Zoo Lights

One of our favorite traditions every year at Christmastime is going to Zoo Lights with our whole family. We not only enjoy all of the fun lights at the zoo (my favorite is the 12 Days of Christmas in the bird amphitheater), but also the deep fried s’mores. They are super yummy, but one a year is enough.

Boo at the Zoo, Hannah Strand's 1st Birthday

Our family has a tradition of going to “Boo at the Zoo” at Hogle Zoo every year. Since we are members, we can go considerably earlier than the general public. Even then, it is still pretty busy. But what can possibly be better than getting candy WHILE you’re at the zoo?


After we finished at the zoo, we went to Aunt Dott & Uncle Randy Strand’s house for the first birthday party of cousin Nathan’s daughter, Hannah.
Claire, who loves babies, mothered Hannah most of the time. Alice, who loves animals, enjoyed finding all of Uncle Randy’s animals.

Early April Fools’ Day?

Whenever I relate funny and/or amusing stories, my boss always asks, “Is there a video of that?” Wednesday, March 30, would have been a great day to have a head-cam. Since there is no video of the day, I’ll try to be as descriptive as I can. Sorry, no pictures either.

I drive carpool on Wednesdays. Ryan attends a school a little further away than our neighborhood school, so it takes us a while to drop off the other kids in the carpool and then make it home. Wednesdays he has scouts at 4:00, so it is usually pretty tight to get home, get him changed to his scout shirt, get his scout book, and get him to scouts on time. March 30 was particularly stressful, as I had the conference call for my PhD comprehensive exams at 4:00. I told Ryan that morning that we’d really have to hurry, and that I’d have to take him to scouts a few minutes early so I could make it home in time to call in and log in to the web conference.

The day was warm and sunny – a switch from the Utah Spring snow we had the days before and after. Ryan BEGGED to “shoot hoops” for “just a minute.” That should have been my first warning.

Ryan and Copper have this high-contact basketball routine. As Ryan shoots hoops, Copper plays an excellent defender, trying to prevent Ryan from shooting. (As I type this, I realize that I really do need to video one of their games.) As they were playing, apparently Copper just unexpectedly ran off.

A couple of minutes later, Ryan shot the ball, and it went into the yard. He noticed Copper near the house, and went to investigate. Copper was standing over a newly-killed RAT! I have lived in this house on and off since 1972, and I have NEVER seen a rat!

Copper was standing over it, but kind of pawing at it. I knew we had to dispose of it immediately, especially before we left. I didn’t want Copper to be left alone in the backyard with it. I asked Ryan to hold Copper back while I went for the garbage can, which was outside of our back gate at the time. I opened the gate to bring in the garbage can, and Copper went running by!!!

Copper has escaped the yard a handful of times, and once he’s gone, he is usually gone for a very long time. Ryan and I have spent many hours chasing him around the neighborhood. As he ran down the driveway, I came to the horrific realization that I would not likely be making it to my conference call on time.

About that time, I had a thought. Copper loves to go for rides in the car. I yelled, “Copper, do you want to go for a ride in the car?” He ran back up the driveway! I opened the car door, he jumped in, and I closed the car door. He looked at me with the most betrayed look on his face! I yelled to Ryan to get the leash, and we got him a bit more restrained.

While Ryan was holding the leash, I went to our shed to grab a shovel. The handle would not budge! It is a metal handle, and it appeared to have rusted a little bit during the winter. We still had two snow shovels out, so I grabbed one of those.
For those of you who don’t know, Ryan and I both have extremely weak stomachs. That has caused many humorous scenarios over the years. I won’t go into great detail, but let’s just say that we both get grossed out pretty easily. Ryan held Copper on the leash as I tried to pick up the rat in the snow shovel. (I’m seriously grossing myself out just typing this again.) After a couple of minutes, I realized I was not going to be able to do it.

Ryan is greatly motivated by money. Sometimes that really concerns me, but in this case, it came in handy. I offered Ryan $10 to pick up the rat with the shovel and carry it to the garbage can. He handed me Copper’s leash, and he did it! Ryan carried the rat in the snow shovel to the garbage can, while I held on to Copper, who was still trying to jump up to see the rat. Those few steps, with us both maneuvering across the yard with crazy animals, was probably quite a sight, too!

We went inside and washed (scrubbed raw, really) our hands, Ryan put on his scout shirt, and I took him to scouts. Believe it, or not, he was on time for scouts, and I was on time for my conference call!

Halloween Festivities

As with most holidays, we spread this one out over a few days. The kids were out of school Friday – it was a teacher work day at the end of the term. Ryan went to Kangaroo Zoo with a friend, and had a great time. They even ended up going to a Halloween party at a neighbor’s house that afternoon!

Friday night, October 29, we went to the 4th annual Spooktacular at the South Davis Recreation Center. As a swim team family, we were asked to volunteer at one of the game booths for an hour. We did “mummy bowling.” Ryan and the other swimmer did such a great job, I stood back and let them do it.
When our shift was over, Kristin and Abby met us, and we spent the next couple of hours hanging out with them – games, spook alleys, and even a canoe ride through the “haunted swamp” (where Ryan swims daily).On Saturday, October 30, Marc & Frances & Alice & Claire invited us to go to “Boo at the Zoo” with them. We had a lot of fun with them, as always! The girls dressed up as giraffes, so we enjoyed taking various pictures of them by the REAL giraffes!We came home, did chores, and then went to Colonial Square for their Trick-or-Treating. We actually hadn’t planned on going this year, but we had a video game to return there. As we were getting ready to take it back, I remembered the Trick-or-Treating (we have attended for several years). Ryan put his costume back on and we walked around there. (Sorry, no pictures.)
Since Halloween fell on Sunday this year, Saturday night was the local-culture-accepted Trick-or-Treating night. For the first time EVER, I stayed home and handed out candy. Last year we were coming home from Washington, DC, on Halloween. We ended up getting some dinner and then visiting some friends. In prior years, Ryan and I have either attended parties, or I have hung out at Rara & Papa’s house while Ryan went Trick-or-Treating with friends in their neighborhood. This year, Ryan went out with his friend, Matthew. They were gone for over three hours (in the rain), and he proudly returned with EIGHT POUNDS of candy! He was so proud!The real Halloween was pretty quiet. We had dinner with Rara & Papa, including my favorite – red velvet cake. That was MY awesome Halloween treat!

Some Watchdog!

Before we had Copper, we used to have deer in our yard almost daily. Now we only have deer every month or two. A few days ago, Rara, Ryan & I were in the kitchen, and Copper was sleeping on the back porch, when a deer entered our yard. Here is the story in pictures.

We told Copper to “go get the deer.” The look on his face seemed to ask, “You want me to WHAT?!?!”
“Oooh, but it looks so much bigger than me!” (He even took a moment to relieve himself before the attack.)“I think I can scare it out of the yard. I’ll go try.”“Run away!”The deer appears to be the winner…this time.

Fun Summer Outings, Part 1 – Hogle Zoo

Since I had to take time off of work to go to Dallas, and since I had a couple of other things going on the following week that I needed time off for, I took the entire following week off of work! Poor Ryan has been a little neglected lately (i.e. we haven’t been on as many fun outings) due to my school pressures. So we made up for it!

Monday, June 21, we went to the zoo with Marc, Frances, Alice & Claire. They have an annual pass, and go every couple of weeks. Ryan has gone with them a couple of times, but I’ve always been involved with work or school responsibilities. It was fun to be there with them!
We spent a lot of time watching the tigers…
And the elephants…We rode the train…Climbed on the gorilla statue…And played “Hey, you!” by the crazy giraffe.Whew! What a fun day!

Zoo Lights

We had a fun evening on Monday with almost everyone in the family. Copper had three procedures during the day (neutering, tooth pulled, and microchip implanted), so Papa stayed home with the recouperating Copper. Ryan and I picked up Rara, and we met Marc, Frances, Alice, and Claire at the zoo for "Zoo Lights."We had a great time walking around and looking at all of the wonderful light displays. Alice & Claire's sound effects (animal noises for each animal) definitely made it even more entertaining.One very cool thing - as we approached the "Asian Highlands" (tiger habitat), the mother and two baby tigers were right by the window. We watched them for a minute, and then the mother walked away. Most people stayed by the window waiting for her to come back. We walked a little further up the walk to see the rest of the lights. When we turned around, she was right above us!

It was extremely cold (a little bit below freezing), but there were plenty of the propane fires/heaters around. It was a wonderful evening! Thanks, family! (And thanks to Papa for "puppy-sitting.")