Hallie and I went to the zoo today with a bunch of our friends. I wondered how much Hallie would enjoy it-thinking she might get more out of it when she was a little older, but man she LOVED it! My favorite part was watching her face light up as she would she an animal. She would get this little smirk on her face-I wish I could have captured that on camera but you know how kids are. 🙂 BTW it was the perfect 70 degrees today and NO humidity-WOW doesn’t get better than that!

That monkey wasn’t in a cage!

There was the cutest baby gorilla eating with it’s mama.

Just another one of Hallie’s little faces. Such a goof ball. She crinkles her eyebrows and scrunches her nose.

Aquarium

Obviously the elephants

She loved the big fish

Hallie and her buddy Gabe. She loves him and just laughs whenever she is around him. So cute!

Hallie getting a good look at the ducks

Ahh what a perfect day!

Just some clips from our summer.

This past weekend we were invited to go to our friends football game. (Our friend Ed coaches a high school football team.)  It was fun sitting in the stands cheering for the team, listening to the parents get upset, reminiscing about our own high school days and many football games, and visiting with friends from our old ward. It was Hallie’s first football game and she seemed to enjoy it. (There were so many people to observe!) We only stayed for the first half so I’m not even sure if “our” team won-hopefully!  (It was late and Hallie was already way passed her bedtime-ahh don’t you love being old.) haha

Ed’s daughter Noah wanted to stay with us during the game. Apparently she attaches to men. haha She found a cute one!! I love how her hands are around Ben’s neck. She cracked us up!

Hallie sitting on the bleachers with our friend Kami. She thinks she is such a big girl.

Hallie pulling a silly face. Love her jacket!! Thanks Nana

Wow it’s been a long time since I’ve blogged. Nothing too exciting at our house these days. We’ve stayed busy but with non-blog worthy events. 🙂 We’ve been doing lots of bike riding lately which has been really fun, and lots of movie watching.

Ben and Hallie at Burke Lake Park after our bike ride

Hallie and best friend Paige on the train. (Gotta love Hallie’s face.-I couldn’t keep her still the whole train ride!)

Ben and Hallie brushing their teeth. (One of Hallie’s favorite things.) She also got her teeth flossed for the first time that day. She has 4 1/2 teeth. lol!

Just practicing! 🙂

This past weekend was marvelous!! I love when Ben is home and spends all of his time with us. It seriously doesn’t get better than that! We went shopping at Costco and ate all their free samples, organized our house, watched movies, stayed up late talking, ran a 5k, applied for our passports, went to a BBQ and met new friends, watched the BYU game, played softball, played at parks, went on a bike ride and ate chocolate cupcakes! I wish it didn’t have to end, but alas life must go on and somebody’s gotta bring home the bacon. So off to work Ben goes. 🙁

Here are some of the things I managed to take pictures of.

Hal loves helping with laundry. She climbs right in but struggles getting out. lol

We went to a playgroup at a nearby park. Hallie loved just wandering around. She even learned how to go down the slide by herself!

My friend Nicolette and I took our kiddos on a train ride at Burke lake. It was so much fun!!

I ran another 5k. This time it was in Arlington and supported firefighters, police, etc. I thought it was fitting considering my dad is a stud of a firefighter. I finished in the same time I did my first race. No improvement but also not worse so it’s a good thing. 29 mins.

Ben and Hallie came to support me. This is them chilling before the race started.

This is just a fraction of the people who ran. I wanna say there were about 4000 runners. That’s a lot!

*Funny story-  While we were waiting to start we saw a girl dressed in a Redskins jersey, cowboy boots, and some sort of skirt/panties. She stood up on a wall so she could look for someone and a man stood in front of us and was taking her picture. Ben and I laughed and I was disgusted. When he finished up he walked right past us and I asked him “Did you get her?” He responded with, “kindof”. He had to be in his 50’s and he was nasty!!!!!  At first I just kept thinking how repulsed I was at this man, but then I realized that the girl WANTED the men to look at her like a piece of meat. So…stupid man, stupid girl! Okay now I’m off my soap box.

Hallie was out on the drive home. She was such a good sport. LOVE her hand under her chin. So cute!

This weekend we also went for a bike ride with Hallie. (Thanks Lee and Stacey for letting us borrow your wagon!!)  Hallie loved it. She is seriously so cute!!

What a great weekend. I love my life!!