Jimmy * Esther * Zeke * Lilly

Zeke is a thrill seeker, he loves to do dangerous things! He gets a rush out of standing on the top of things and clapping his hands.

Here are his newest favorite stunts…

Has anyone been to the Discovery Gateway Museum? It is so cool! They have a tone of stuff for kids of all ages. Zeke loved it! We went with Grandma Z, Uncle Dave, Aunt Kirty, and cousin Dallin.

Zeke’s favorite was the water area, of course :)

Dallin’s favorite was the Bird’s House.

My favorite was the cute little super market area.

Zeke and Dallin playing in the truck.

The construction area.

Zeke pushed these babies for a long time, it was really cute!

After the museum, we went to get Daddy from work. Zeke liked sitting in his chair.

What a great day! It was fun watching Zeke explore Temple Square, he sure loves to be outside!

Jimmy and I were able to attend the stake youth trek earlier this month. It was a good experience, but we both sure missed Zeke! The night before, I was having a hard time thinking about being gone for 2-1/2 days, and I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to leave. Luckily, Jimmy had cell phone reception on the trek, it really helped to call home and see that Zeke was having a fun time. He got to go to the Zoo with his cousins, and to the park another day with more cousins.

The first 2 days were so cold, we wore coats the whole day. The first night was freezing! It got down to 24 degrees, and that was in June! I can’t imagine what it was like for the pioneers in October and November.

We walked 16-1/2 miles the first day, 11 miles the second, and 8 miles the last.

I definitely gained a greater appreciation for all that the pioneers went through. Their faith, and courage is a wonderful example for me. While I was walking, I tried to think of what it would be like to have Zeke there. It would be the hardest thing the see Zeke suffer with being hungry or cold.

This is what camp looked like. It was my first time staying in a tent that didn’t have 4 walls. I was nervous that critters, or bugs would crawl on me, but they didn’t.

Finally it warmed up. I was so excited to finish the last 8 miles, and get home to see my Zeke! When I came home, he was in his booster seat eating a snack. He smiled so big when he saw me, and I gave him a big hug! I couldn’t stop watching him, he seemed to have grown so much over the short time we were gone. Jimmy thought the same thing too. We are so proud of our little guy!

Jimmy and I are huge Disneyland fans, we’ve gone for 4 years in a row! This time was extra special though, it was so fun having our little guy with us! My mom, two of my brothers, and our niece, Marissa, came too.

We actually surprised Marissa the morning of, she had no clue, it was so hard to keep the secret. We needed to arrive at the airport at 7am, so the night before, we “spontaneously” (even though we had it all scripted out for weeks), said to Marissa, “Wouldn’t it be fun to go to breakfast before Jimmy has to be to work tomorrow morning?” (and we did go to breakfast… in the airport) We had packed our suitcases a few days before, and so all we had to do was load them in the trunk the morning of. We got up that morning, and I asked Marissa to come help me get Zeke ready. Meanwhile, Jimmy grabbed all her stuff she had brought for her stay with us, and loaded it into a suitcase and put it in the trunk. We hurried out the door, and were so relieved we had made it, and she didn’t know! We were headed for Salt Lake, and Marissa still didn’t expect anything out of the ordinary because Jimmy worked downtown. Once we got on I-80, I asked Marissa if she wanted to see where the special lunch was that we were going to the next day in celebration of her 4.0 the whole school year. I handed her a folder, and the first page said, “The Blue Bayou Restaurant”, (that’s the restaurant in Disneyland) She had never heard of it though, and she was confused. I told her to look at the next page, which was her airline ticket. She was even more confused by this time, so I said look at the next page, which was her Disneyland ticket. She thought we were joking, but we said we were serious, and that were were going to Disneyland today! She was totally shocked! It was so fun surprising her, but it was so hard to keep the secret, it almost got spilled so many times! It was her first time on an airplane too, and she was so nervous that she couldn’t eat her breakfast! Once the plane got off the ground, she really enjoyed it.

Zeke liked the airplane ride too, especially sitting in his own seat.

One of Zeke’s favorite rides was the new Finding Nemo submarine ride.

One of Zeke’s least favorites was the Peter Pan ride, he’s crying in this picture, poor thing!

Everyone at the Blue Bayou Restaurant. This is the cool restaurant you can see when you’re on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, I had to call and make reservations a week in advance. It was fun, and yummy!

One of my favorite things about the trip was watching Zeke run around the park while the others went on a big-kid ride.

Zeke also loved the Bug’s Life Land. Jimmy was so cute running around with him through the water!

Jimmy carried Zeke on his shoulder a lot of the time, I thought it was darling!

Tuckered out with his Mickey light saber.

The Rain Forest Cafe is awesome! If you go there, get their ribs, they were delicious!

Back in the Salt Lake airport, totally exhausted from a great trip!