Birthday Party at the Zoo

As part of our ongoing celebration of our birthdays, Emilee and I decided to head to the zoo with whoever else could come along. We picked up in-laws Stacy and Jared Loveless and bestest buds Derek and Stephanie Aud, packed a light picnic lunch and headed down to the Hogle Zoo. Photo time!


The curtain of water parts to reveal our cast of characters.








Yes, the kitty was my favorite thing at the zoo. Can I take it home with me, pweeeze?




Their bird show is really quite impressive. Our group agreed that it by itself was worth the price of admission.

Steve the Prarie Dog

This little fellow (you'll want to click the picture to zoom in) perched on Stephanie's shoulder for a long time before we bopped it off. We jokingly referred to it as her attacker.



The only thing "light" about this picnic lunch is the fact that we followed it up with a trip to Toucano's. You ladies outdid yourselves!

Saying goodbye

Over the last few months, Emilee and I have been preparing for our upcoming journey to Connecticut - putting stuff into storage, spending time with friends and family in the area, going to the Hogle Zoo one last time, etc. As we get closer to the time of departure (only a few more weeks now), we're coping with the emotions times like these bring. In the midst of this, we have had a sudden blow. As previously mentioned, our old car, Virginia, died on us. At the time, this was a worrying inconvenience which, thanks to my parents, had a fairly rapid solution - we now drive their 2006 minivan.

Today, however, we had to say goodbye. I called an auto wrecking shop and, feeling like Judas Iscariot, signed away my old friend for a few silvers. I followed her to her resting place, her headlights looking back at me from the back of the truck as I drove. We reached the yard and the doors opened, revealing a yard full of wrecked bodies and hacked-off engines. And there, with tears in my eyes, I bade her my final farewell. I retrieved her new tires, the forklift hauled her away and the gates closed on her forever.

It's silly to invest so much emotion in a car - it's an inanimate object, after all - but she's been part of our family for 3 years, our companion through our greatest adventures. She's bailed out friends, escaped fires and survived so much, only to be destroyed from the inside by rusted antifreeze and sold to men who will destroy her without remorse or feeling. She deserves better, somehow and it breaks my heart to leave her to die.

I need a kitty.

Why are you here?

If you visit this blog on a regular basis, you're probably a family member or, at least, a close friend. There are many people who stumble across here for other reasons, though. Some recent things people have come here looking for include:

Wii related questions:
How to thrust nunchuck forward
Assorted Wii game reviews

Random search terms
Disney Pixar short Slightly Cloudy
Skit about LDS Pioneers
Helpless Superheroines

Pictures
The Blue Whale bones at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History
The Fireworks Stand


One of the odd search items that brings people here most frequently is Vibroman, usually searched for from Spanish-speaking countries. Could it be that I have tapped into some cultural icon by accident? Searching for it on my own turns up very little. On the other hand, maybe I don't want to know what lies deeper on this one.