Hogle Zoo!

On Tuesday, July 8 we spent the day up at Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City. It was super hot that day (probably close to 100 degrees) and I was really slowing down by the end of the day but we really had a good time! We got there around 10:30 or 11 am and we were finished by about 3 pm but we felt guilty leaving because we had both taken off work and had planned to be there all day so we went around and looked at all the animals a second time!

We really enjoyed it the first time around, but the second time around was even better because there was practically no one in the entire place for the last 2 hours that they were open! I'm pretty sure we were the last people to leave because the parking lot was empty as empty could be when we left and it had been packed when we first got there. But for those last 2-3 hours we got the whole zoo to ourselves. Sure, it was getting hotter and so everyone tries to leave as soon as possible, but to not have those crowds and kids stepping all in front of you and blocking your view of every animal was great! My feet were super swollen by the end of the day though. Still! So worth it! 

And now for the good part--pictures!

They had a really neat Elephant show and this mom and baby did a lot of neat tricks for us!

Here is the mom painting a picture

And the finished product.

This peacock loved showing off for us, since we were the only ones there to see him. 

And my favorite part of the whole day was going to the bird show. We waited in line to get good seats for it and everything and it was worth it! If you go to the Zoo, you have to go to the bird show!! The birds are all so beautiful and they do lots of tricks and fly right over the audience several times! And then I started crying at the end when they brought out the beautiful Bald Eagle. Jon was laughing at me, but that was probably because I was getting really frustrated at myself because I was embarrassed and I was trying to stop but I couldn't so I just hid behind my sunglasses. Stupid pregnancy hormones. But I know it wasn't all hormones because I still get all emotional when I look at the pictures and videos of the Bald Eagles. They are just so beautiful and they represent so much to me and our Country.

This bird picked up the empty water bottle from the bird in the previous picture and threw it in the recycle bin. 

Fourth of July

On July 4th, we spent the first half of the day at home together, sleeping in, cleaning a little, just kind of taking it easy. Then we went up to Riverton for a BBQ and to play some croquet.

My favorite part was this little good luck move that Jon always made before he would hit his ball:

 Then we drove back to Orem for a BBQ and fireworks with the Talbots.

Aunt Jasmine with Laykin

We had a blast celebrating Independence Day!

Puffins

I unfortunately spend a lot of time in front of the computer for work. But one thing that has really helped my work days go better is this little guy:

His name is Pal and he is a baby Puffin. My Dad introduced me to this awesome website where you can watch tons of animals 24/7 live in their natural habitat. One of the cameras is in this Puffin Burrow and I have become addicted. Its nice to have on the screen and to check in a few times a day to see how the cute little baby is doing. He is about a week old. Sometimes I even get to catch one of his parents coming home and feeding him or coming home and snuggling with him. Sometimes when Jon asks me about how work went I end up telling him more about Puffins than my actual job. So if you have a job where you are forced to look at a computer screen all day, I recommend this site! You can watch anything from bears, to puffins, to puppies or kittens in rescue shelters. I usually just turn the sounds down (especially with the Puffins because they are loud) and watch whenever I get bored at work! One day for some reason, the parents took an extra long time to come back to the burrow and poor little Pal was just crying and crying! It was heartbreaking. When I got off work, I had to get back on my computer after I got home to make sure he was okay. Luckily his mom came back eventually. Call me weird, but I'm kind of in love. Nature is amazing.

Here is the link: http://explore.org/live-cams/player/puffin-burrow-cam

June Photo Dump

A little late but here is our June Photo Dump:

We went up to "the castle" in Provo for an evening walk and saw these cute little guys out for a little drink! 

First Snow Cone of the Summer. I think it was a Strawberry Cheesecake flavor with vanilla ice cream in the bottom.

Just another beautiful sunset.

On another walk up to "the castle" a couple weeks later. Look how the ducklings have grown!

Finally got a free evening to go fishing! This is the fish Jon caught.

And this is the fish I caught. 

Handsome guy. :)

And the perfect sunset from that night.

Out getting snow cones with Britian. This was RIGHT before a big mess was made and we ended up ditching the table for the grass.

Okay--this was funny! So I went out to dinner with Julie and Emilee for a girls night and after dinner it just so happened that Emilee had a little date of sorts. She was supposed to meet this guy at Cold Stone. So Julie and I decided that since this was a girls night we should tag along and watch! So we sat outside eating our ice cream while they sat inside eating their ice cream and doing their dating and we stalked them and made up conversations for them and we were laughing so hard!! Definitely had a blast that night. You can see Julie's reflection, mine is half hidden, but I'm wearing a blue sweater, and you can see Emilee's date's red striped shirt. If you look really closely you can see Emilee. 

There is this cute little Quail family at my work. One night a few of the babies fell inside one of the window wells and my coworkers had to save them.

On a hike to Battle Creek Falls.

And feeling proud of myself after the hike!

And one more beautiful sunset. Because you can never have to many!