a summary

JANUARY 

Celebrity Apprentice

Michael Joe's law school graduation partay

The Bachelor begins!

Lemon cookies

Lemon pancakes

Lemon syrup

Jack Hanna

Sickies for 3 weeks!!

Finished: Unbroken (the novel) Simply amazing.

Jack Hanna

Inspiring does not begin to describe it.  I do not just mean Jack Hanna's story either.  Although he is too, of course!  He shared so many different experiences he's had with other human beings as well as animals throughout his life.  Good, kind, amazing people!  There was one couple that I will always remember...so cool.  They run a farm of dogs, horses and other animals that otherwise would have been put down.  There are so many with issues that they were either born with or came to obtain through abuse.  ugh! This couple was unable to have children so they put their energy into taking care of Heavenly Father's other creations.  Too amazing!!!!!!

Anyway I LOVED going to this.  We have been so blessed lately to attend such unique events.  Here is a list of the live animals we got to see at the show:

kookaburra 

slow loris (my FAVORITE!!)

bald eagle!

cheetah

baby jaguars!!

screeching owl 

horned owl (largest owl in the world)

kangaroo

harris hawk

honey bear 

Ok so a few things.  The Slow Loris is so sweet, I just wanted to scoop him up and take him home with us.  They eat and move in slow motion! Hence the name.  Also, when they lift their arms up above their head...too funny & cute! 

We were able to see INSIDE of the kangaroo pouch. Amazing. 

The baby jaguars were really beautiful. 

He let the Harris Hawk fly from the back to the front of the theatre and it landed on someone in the back! aaaaaaahhhhh. crazy and cool.

When the cheetah came out he warned us not to make any sudden movements! yikes. He was stubborn too! He wanted to hang out on the table all night:)

OH! I forgot. One of the first animals he brought out was an alligator!!! Oooh.  He scared me the most. I don't know why, he was super chill and almost sluggish.  

The bald eagle had a moment of freaking out on stage...feathers flying.

I am an up and coming animal lover in progress.  Does this make sense? :)

 I have never appreciated animals as much as I do now.  I owe it to my husband.  He truly loves them.  

They are amazing and they can teach us so many lessons as human beings, truly.  

They really do teach me and I think it is all part of the design of this life.  

The other day we went on a family date to (a Green Grub) breakfast and then to a pet store.

There were the sweetest cats there with goopy eyes and I could have stared at them all day.  So sweet!

Gwinna  and Noelle started playing with a white lab.  

They all fell in love! Michael claimed that had we been living on our own we would have brought him home with us:) 

I don't know about that but I do know those animals made us happy!!!

she loves to kiss

a grateful mess in the morning

Christmas Day!

little Christmas one

So, as silly as this probably, most likely, definitely IS I am going to admit something right now.

Sometimes I scroll through my OWN blog, my OWN instagram account and check out my OWN hot husband on facebook and seriously think "Wow, what a lucky chick she is!"  

and you know what? I really do feel like the luckiest.

These beautiful human beings pictured below are mine all mine for forever! 

Enough said.

So Noelle Dahlia turned one this Christmas day. 

What a classy back drop to have for birthday pictures right?  

A Christmas tree?!!? I love it.  I hope she feels the same in the future. 

My sweet in-laws decorated, bought a cake, and gave Noelle a monster bag of presents.  

Birthday cake for breakfast...hm...seems to be a tradition for birthdays this year.  

As soon as Gwinna helped Noelle empty her bag (and tried on her purple shirt:) we headed to the kitchen to sing a drawn out, high pitched version of happy birthday.

This Noelle.  She is a happy girl! She is also a very sensitive girl...when we tell her "no" firmly enough she will burst into tears:(  

Lover of almond milk, ALL food, dancing and screaming with her sister and cousins.

We lover her!!! ;) 

look at that precious puppy ^^^