joel and I went out with the Broadbents to the always favorite, Texas Roadhouse. Then at the beginning of June the other Briggs: Andrew & Cassandre left us to head home to California. So we all went out to Wingers and then came back to my apartment and played games and just had fun goofing off and hanging out, and of course...eating more junk food!

Kam+Mallory Wheeler

Paige+Kevin Broadbent

Olive Garden:

Wheelers, Broadbents, Skousens, Sabins & Bowens

Skousens+Broadbents

Goodbye Briggs! We miss you!

Wingers:

Skousens, Becca, Nays & Briggs

Cory & Andrew

We cannot control what we do past 11:00 pm

(yes 11 pm b/c we're married & we don't stay up that late!)

Luckily we still have some good friends left that we hang out with... when our schedules match up. We still have the Sabins, Bowens, Nays, Stanfills, Maynards, etc. But it's just sad to me how we're all slowly trickling away! Joel and I will be the next ones to depart Rexburg! Although we're excited for the change and to be closer to family (in the same house...you can't get much closer), but we're going to miss ALL of our FRIENDS!!! But I've made it a goal to try to keep in touch with everyone (a special shout out to those who have kept in touch with me)! I hate losing touch with people and so I'm determined NOT to!

Well we love our friends...those who have already left us, those who are currently with us and those who are back home in Ohio and Texas whom we never see but always think of!!! You guys are the best! You make living in Rexburg bearable!

SO LONG...FAREWELL...AUF WIEDERSEHEN....

Island Park - January

On January 15th and 16th, our friends Rich & Shelane Tuttle invited us to go to their family cabin in Island Park, Idaho. As you can tell, it has taken me a bit to post about this fun trip we had. A few other couples from our ward came too, along with Rich's cousin's family. It was a bLaSt!!! Friday night was spent eating junk food and playing games. What could be better?

Saturday, however, was spent sledding, snowmobiling and tubing. I got to drive a SNOWMOBILE for the very first time! The video I'll post below is a bad portrayal of my driving abilities on that beast. Rich told me, if I could get the snowmobile up the hill than I could drive it as much as I wanted. Well folks....I did! I had so much fun. But I didn't drive as much as I wanted b/c there were others who wanted a go as well. All in all... a super fun weekend with good friends!

Evan, Joel and Cory woke up early Saturday morning to go ice fishing. Not my idea of fun, but they enjoyed it! I believe this was Evan and Joel's first time ice fishing.

Some of the group (left to right): Joel, me, Evan, Tiffany, Laura & Cody

Piling on the tube to go down the hill and over a small jump... I'm pretty sure Cody got the wind knocked out of him. Pictured (bottom to top, left to right): Cody, Joel, Evan, me & Tiffany. Laura is giving us a push.

Our HoStS: Rich & Shelane Tuttle (in both pictures)

Becca & me sledding....WIPE OUT!!! We were drenched!

Joel & me on the snowmobile! (Don't hate the hat...you love it!)

Top: Becca & Cory Bowen / Bottom: Tiffany & Evan Nay

Poor Cory couldn't join in most of the fun b/c he was healing from shoulder surgery.

The Warrens: Laura going over a jump (even though she was a bit apprehensive at first) & Cody cruisin' on this board-type thing.

Joel & me snuggling in the snow!

The LaDiEs (left to right): Laura, Becca, me, Tiffany & Shelane

Joel & me on the snowmobile. Like I stated before... This does not accurately portray my driving abilities on the snowmobile.

Disclaimer: I look ridiculous!

Snowmobiling - Island Park from Brittany Skousen on Vimeo.

So the majority of us piled up on two tubes and headed down the hill. We did pretty well except Becca fell off & got a face full of snow....poor girl! On the tubes are: Becca, Tiffany, me, Laura, Cody, Evan & Joel.

Tubing in Island Park from Brittany Skousen on Vimeo.

All in all, it was a fabulous weekend. Thanks again Tuttles for being such gracious hosts! We had a blast!!! Also, it was the absolute perfect weather! If you know me, you know I had layers upon layers of clothing on b/c cold and I do not mix. Well, guess what? I pretty much shed half my layers and was just fine! It was sunny and pretty warm for that time of month! B-E-A-UTIFUL!!!