The Dallas Zoo

We love spending time with the Hong's and were so happy to have them at our house! The day after that depressing BYU game, Carrie and I ventured out to the Dallas Zoo with Danny and Chloe. There could not have been a more perfect day for the zoo. The weather was great AND there were no crowds. Our favorite exhibit had to be the gorillas. One came right up to the glass, which freaked Chloe out a little bit. Danny knew all of the names of the animals as well as the sounds they make. Chloe was fascinated by all those "puppies". But both of the kids loved the children's zoo! There is a small stream in the play area and it was interesting to observe the difference between girls and boys. Danny trudged into the water full steam ahead and was soon soaked from head to toe. Chloe removed her sandals and waded in the shallow end, dabbing her toes in the water.

By the end of the afternoon, both kids were worn out and took long naps. What a perfect day!

Go Cougars?

Wally and I used to have fond memories of BYU football games. Both of our dads were season ticket holders and BYU football was just what we did on crisp Autumn Saturdays. I always looked forward to going to a game with my dad. We would drive down to Provo, listen to the pre-game show on the radio, and park what seemed like 10 miles away from the stadium. Carrying our stadium chairs and the snacks that my mom packed, we would make our way to our seats and settle in for the game. By the end of the first half, I was usually bored, so I would steal the binoculars from my dad and watch the cheerleaders. Like I said, fond memories. Until now.

The (undefeated) BYU Cougars came to town to face TCU. Wally and Matt and Carrie Hong decided to go. Since the kids and I were not going to the game (it was a school night), we decided to all drive down to Fort Worth for the BYU Tailgate party. Then I would take Matt and Carrie's little guy, Danny, back to our house so they could enjoy the game. That was the plan. It was a good plan, but it didn't quite work out that way.

Having never been to Fort Worth, we googled it and found that it would take about an hour to get there from our house. Unfortunately, Google never considers traffic. At 1 hour 15 minutes we were fashionably late. At 1 hour 30 minutes we were sweating. At 1 hour 45 minutes we were DONE. We finally arrived and just as we were getting ready to pull into the parking lot, they closed it. Matt and Carrie had been waiting for us for almost 2 hours. Wally was so mad he didn't even want to go anymore and now there was nowhere for us to even park. I called Matt and told him to bring Danny to the side of the road and we would load him in the minivan and go home! Just as we did a U-turn to go home, the parking attendant re-opened the parking lot and we got in. What a relief! Once we were there we were immediately caught up in the pre-game excitement. We ate dinner and played around and then packed up the kids to head home. We thought once we arrived and had eaten, that things could only get better from there. And then, the game started. Now, we were late, but the Cougars didn't even show up. The slaughter that the Cougars endured was painful to watch. Despite the rough start and the Cougars' brutal finish, we can now say that we had a GREAT time.

The 999 Piece Puzzle

I'm always looking for quiet activities that our family can work on while we watch conference. This year, while strolling through Wal-Mart, I found some puzzles. I bought an achievable 100-piece puzzle for the kids and a more challenging 1000 piece puzzle for our whole family. After whipping through the 100-piece puzzle, we felt confident that we were ready for the BIGGIE. Not only did it keep us awake for Saturday conference, we were alert for Sunday conference, Monday's FHE, and Tuesday as well. For people with OCD tendencies (or CDO as Wally calls it-- alphabetical order, the way it should be) a jigsaw puzzle is more than a hobby. It becomes all-consuming. We stayed up late, the house didn't get cleaned, we couldn't eat at the kitchen table, all because of that puzzle. Finally, we went to place the LAST PIECE and it was nowhere to be found! Maddening, but funny.

World Class Student

Yesterday Jackson was chosen as the "World Class Student of the Week" for his kindergarten class. As you can tell by the picture (far left on the bottom row) he's thrilled. (hee hee) He actually was very excited when he saw me walk into the assembly because he knew it meant that he was the chosen one! Being the student of the week comes with many perks, one of which is line leader, which apparently is pretty important in kindergarten. Way to go Jackson!

Hurricane Ike Refugees

The silver lining to Hurricane Ike is that my cousin Matt and his family came to Dallas! We were pretty concerned about their family when we saw the news footage of the aftermath of Ike. Fortunately their home was fine. Fortunately Matt was already scheduled to be in Dallas for work, so Carrie and Danny came with him. Fortunately, for us, they stopped by for dinner one night and we got a chance to meet little Danny and catch up. And fortunately for Matt, Wally recorded the BYU game so he didn't have to miss out on that! After a couple of days, Matt and Carrie still didn't have power in their neighborhood, so Carrie and her sister (and all of the kids) headed out on a road trip. Matt stayed with us one night and Jackson couldn't have been more excited! "When will Uncle Matt get here?" he kept asking me. And then the power came back on in Houston. Jackson was a little bummed, but we were happy for the Hong's! Maybe we can meet up under more favorable circumstances!

Leapin' Lizards!

Yesterday I was vacumming my house (my favorite chore!) when I saw something scurrying across the floor out of the corner of my eye. My initial thought was "YIKES! GREAT BIG SPIDER" but upon closer examination I discovered that it was a lizard. In my house. And so I did what any other rational person would do-- I started screaming and dancing about. Kelsie, Jackson, and Chloe ran to my rescue but they all froze when I pointed out the unwelcome visitor. Wally wasn't home (not that he would be much help if he were home-- let's face it, when it comes to critters, Wally is a bit of a pansy) so I told Jackson that since he is my firstborn son that removing the lizard was his responsibility. He takes after his dad and refused. Good thing Kelsie was there! She grabbed a cup and trapped the lizard, then took it outside and let it go on the trail behind our house. She definitely earned her keep this week!

3 Down 1 To Go

You know how you just have a gut feeling after you take a test? Well, Wally's gut feeling after this last test was that there was no way, save divine intervention, that he could have passed that test. He moped around for two days before he finally came to grips with the reality that he just might have to retake it. For three weeks we dared not mention the words "CPA" or "test" fearing a relapse of the moping. Everytime someone would ask how his test went, I would cringe. I knew the results would be posted soon and I prepared for the worst.

And then, this morning, I got an ecstatic phone call from Wally. He passed! 75 is a passing score. Wally scored an 88. Yep. All that moping for nothing. Oh well, we'll take it!