Who needs the ZOO, when you already have 3 little pigs...

So we made the trek out to the Zoo today. It was hot, but we had a good time. Originally the plan was to wait until Kasey got back from Utah, but due to an unplanned, upcoming change of events we decided to squeeze it in. Our time left with Jay and Hallie is very limited, and the Zoo was just one of the things we wanted to do before they returned to Utah. Here are a few pics from the day...

My husband will probably not be very happy with me for posting this pic, but I just couldn't resist. Besides, that's what you get for falling asleep when everyone else is just as tired, but doesn't have the option to fall asleep because they have to drive!
Anyway, it was a good day and we are going to miss these little "piggies" more than they'll ever know...

I thought goldilocks was a blonde???

So we had our Ward Soiree yesterday and it was a riot! This year it was held at the Sonnenbergs "little" Ranch. (The Sonnenbergs are a family in our ward) Alright, I'm being mendacious- The Ranch is HUGE! I would guess that the barn alone was 20,000 square feet, and sits in the middle of 44 acres of beautifully manicured land!

The top floor of the barn is home to numerous animals that Bro. Sonnenberg has killed! This darling little bear was a huge hit to Avery and myself.

Of course Troy loved the guns (Notice the sign under the gun... to dang funny!) Truthfully we could have stayed up there all night, playing ping-pong, watching the big screen T.V. or playing one of his FIVE guitars that sat up there basically untouched. Oh and he said those are is "old" guitars, his new "good"ones are at his house???

Anyway, I finally got Troy and Avery to came out of the barn, and we had some good grub. Then I rounded up all the little misses (cowboy talk) for a couple pics... Geez Amanda, you sure look TALL in this picture!!!

We tried to get a little creative for the next few pics and this is what we came up with... Wow we're sooooo wild!

Ride-um COWBOY!!!

Troy with Tombstone the horse...

Here I am with Mr.T... We are going to go back and ride the horses soon! I can't wait!!!

Save the best for last! After most of the ward had gone home, Bro. Sonnenberg brought out this bad boy! It was so much fun! He gave us all rides around his property. If you didn't eat any protein for dinner, you definitely got some driving around in that thing! I probably swallowed 10 bugs- SICK!!! But worth it, it was so much fun!

Jaylyn and Avery found a darling little barn cat, and NO we didn't take it home to try and find it a good home! Believe me, that cat lives in the lap of luxury!!! We want to live in that barn!

It was hard to leave. Avery was crying "I don't want to go home" and we didn't blame him. None of us really wanted to leave. He even woke up this morning and said "That party was fun Mom..." yes baby, that party was fun...

Hallie, and the "PERFECT" heart...

Ok, here's the story. Hallie, for the last couple years- has complained about a pain in her chest. She usually gets it after or during physical activity. She had gone to see the Dr. last year for it, but he didn't leave us a very clear picture on exactly what it was, or how dangerous it was or anything? So we decided it was time to get another opinion.

Here's the play by play. First the nurse did the "Usual" check up stuff, blood pressure, eyes, ears, throat, etc... Then the Doc came in and checked her out. Asked a lot of question felt her tummy, and ribs. Listened to her heart and said it sounded PERFECT! Hallie was born with a Heart murmur, so it was really wonderful news to hear that it was no longer murmuring... She told us everything "Checked out" but if we wanted to run a few more tests, just to make sure we could. So we said yes, lets do it.

The first test they ran was an E.K.G. It basically reconfirmed what the Dr. had said about her heart. If you've "never" seen a person get an E.K.G.- all they do is stick little stickers on your arms, chest and legs and then hook the wires to each sticker, then it monitors your heart function throughout your body. Pretty cool.

After that, it was down to the X-ray machine. She was wearing a shirt that had rhinestones on it, so she had to change into this robe. We all thought she looked like the Avatar or Princess Le- aha from Star Wars. Anyway she looked darling so in-between the "Rays" I snapped a pic.

So here she is with her very cool X-rays. The Dr. said everything looked great, but as an extra precaution, they send the X-rays to some "Specialized" place that will make sure! So what was it? Basically growing pains??? Crazy? I guess it's actually pretty common in growing children to feel pain in there chest during and or after activity. She said it was just the muscles and the bones aching?

So what do you do after you receive a clean bill of health? You go to Red Robin and eat a huge, greasy, whiskey BBQ burger, with bottomless steak fries!!! Yummy!!! And worth every stinking calorie.... Good Choice Hallie!!!

Hallie, we love you, and we are so thankful for this very good news!!!

Let's play tag...

Alright, the picture has absolutely nothing to do with this post, I just thought you all wanted to see the cutest dog EVER!!!

Anyway, a few of the blogs I visit had done this with each other, and even though I myself did not actually get "Tagged" by any of them, I still wanted to do this. So with that said...

4 Jobs that I've had:

1.Waitress at Chuck-a-Rama (The tastiest buffet in town)

2.Server at LaCaille

3.My Dad's art agent

4.That's it.... Quite a Resume huh...

4 Movies I can watch over and over again:

1.Legends of the Fall

2.Pretty Woman (No one will watch this with me because I say every line before Julia or Richard can...)

3.Meet Joe Black

4.Braveheart...FRREEEDDDOOOMMMM!!!!!!!

4 Places I have lived:

1.Utah (Murray)

2.Utah (Holladay)

3.Colorado

4.Illinois

4 Favorite T.V. shows

1.Grey's Anatomy

2.Desperate Housewives

3.Medium

4.Jeopardy

That one was hard, I have many more...

4 Favorite foods:

1.Pagoda, everything on the menu

2.All Mexican

3.Lettuce wraps (But only P.F. Changs)

4.Crab legs, drowning in fresh drawn butter...

4 Websites I visit daily:

1.Blogs

2.TMZ.com

3.Dooce (I don't know why)

4.My e-mail

4 Places I'd rather be:

1.Utah (Summer)

2.Utah (Winter)

3.Utah (Fall)

4.Utah (Spring) There's no place like home

4 People I'm tagging:

1.Amanda

2.Chelsea

3.Amy

4.Diana

Temple, softball, pool, dinner... In that order

I just wanted to post a few of these darling pics we took the other day. We had to go out to the Chicago Temple to get a few things. Jaylyn was at camp and Kasey was still in Utah, that's why they are absent from all of these pictures...

So anyway, this Saturday Troy agreed to play softball with his friend Kelly. It turned into an all day outing. Literally we were at the ball park from 11 in the morning until almost 9 at night. It was a lot of fun. I love watching my husband play ball, and it's always great for the kids to have something to do.

One of the guys on the team has a pool, so during a two hour break between games, he invited us all over to swim and BBQ.

Really it goes without saying that the kids had a great time in the pool!

Then it was back to the ball park for a few more games.

Amy and I had a wonderful time together all day. She is such a great friend, and I love her dearly.

So, I forgot my camera -but we went over to Amy and Kelly's tonight for dinner. Amy made (Cafe Rio) pulled pork burritos! She got the recipe from her sister somehow, and I'm tellin ya- they were soooooooooo good! After dinner we went on a walk and then came home to chat... It was so nice to spend time with our friends, we love you guys-THANKS again!!!

A bad addiction...

I saw this on Suzanne's blog and tried to copy and paste it, but it didn't work. So I linked it instead, have fun playing...
mingle2.com/blog-addiction Oh and I'm 75% addicted...

The Angelina Jolie of animals...

If you had the misfortune of seeing or speaking to me in the last two weeks, please except my deepest apologies! I was a NIGHTMARE, I know, I haven't felt that off balance in a very long time! I guess I had bitten off more than I could chew (pun-intended)

Anyway, after two very long weeks of being a foster family, we found the perfect home for ABBY!!!!!!! A darling couple that have no kids or other animals!!! They came over yesterday to see her and it was love at first sight! They took her on a walk around the block (which I thought for sure would sway them to NOT want her because she's so WILD outside!) but they came back and said "We love her, we want her!" OH MY GOSH, I am so happy I can hardly stand it! I'm so excited to get back to my very simple life and routine.

So they're coming back tonight after work to get her. If they happen to NOT show up, don't bother trying to contact me, I will no longer be in service... Just kidding, I made them promise on their lives that they would return for her, and they will. And for insurance purposes only, I know where he works! (wink-wink)

This is KAIN, showing you just how happy he is...

So I started thinking about all of the animals that Troy and I have tried to rescue since we met almost six years ago. The first animal was Kain. We drove by this parking lot that had been turned into a giant kennel. Troy said "Let's just stop for a sec and see if they have a Boxer. And oh yes they did. There he was in all his glory, just waiting for us to rescue him. He had actually been returned TWO times to that shelter before we came along! Can you imagine someone giving up on Kain???? He's the best dog in the world! He's an angel! We feel so lucky to have found him! Then came the Rat Terrier that we found wondering in the street with no tags. We searched for days for her owner, we called every place we could think of and went to every Vet in a ten mile radius from where we found her. By dumb luck, my friend Shannon's Brother took his dog to the vet, and over heard someone talking about a lost dog, which just happened to be the dog we had! The lady was so thankful she was just bawling when we gave the dog back to her! It wasn't even her dog, she was actually watching him for her best friend while she was on vacation!

Next it was a little Pitt puppy, pictured above with Kain, (with the same expression he always has when we bring another dog into HIS house!) Anyway, this sweet little girl who we named Jezebel was the last of a litter of pups that our neighbors Mom had bred. She couldn't find a home for her and she didn't know what she was going to do with her? She had been living in a box in a home where five other full grown Pitt Bulls picked on her! Who knows what would have happened to her, so we asked if we could keep her and she said yes. Within a couple days we found a great home for her.

Then came the baby bird that was laying in the middle of the street right by our house. We took her in, and Jaylyn and Kasey tried for two days to nurse her back to health. They would smash up worms and try to feed her with a little syringe, it was a so sweet. I was so proud to see their love and compassion for animals. Sadly she died the next day, quietly in a little box which double for her casket. We buried her in our yard and had a little funeral for her, conducted by Jay and Kas.

And the last animal of-course is Abby. I think she'll be the last one for a very long time! (I hope)But I guess you never know when another little helpless animal will need rescuing... Hence the title of this post "The Angelina Jolie of animals" My friend Jill honored me with that title the other day, thanks Jill, I love it! Being compared to Angelina in any way is a compliment to me!

So in closing I would like to thank all of you for all that you have done and all that you will do, to try and make a difference in an animals life! There is an astronomical number of animals that need homes. In this area alone there are 750,000 that are homeless or in shelters! Please adopt animals from shelters and foster families!!!!! I think Bob Barker said it best, Please help control the pet population, have your pets spayed or neutered....Goodbye everybody!

Red and white, where's the BYU BLUE???

For the last THREE years of living here in Beautiful Illinois, we have gone to our friends Amy and Kelly's house for a Fourth of July party. It's always a great time, with tons of food and games for all!

And all though we miss our families back home, we are so thankful for the friends we have made out here! I wasn't very good about taking pictures this year, because I was a little side tracked with an all night winning streak of "Korn-Hole" This game is a RIOT!!! My partner Diana, pictured above on the right, and I could not lose! We played this game from about 6:30 to 10:30! If you're wondering what "Korn-Hole" is, exactly, it's a game where you toss mini bean bags at this wooden box with a hole in it. You earn points for landing the bags on the box and for getting them in the hole! I know it might sound dumb? But honestly it is one of the FUNNEST games I have ever played! And it doesn't hurt when you win all night!

Hallie had a great time on the water slide. She tried to get Avery up on it with her, but he wouldn't do it! Jaylyn wouldn't get on it either, she's just TOO grown up! Anyway, it was a really wonderful 4th, and again thanks to Amy and Kelly, we love you guys!!!

So yesterday we drove out to Oakbrook mall, which is about 45 minutes away from us. It's the closest mall to us that has a Nordstrom, which is the only store in Illinois that carries the make-up line "Bobby Brown" which is the ONLY powder I can use, because it's the best! So we have to make a trip out to this mall about every six months. Anyway, it's an outdoor mall and it has beautiful gardens through out, so we snapped a few pics...

As Jaylyn took this picture of us, Hallie said "You guys ALWAYS stand in the SAME pose for pictures!" And really if you notice every pic of Troy and I we ARE in this exact pose. We'll try to mix things up a bit next time!

This chair was in Victoria's Secret. How cute would that be in a little girls room!