So back on Monday we all woke up very early. That day we had tickets to go view the open house of the Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple all the way on the far west side of the valley. Oquirrh is a Native American word that means ‘Shining’ or ‘Wooded’. It was so beautiful that Monday. The air was very clear and from the top of the hill where the temple was you could see all across the valley! It will be officially dedicated sometime in August. It was the first time I’ve ever been to an open house for the temple! We weren’t allowed to take pictures in side, but the official website, here, has many pictures of the inside for those who are curious to see. When we view the baptistery they hadn’t roped off the entrance to water. Sydney looked at the water. Then she looked at her Moma. Then she looked back to the water. Before she could get any farther Aunt Sylvia snatched her right up and Sydney smiled while saying; “I like going swimming Moma!” After we viewed the temple all the tourists were given bottled water and cookies out back in a giant tent. Sydney did the ‘Ant Dance’ for yummy, yummy cookies! After that we all took pictures by the temple and Aunt Karen and Aunt Sylvia suggested that we all head out to Crown Burger! It was quite the royal experience! What was even neater was even from the Crown Burger you could see the temple because it was set up high enough on the mountain and hill!
On Tuesday, Tanielle with her children came by and Taylor and Melissa also spent the night again. The kids spent the day drawing with side walk chalk, water fights, and swimming in the pool!
While the children played the adults sewed clothes and did various adorable arts and crafts! Aunt Donna makes these fancy diaper wipe cases.
Later that day Sydney was playing in the yard and found an Australian dollar in the bushes! Can you believe that! Talk about a quirky coincidence! (Especially when you think of the capital of Australia.) Nana plans to look for who it belongs to, but if she can’t find the person it belongs to then she will put the bill in Sydney’s book. All the grand children have a special scrapbook that Nana keeps for them.
Now for Wednesday, Aunt Sylvia and Uncle Mark wanted to take their children to the Hogle Zoo to see the animals! In fact for lunch Sydney got a Happy Meal with a giraffe plushie and she said “We’re going to go see my giraffe today!” and we did!
At the zoo they now have an elephant that’s pregnant! In my pictures the elephant that’s eating is the matriarch and the one that’s waiting is the expectant mother.
We also saw the bears that were getting hosed off by the caretakers. One bear was hiding in the corner and trying to avoid the water. After being washed they were given berries as a treat.
The zebra’s were also trying to hide from prying eyes.
We got to see the penguins swimming and wiggling they’re tails.
There were sleepy llamas.
And of course Sydney’s giraffes! Some were eating inside while others were outside. Inside one giraffe was drinking water. With every drink it would shake its head flipping water everywhere. One giraffe was standing in the door way debating whether or not go out to join the other giraffe who was hanging out under its umbrella.
We also got to see most of the large cats awake. Normally, they are asleep when we go to visit them. One of the cougars was awake and he was pacing his cage looking at all the little children who were looking at him!
It was very hot that day. In fact, even though cheetahs are used to such heat, they were inside for the day. In another cage, the tiger was laying in the water fall to cool off from the heat of the day.
Another interesting thing about the zoo is that one of the snow leopards had a new cub. We didn’t get to see him, but they had prerecorded video of the cub. He and mother were sleeping in the den while the father was resting on the ledge. At first he wasn’t facing us, but I had gone back after looking at the mini gift shop they had by highland cats and he was facing the window. I got a great picture of him.
The biggest change that I’ve seen is the new carousel with all the different animals to ride. Aunt Donna spoiled us all by buying us tickets to ride it. Samuel seemed to especially enjoy it! Even Mom rode with me on a pair of leopards.
After our ride, Uncle Mark and Aunt Sylvia met another couple who had adopted their child. It was so amazing to hear them exchange their stories about how they went through the adoption process. They’re adorable little girl was just as shy as Samuel!
The last few things we did before leaving were getting Sydney to pose in front of all the big animal figures! At the water fountain shaped like a lion, she was having trouble pushing in the button. I reached over to help, but I didn’t know how much water pressure the fountain had and I got her shirt totally soaked in the front! Eeeks! She didn’t mind much, but she probably won’t let me help her with the water fountain ever again.
Thursday was a somewhat uneventful day after Aunt Sylvia and family left. We did go eat at the Cracker Barrel and bought some fabric to make quilts and children’s clothes with. Then we watched the movie about Emma Smith from her prospective.
Today, we went to the Oquirrh temple again, but this time we went with Aunt Donna because she had not been able to go through the first time with us. We met a very sweet sister missionary who offered to take our picture for us all together.
Afterward we got to eat at the Cheese Cake Factory by the Fashion Place Mall! It was the fanciest restaurant I had ever been too! I had the salisbury steak with green beans and mashed potatoes! Nana had a garden salad. She joked that it made her feel like a rabbit. Aunt Donna had spaghetti while Nona had some scrumptious orange chicken! The whole meal was quite a feast. For dessert, which we took home to enjoy, I had a chocolate mousse cheese cake. It was so rich and chocolaty.
Tonight Melissa came back and we played hop scotch out in the front yard while Nona and Nana began work on a baby quilt for Jeni’s new baby. She said that she was going to have a baby girl. Isn’t that wonderfully exciting?! Another cool thing was the quail family in the backyard! They were out picking the ground where the old pine tree used to be. Then we came in and well, long (as if it isn’t long enough!) story short I’ve been writing ever since!
I know that I’ve written more than enough because in word it spans three pages without pictures and its five minutes to midnight (so now I need to add pictures and post it!). Now I’ve caught up in blogging good night! (I’ll grammar check later! Deal with it! ; D )
