"Daddy's Takin' Us To The Zoo Tomorrow..."

The title of this post is actually a song on one of Kyri's CDs that we listen to and this is her favorite song to dance to...okay, it's my favorite song to dance with her to...she laughs so hard every time. Gary and I always get the song stuck in our head, but yesterday it was a special day for this song because the words rang true....daddy took us to the Hogle Zoo!! Gary had the day off and we decided that it was a perfect day for animals. Kyri loved seeing all the animals that she only sees in her book and only hears her mama make the noises for...and believe me, I'm not that good, surprisingly enough...

the duo and the elephants hind end

these two bears (the black bears, not Gary and Kyri, although this is also true with them) were so cute playing with each other
Kyri knows how to growl like a tiger so we spent quite a bit of time watching this beautiful one roam her territory. Kyri growled at her, but she never growled back. Kyri's going to begin to wonder if we're truthful about these animal sounds...
looking right at us
The gorillas were fun to watch. They fed them just as we got there...smart animals. Kyri has a book with a gorilla. She loves to give him kisses and touch his hair
just so cute...I am a bit obsessed with the primates...they're my favorite
family fun

our little fishy

Kyri loves the water and will play in it at any chance she gets

not really thirsty, but this is pretty cool

worried she might gag? well, she did...but it didn't stop her from going back for more
Kyri's own little swimming pool
she loves it
when I've had enough of her pulling things off the shelves and crying because I don't know what she wants....we go outside and play in the water...it works every time...we are both happy outside

Happy Belated 4th of July

I know July is nearly over and I'm just barely posting our 4th of July adventures...but better late than never, right? We had a great time over the holiday weekend. Unfortunately I don't have photos of many of our activities, so I will ramble for a moment about our outings and then on to the few photos I managed to get.

We stayed at Grandma and Grandpa Allen's for a couple nights. The guys ran the Filmore Freedom Mile while the girls saved seats for the parade...the longest parade of my life, I might add. Then we headed to Delta for a delicious dutch oven dinner at Brad and Heidi's. After stuffing ourselves to overflowing we went to Delta's famous Demolition Derby. Kyri seemed to enjoy herself nearly as much as the adults. We had front row seats, which meant much flying dirt/mud, which meant little clumps of dirt in the next diaper change. Glad it was Gary's turn. After the Derby we again had front row seats for the fireworks. Kyri was beyond exhausted, but enjoyed the fireworks almost as much as she enjoyed smiling and giggling at the 10 year old boy sitting behind us....she's just workin' it early....and that's fine with us.

Getting ready for the festivities

her 4th of July outfit
off with the hat!

After our time in Filmore and Delta we went further south. Before arriving in Mesquite we stopped at Sand Hollow for a quick lake trip. It rained a bit while we were out, but the consensus shows a great time was had by all......

.......or was it? Kyri wasn't quite sure what to think

Pop's hair blowin in the wind as he navigates his course on the lake
Kyri finally decides she quite enjoys the boat
especially since she can watch her daddy's awesome moves on the wakeboard
pleased as punch
Heather decides to learn to wakeboard in the rain. Brave soul...she must really want to impress the Allen's (or at least Todd) :) and it worked....very impressed (especially Todd)!!
Kyri decided she wanted to get her feet wet.....
....but that wasn't quite enough so she went for a swim with daddy...and waves to her mama who was still on the boat
exhausted after such a day as this

time flies

Last Wednesday Kyri had her 9 month check-up. Our little 5 lbs of nothin' was just 1 oz shy of 17 lbs!!! I can't believe how fast the last 9 months have gone by. Kyri has just been SO much fun. She has been crawling for over 2 months now and is just into everything. And she sure thinks she's pretty funny, but I must admit I think so too. She is starting to say words...or at least try to say them. Our favorite so far are her animal sounds. When you ask Kyri what a lion says she makes a noise that sounds much more like a grunt than a roar and it cracks us up every time! We have started referring to her as our "baby lion". Here are some recent pictures of the little lioness

It has become quite apparent that Kyri really does notice what her crazy parents are doing.

I am quite certain this is a conversation she had with herself. (notice the big crocodile tears running down her cheeks)

"Maybe if I make a big fool of myself and pretend this cracker is an airplane it will make me smile......"

"......yep.....it really does work...." Every time

Rich Family Reunion

Well, it's been a while since we updated, so we thought a few shots of our recent family reunion would be fun. However, we couldn't pick just a few, so there are actually tons of family reunion photos (but only a few compared to how many we took) We went to Bear Lake for a few days and really had a great time. It was the first time Gary met a few of my cousins and it was fun for us to all get together!

Mom and Grandma - it was a bit chilly outside, hence Grandma's winter coat, but it did end up warming up enough to go to the beach later in the day (stay tuned for beach photos)

Mom, Grandma Darlene, and a photo of Grandpa Grant

I LOVE this one of Grandpa George!! He is just so cute in his grandpa hat!!

Kyri and me watching all the kids play games
the little kids playing tug-o-war...quite humorous...many of them came away from the game crying
the big kids playing tug-o-war...my team won. I should probably NOT mention the fact that my team already lost and were up against the other team that already lost, so we were the winning team out of the losing teams...sad, but true...at least we weren't complete losers.
Brody hoping someone will play tug-o-war with him
fun in the sun
while most of us headed to the beach for the afternoon Gary went with a few of the guys to play golf. Even though I reminded him (I know I'm not his mother, but she wasn't around) to put sunscreen on he decided the lobster look was much more fashionable...or something...will he ever learn? (I should have taken a photo, but saved your eyes from being scorched!)

gettin ready to head to the beach
my sister, Tawn, soaking up the sun
This darling little girl is my cousins baby, Maya, and she was so stinkin cute! She had the cheeks you can't help but pinch and Kyri couldn't keep her hands off of her! All day the other kids had been following Kyri around and touching her...now it was her turn to do the touching. She even tried (and succeeded in her mama's eyes) to say "baby"...Maya is about 3 months younger than Kyri and they were so cute together! (plus it's a nice shot of mom and grandma in the background)
gotta love the hats
Kyri wasn't quite sure what to think of the sand, but we made it home without any of it going into her mouth! yea!

Minnetonka Cave

getting ready to venture into the unknown...
Gary took a TON of pictures in the cave...we tried to find the best to post.
some pretty cool stalagmites

a bat hiding in a crevice (if you click on the photo to enlarge it you can see the bat much better...even his little toes!)
another cool cave formation
Kermit the Frog's Castle
the "organ" in the "wedding room" where people have actually gotten married...crazy kids!!



We had a great time in the cave! Thanks to my aunt and uncle for babysitting we were able to go Kyri-less and enjoy the hike up and down nearly 450 stairs...one way!
It was fun seeing relatives again (or for the first time for Gary) and thanks to all of you you don't know the Rich family and still took the time to look at all the photos and read all the words!

mealtime moments

mmm...yummy!!

"I can do it myself!!" even in the eye...nice!

I thought she was done eating but when I took her highchair tray off she found some cheerios in the pocket of her bib...she thought it was great!
ta da...she got it out!
drinking from a bottle that's as big as her!
once Kyri turned 8 months we decided it was definitely time for her to become a bit more independent. So, now when she is thirsty we just hand her the whole carton of milk...
...good luck little lady!
a nice bubble bath after a messy meal