Disturbing Sights at the Zoo

On Saturday, we decided we had to have a family day. Jeff has been gone a lot in the past few weeks so we were determined to spend some time together. Luckily for us, the zoo was having their Harvest Fest. They had lots of different demonstrations, "fishing" for the kids, music, and all the rides were free. What we didn't expect was the "extra" feature that was added to the zoo that day that was quite disturbing. What a sight! Here are the kids having fun on the rides.... Regan driving the boat....

Jadyn and Brooke enjoying the Polar Bear... still very enjoyable. Jadyn and Brennan playing in the kid farm area... still a good time. Regan, Jadyn & Brooke being goofy on the train... goofy, but not disturbing. Wait for it, Wait for it....... Here it is!!! The zoo decided to feed the Python that day! EWWW!!!! Apparently, the python has to eat something live. So, they threw a live pig in there. After squeezing it to death, it begins to eat. Yes, that is blood all over the ground.

And this is the Python's big ole' mouth eating the head of the pig. Makes your stomach turn, doesn't it? It's one of those things that is so gross, but you can't help but look at. Needless to say, we got a little more than expected from our trip to the zoo.

Fun with the Kiddos

Jeff went to Louisiana last weekend to help with cleanup efforts after hurricane Ike. I wanted to do something fun with the kids since they were missing their dad and it was just mommy time. Brennan still had some chicken pox that hadn't scabbed over, so we were home bound. But, we made the best of it. We rented some movies, got a bunch of candy, built a fort and hung out together. The kids thought it was so funny to have their mom in the fort with them. What can I say. I like a good fort. Today I went to read to Jadyn's class. The school also had their annual fundraiser called the Tiger Walk. Pretty much you give money to the school and go watch your kids walk several times in a big circle in the parking lot while listening to music and doing cheers. I really don't get it, but it's something they enjoy. Each class is named after their teacher. Jadyn's is Agnew's Alligators. Brooke's is Page's Patriots. While reading to J.J.'s class, Mrs. Agnew was trying to talk Regan into being their mascot while wearing this costume. I think Regan was a little scared by the costume and wanted nothing to do with it. She had Jadyn try it on to show her how cute it was, but Regan had her mind made up. It is cute though, isn't it? Here's Brookie with her class ..... Jadyn with her class..... Regan and her friend Cara got in on the act and walked and danced along with them. I do think it is a strange fundraiser, but it was a very enjoyable day. It's one of those days when you just love being a mom.

Lawn Mowers and Neighbors

My grass has been getting super tall and out of control. Jeff is usually the designated lawn mower in the family, but he's been very busy the past few weekends and hasn't been able to get to it. Then, we found out that he is needed to go do some clean up after the hurricane with other church members down in Louisiana this weekend. SO, he can't get to it again. On top of that, he has to go to San Antonio next week. I very reluctantly decided to do it myself, knowing that if I didn't, it wouldn't get done.

Now I know many of you women that read this love mowing the lawn and do it all the time. Usually, I don't mind it much myself. HOWEVER, we have a very hilly yard here in TN with a huge hill on the side of our house. Just thinking about it makes me cringe. BUT, I decided to attack it. It was a losing battle! I tried pushing that lawn mower and was having a terrible time. My feet were way over to the left and I pushed and pushed and barely got that thing moving. I kept feeling like I was going to lose it and roll down the hill with the lawn mower! I finally decided going backwards and going up and down was a lot easier. That freaked my neighbor, Mike out a lot. He came over and told me I was going to run over my feet. I told him thanks for caring, but I could barely do it the other way. On top of that, I had already been mowing over an hour and barely made a dent on the lawn. Fifteen minutes later, Mike came over with his riding lawnmower and did my whole lawn for me!!!! YIPPEE!! He knocked that thing out in no time. He even re-mowed the mess I had already made. What a wonderful neighbor! I was so grateful for such a small act of kindness that meant a lot to me. It gives me hope for this world!

Happy Late Birthday/Anniversary

With all of the crazy events happening in the past couple of months, I've not posted about Jeff's birthday and our anniversary. We were in Southern Utah for our family reunion while celebrating both. Jeff turned 36 on July 28th. It was definitely a unique birthday, but he enjoyed having all of his family around to help celebrate! Happy late birthday to the most wonderful man I know. Thanks to Mary for helping me get the cake! On July 29th we celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary. Hard to believe it has been that long. Yet, sometimes I vaguely remember my life before being married. It was a miracle how the two of us ended up getting together. I know with everything in me that the Lord definitely wanted us married. I can't thank Him enough for bringing me the best husband a girl could ask for. Here we are 14 years later. We've been through a lot. We've been blessed more than we could ever imagine. We are the parents of 4 children that we adore and feel blessed to have. Thank you Jeff for making the past 14 years the most wonderful years of my life. I adore you. I love you more now than before. You are my favorite boyfriend ever!

OH NO!!! CHICKEN POX!

Brennan came home from mutual on Wednesday night and said he didn't feel good. Sure enough, he had a fever of 102. So naturally, I planned on keeping him home from school. The next morning he woke up and had quite a few "pimples" on his face. I thought it was a little strange since he hasn't had any before, but you know, he is 12. So, being the good mom I am, I went and grabbed my astringent to put on them and thought that would take care of it. Later in the evening, we were sitting eating dinner when he said, "Mom, I have another one of those things up on my head." I looked at it and saw a big blister. I had Jeff come over to look at it. He said, "That looks like Chicken Pox to me." Chicken Pox? I never even thought of chicken pox. I mean, all my kids have had the chicken pox vaccine. Of coarse, they did warn me that it wasn't guaranteed they wouldn't get it. I guess they were right. I then lifted up his shirt and looked and found many more of these blisters everywhere. Jeff took him to his mom's house and she said it looked like them to her too. I immediately looked it up on the Internet. Sure enough, he had the same blisters that I saw on all the pictures of chicken pox on the Internet. That's when it dawned on me that Regan had had a fever a week earlier and had 4 or 5 of those, but they were little. I thought they were just bug bites...like the blisters from the fire ants we had in Texas. I should have realized that wasn't it since there are no fire ants here.

So, then I had fun telling all the pregnant mom's of Regan's playgroup about the chicken pox, as well as my friend Cheri who is going through Chemo. I felt so bad. Poor Brennan woke up with a lot more this morning and seems to be getting more and more. He's got it from head to toe and is pretty miserable. These pictures don't do it justice. You'll have to click on them to be really grossed out. Of coarse, I had to take pictures to blog about it. As I was taking them, Brennan looked at me and said, "You're really enjoying yourself, aren't ya mom?" Sorry Brennan. I just couldn't resist.

Danielson Family Reunion

This is long over due. Way too long over due. At the end of July we got to go to a family reunion with Jeff's siblings & mom & dad. We all had a great time. The reunion was at a ranch in a small ranch in southern Utah loaded with animals, horses, lassos, rodeos,cow and sheep riding, line dancing, a lake, and much more. My kids were in heaven and had a great time bonding with cousins. Here's most of the gang. We were missing Shawn (Jenny's husband) Joe & Melanie and their kids. Pretty good looking group I might say. Grandma brought presents for the kids every night as a special treat. Here's Mikele, Jadyn, Alyssa, Bailey & Regan having fun being "Bandit People". The kids had a great time learning how to be real cowboys... or should I say cow people. No, that doesn't sound right. Anyway, you know what I mean. Here's Brennan, McKay and Michael being the boy Bandits. They really did have fun together. Here's Brooke in heaven horse back riding. For those who don't know, she LOVES horses. Her room has horses all over it. This is the first time she has gone horseback riding. I think she ended up going three times. Apparently, she still loves horses. I don't know if you can see these pictures or not, but if you can magnify them, it's actually quite funny. Some of the men were brave enough to do cow riding. NO, not bull riding...cow riding. You think it sounds easy don't you? Well, I thought so too until I saw this. I don't think any of them stayed on more than 3 seconds. They all got pretty beat up too. I can't even imagine how those crazy bull riders do it. Cows are bad enough. The kids rode sheep and they were just as mean. Most of the kids got tossed off fast and trampled over. Kind of a weird rite of passage for them I guess. Here they are learning to lasso. Good job Jadyn! Not very easy to do. Brooke again with the horse. She just can't get enough. I wish I could post all of the pictures I took. It was a great time. Fun to bond with the family and be outdoors in the nice cool air. I'd have to say though, my favorite part... the line dancing. Thanks to Steve & Carl for being great partners! You're the best!

Gmail problems and Republicans

My gmail account has been wacky for two days now. On my google page I see I have 19 messages waiting, but I can't get to them! Do they not understand how much I need my email? What did we ever do before email? It's just madness!

As a complete different side note -GO SARA PALIN! She rocks! Zero, Zero,Zero !!!! Can we vote her as President instead? She makes me want to vote!