Hooray! The first day of winter! It only came just over 3 months early this year! We had a bit of crazy weather at the start of the week. Labor day was hot, with a high in the low 90's, but Tuesday the high was in the low 30's and it snowed! Here I am with the girls ready to head out Wednesday morning and take advantage of the snowfall! The weather has steadily warmed back up since then, and yesterday the high was in the 70's, so it's looking like we'll have a little more summer before fall starts, and possibly we'll get a fall before winter.
Last Sunday Winry helped Monica make enchiladas for dinner! I believe she helped with putting everything in the bowl and mixing it, and she scooped the filling out for ALL the enchiladas! Much better than the other 2 year old cooking video circulating this week.
On Monday morning in honor of Labor Day, we went to Kneaders for breakfast and had a "picnic" at the park. We also let the girls play on the playground for a little bit since we were the only ones there.
Here's Winry and I enjoying our breakfast. Monica and I got french toast of course, and the girls split pancakes.
That day we also got a package with some bedding for our new bed. Once it was installed, a nap party ensued. Nap parties are a bit different from naps, or even group naps, in that during a nap party no one actually ends up going to sleep, to kids delight, and mothers sorrow.
Labor day evening we had a hot dog roast in the backyard for dinner. We were also going to play in the pool, but the girls didn't want to get on their swim suits. That's fine, we just played in it on Saturday. Dinner turned out great, and we all had a wonderful time and enjoyed some s'mores too! Also, Brooke took this picture below!
Tuesday the storm rolled in. The forecast said we could get anywhere from 5-7 inches of snow, but the temperature dropped to 35 and held there... for hours and hours and hours. We got a bunch of rain, and there were times it turned to snow, but basically all day Tuesday nothing stuck. We still enjoyed the change in weather and played tag in the back yard.
Fortunately it did snow some over night, though not nearly as much as we had hoped or anticipated. Wednesday morning we headed out right away to play in the snow! You can see we didn't get full coverage in the front yard, and the trees in the backyard caught a lot in their leaves and there was even less back there. We made the most of what we had and had a great time sledding down the front lawn.
The girls were even able to carry the sled back up the hill by themselves. After a bit of playing, a lot of the snow had been displaced/melted/was gone somehow. Fortunately there was a car nearby where we could restock!
And from Wednesday we jumped to Saturday. Of course great things happened in the mean time, but captured I have Winry crying, and Brooke making up a song about being healthy.
Saturday we went to the zoo again! This was probably our last chance to go before the baby is born, which means this might be the last time we go this year. We had an awesome time, and Winry brought her lion to show to everyone, especially to the lions! The lions are at the very front of the zoo, so you get to see them both first and last!
I remembered to bring our nice camera with us and was able to get some much better than usual pictures of the animals. Here was a lion we encountered when we first arrived. He's looking straight at us! Probably in appreciation of Winry's lion she brought.
In the monkey area we stopped for a snack break, and I got some pictures of the girls together! What cuties.
Winry was LOVING the penguins, and probably could have stayed there for an hour. They, of course, got to see her lion, but we also enjoyed watching them waddle around. One of them kept opening it's mouth all the way, as if it was begging for food from the visitors. After we'd been there a few minutes a worker walked out to do feeding time! The zoo has stopped doing animal shows for the time being to avoid large crowds, however it seems they still do similar things with the animals. They still feed the penguins out where the guests can see, and when we went by the sea lion they still did the usual "show" checkup thing, so my guess is that they're varying up times and making things more unpredictable.
The hippo was having his pool refilled, and loving every second of it! He even looked at us and opened his mouth all the way, like ALL the way! It was crazy huge, and it scared Winry a little bit. We totally missed it because it happened when we were about to leave, so I didn't have my camera up, and Monica just stopped her video and was putting her phone away! Anyway, I feel like the last two times we've been to the zoo the animals have been incredible! I know this past Saturday the weather was great (high in the 70's) and more conducive to the animals being active, but I feel like the smaller number of guests there is helping too.
We got some giant pretzels and stopped in a grassy area to eat them. This spot is right across the path from the Mongolian animals like the Tehi (wild horse) and the camels.
We tried out sting ray cove this visit as there wasn't a line to get in. You do have to pay extra to go in, so this won't be a typical part of our zoo trips, but it was fun to go see. You get to touch the sting rays, and with each admission you get food to feed them too! It's a pretty weird feeling, kind of like having a vacuum pass over your hand, but a vacuum that can chew you with it's gums. It definitely doesn't hurt, but I can't think of anything else quite like it. Also, the food definitely leaves a smell in the water because after you feed one they swarm in front of you for a little bit.
There were also some sharks in the water, but they were all at the bottom and mostly not swimming around, so we never got to pet one of those.
Winry also made sure they knew she was one of them as well by giving them the sign of the lion!
And in the last viewing spot we could see the males again. I'm not sure if they keep them separate, or if they naturally separate a bit on their own. I know I've seem them together, but I don't think I ever saw the two groups mixed yesterday.
As for today, well, we attended church! The girls actually did amazing! Winry has been very loud and rambunctious during our family church calls and family church, so I was a bit worried, but she did wonderfully! We went today because it's likely our last chance for the year. We're going to start into extra conservatism mode here soon with the baby coming, and after the baby we'll give a healthy amount of time before heading back. It was great to be back and have a more normal church experience. The talks were wonderful, and even though we've been watching the zoom call of the last few, it's just a different experience to be at church!
In one of the speakers talks he shared a story of a time in the past when he was looking for spiritual confirmation of the gospel. He said he already had confirmations that the Book of Mormon was true, and that as a keystone that meant the rest of the gospel was true. He really wanted a confirmation of Jesus Christ, and was struggling to know what a good foundation would be to build his testimony of Christ on. He went into General Conference with that question in mind, and a talk by Elder Christofferson answered his question. He taught that if Christ was resurrected than He must be a God. He must have power to do those things, and if that is so than what He said must be true. I really appreciated the insight he shared, and want to go read that talk this week. It was a good testimony building moment. I want to share my testimony that I know the Gospel is true. I know that Christ was resurrected, and that He has all power in heaven and earth. I know that the church was restored through Joseph Smith. I know that we have a prophet leading and guiding us today. Like the Nephites received signs of Christ's birth in their day, we too are receiving signs through our prophet. Our home centered curriculum has helped to prepare us all for a time when we could not attend church, and has allowed my family to stay immersed in the gospel and remain strong through these trying times. I am truly grateful for a living prophet, and know that President Nelson leads and guides Christ's true church today. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
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