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....

Potato Toes

As most of you know, I had SuRgErY on both my BIG toes on Thursday, May 13th. Apparently my toes/ feet are shaped weird and therefore cause me to get ingrown toenails much too frequently. So I thought I'd get something done so I don't have to feel that pain again or have to perform my own little surgeries on myself.
Pretty much the doctor just removes the root of part of your nail so that your nail will no longer grow (therefore NOT grow into the skin of my toe & kill me). I LOVE MY DOCTOR!!! He's awesome & a riot! Joel went with me to my toe surgery (b/c he's weird & likes that sort of thing) and watched the entire thing. I on the other hand, did NOT want to see a thing so I kept a magazine in front of my face. My toe is healing nicely now and I have my final "post-op" appointment tomorrow.

I just got to take off my silly post-op shoes (pictured below) but my toes are still pretty tender. Joel also had the "FUN", rather NOT SO FUN task of assisting me with bathing (b/c I couldn't get either of my foot bandages wet). Normally I'd say this is romantic but due to the circumstances, it was not pleasant for either party... it was ALL business! I definitely could've used tighter abs & harder buns in the bathing process... it was a pain and rather unpleasant. Joel and I are BOTH glad that's over (which is an understatement)!

Propping my feet up... Doctor's orders

(why is it that when I'm forced to sit on my butt & watch movies all day I don't want to? What's up with that? I usually never have a problem being a bum!)

This is what my Doctor calls "POTATO TOES"

(my toes aren't really orange..promise!)

"What do ya think about my booties?"

"What kind of sandals are those?"

(says one of the construction workers at my office)

You've got to be kidding me! That's what I was super paranoid about the entire time I had to wear these... is that someone would think they were REAL shoes and worse, that I chose to wear them!!! Come on, is my style that bad? (no comments necessary) Anyway, I thought y'all would get a kick out of my booties I had to wear for 8 DAYS!

A reenactment of bath time!

(I had many requests to see what it was like & how ridiculous I looked. Granted... me being clothed makes it less amusing!)

This is how bath time went: I hobble into the tub as Joel fills it up. I put each foot in the corner of the bathtub (like so) while trying to hold myself up with whatever ab muscles I do have. Joel holds the hose (luckily we have a shower head with a hose) with one hand & supports my back with the other hand... while I try to scrub and clean myself. Ahhh... what an ADVENTURE!!! haha!

Getting Crafty

My friend, Sadie is awesome! She makes the cutest headbands & hair clips. So she took the time out of her day to teach me and my friend, Katie how to make these AdOrAbLe headbands! I think they turned out fantastic. Katie & I used the same fabric so our headbands sort of match.
I really didn't make my headband b/c Katie brought her precious little girl over for Craft Night and I couldn't get enough of her. She's so dang cute! So Sadie was a sweetheart and put mine together... I did however make one of the flowers on the headband, so I'm sort of proud of myself.

After this crafty evening, I have decided that I need to do more crafty things... scrapbooking, headbands, bows, painting, etc. I ALWAYS thought of myself as a "crafty" and creative person, but I'll tell you what... I'm really NOT!!! I think my need for perfection hinders my creative juices. I guess it's something to work on it. Anyways...thank you Sadie for teaching us these fun crafts & Katie...thanks for letting me "ohhh & ahhh" over Adele. She's such a peanut!

Katie working on her headband

(Sadie did NOT want to be pictured)

Katie, Adele & Me

(ignore the shine of my face please!)

P.S. - Adele is 4 months old & just got out of newborn clothes

Sweet Little Adele

(she's such a tiny tot)

Katie & Me

(w/ our coordinating headbands)

Joel Reuben's Birthday!

April 18, 1986 was one of the most important dates known to man... well, at least to me, Joel's family and anyone else who thinks he's amazing and the BEST! How lucky am I do have him as a hubby? I know, you don't even have to tell me... I'm the LuCKiEsT!

So Joel turned 24 years old exactly one month (b/c I started this post yesterday) ago! We had a great weekend of celebrations! Friday night we went ate at Craigo's Pizza and went bowling at the REX with some friends, Matt and Amy Maynard. It was so fun! We love bowling...even though we're both pretty HORRIBLE at it! Joel is absolutely hilarious to watch: his form, his facial expressions and the way he literally SLAMS the ball down on the lane! I know he wants some power behind his swing (or whatever it's called), but I was pretty certain the ball was going to break through the floor. Oh that hubby of mine...he is so SILLY!!!

Saturday: Joel's older sister, Janine and her family came for a visit (since they were already in Pocatello visiting her mother-in-law). It was a bLaSt!!! We love spending time with them, especially those 3 adorable children of theirs (no worry, this post is going to splattered with pics of them)! Joel made us BLT Mac N' Cheese for lunch and then we took the boys to the playground in our complex for bit. It was an overcast day, but enjoyable all the same. Oh, Nick's (our bro-in-law) little sister, Tanae, who also attends BYU-I, joined us for a fun afternoon.

After the playground we decided to take a little walk to G's Dairy... they have AMAZING ice cream! If you know me... I LOVE MY ICE CREAM! The twins, Gage & Reid, were hilarious, per usual. They sat at their own little kid table at G's Dairy and made a mess of themselves. I took some pictures (see below) but it doesn't do their ice cream covered faces JusTiCe! Especially Gage, since he had pink ice cream. After that, we just walked back to our apartment and hung out and enjoyed each other's company. We watched Danica do a dance while we sung a primary song, the twins listened to Joel play is guitar, aka: "Ta-tar", Reid was jumping on the bed and smashed his little head into the wall (that crazy/ accident prone kid) and Joel opened his b-day gifts from Janine & Nick and also my gift to him. Thanks Claysons for coming for a visit... we had a BLAST!!! (WARNING: there are a lot of pictures)

Gage climbing up the slide.

Janine & Danica

Nick & Tanae (goodness...they look so much alike)

Oh Little Reid!

Me & Reid

(assisting him down the fireman's pole)

Joel & Gage

(helping him off the monkey bars)

Joel & Me

Reid & Gage

The twins about to race down the slide! (Reid won)

Gage & Reid w/ ice cream covered faces!

(can you tell I love them?)

Princess Danica

Janine, me, Joel & the kiddos!

The Claysons!

(Thanks again for coming. We had so much fun! Love you guys!)

Sunday: the BIG B-DAY!!! We went to church, of course. Then when we got home, I started to make Joel a special b-day dinner! Steak...yams... YUMMY! Well we were having some friends over for dessert and games to celebrate Joel turning 24 and the dinner was taking so long to make (dumb yams) and I still had FRUIT PIZZA to make! So poor Joel, being the loving hubby he is, finished making his own b-day dinner! I know...I know... before you start throwing stones at me, remember it's the thought that counts & my intensions were pure. I just put too much on my plate in a short amount of time.

Anyway, we had a lot of fun with our friends that were able to make it. We ate some goodies and played the always favorite Werewolves of Millershollow! Thanks everyone for joining in the celebration! We had fun!

Joel's B-day Fruit Pizza

(so I make fruit pizza all the time...big deal)

Alex & Juan Pablo

Matt & Amy Maynard

(our friends we went bowling with)

Becca & Cory Bowen, Joel & Colby

Andrew & Cassandre Briggs

My GIFT to Joel: I planned to get this for Joel for months before his b-day b/c we both sleep horribly, due to our mattress. I got him 3" of wonderful MeMoRy FoAm MaTtReSs ToPpEr!!! He absolutely loved it... and so do I. The best gifts are the ones you know someone else will LOVE that you can also enjoy! haha! You know it's true!

Joel showing off his b-day gift

(that box was deceivingly heavy)

"Ah...this is nice!"

(Joel enjoying the memory foam topper)

Joel thinking: "My wife is awesome & gives the best presents!"

Easter & General Conference

For Easter and General Conference weekend (April 2th - 4th), Joel and I went to Utah. We had the opportunity to stay with Joel's sister, Janine and her family (like always), see my sister, Amanda and her hubby, Jared (I didn't get pictures of them...boo!), went to lunch with Joel's best buds he grew up with, Brian & Kirby, along with Kirby's fiance, Jess who we love! Oh and we got to see Joel's cousin, Dave and his now wife, Emily. Needless to say, we had a great weekend full of fun!

Easter Sunday

Joel and I work up really early to get to the Conference Center in SLC b/c we had tickets to the morning session (thanks to my good friend, Lynne getting them for us). We left early thinking we'd hit traffic, have to park far away and get to our seats, with time to run to the restroom. Well... we had hit NO SNAGS! We parked about one block away and walked straight to our seats without any issues. So... we were there HOURS early! We had fun people watching.

As I'm sure you all remember, Conference (especially Sunday morning) was AMAZING!!! I guess it was a perfect way to celebrate Easter! Oh, side note: We sat in the section that is reserved for the hearing impaired. So, there were two TVs right in our faces and I was really distracted by them. It was b/c the sign language translators on the screen, rather just one of them, was soooo DRAMATIC!!! His facial expressions were priceless! I would do almost anything to get a shot of him for all of you to see. Oh well...

Here are some pictures from that weekend, mostly of our niece, Danica & our twin nephews, Reid & Gage.

Saturday morning: Joel & Danica

(Joel won't be happy I put this up here b/c he just woke up)

Reid - He's super cute w/ that adorable face & red hair

 

Gage - I'm pretty sure Nick is reprimanding him for something

Brian, Jess, Kirby, Joel & me @ Chipotle for lunch

The then newly engaged - Future Mr. & Mrs. Kirby Childress

Joel & Me - Easter Sunday in front of the Conference Center

Mista Mista...Get Me Outta Here!

So on April 8th, I came home for lunch and enjoyed an hour away from the office with my hubby. He's the best! Joel not only makes dinner most nights, but he always gets lunch together too. I know...I'm spoiled and the luckiest woman in the world! I do need to relieve him of that burden though b/c we all know he has way more on his plate than I do. It's something I continually try to work on.

Anyway, the POINT of this post is to back track and tell you about an unforgettable lunch on that very day, April 8th. So after lunch, I needed to head back to work quickly b/c my break was almost over. So I gave Joel a kiss goodbye and ran to the door. But WAIT... the door would NOT OPEN!!! The handle was turning, but NOTHING!

Joel did not believe me, thinking I was having a blonde moment and locked the door and forgot about it. So after a minute of me trying to figure out what the heck was going on and complaining to Joel, "What the heck... the door is stuck... It won't open!" Joel continued not to believe me and thought he'd let a MAN do it (b/c surely that would work)! Well, you guessed.... IT DIDN'T WORK!

We ended up calling the manager and she sent TWO maintenance men to help get us out. It NOT only took the two maintenance men, but Joel and I too, to get us out of our apartment. So... 35 MINUTES later, 2 maintenance men, a guy and a girl & a new doorknob and lock... we were literally HOME FREE!!!

AH... I'm TRAPPED! (obviously me being dorky)

Joel showing the doorknob that caused the LOCK-IN!

(he wasn't happy b/c I always make him pose for me & he doesn't like it)

"Did someone just take a picture?" -Maintenance Man

(The maintenance men are on the other side of the door & Joel's manning the Albertson's card)

Apparently the lock membrane broke inside the door b/c the knob would turn, but it wouldn't open. It was definitely an afternoon to remember and one I had to take a few pictures of. haha! CLASSIC!