Craziness!

So last week was insane! It started with a trip to the zoo on Monday with Melanie and her kids. Plus, Mel was watching Matson that day because Mom is still in California with Gary, Bliss and Riley. We had a lot of fun at the zoo, even though we didn't get to see the baby elephant. We did see a baby giraffe, baby meercats and a baby snow leopard. Parker asked the whole time if we could see snakes and crocodiles. We finally got to the reptile house and he was so happy! Except when he saw the crocodiles he was scared and wanted nothing to do with them! We also got very up close and personal with a snake that one of the zoo keepers had out. I told Parker he had no idea how brave his mommy was holding him up that close to a huge black snake. YUCK! He wouldn't touch it, which surprised me since he was all about touching the one at family camp. We also fed the ducks and played on the playground which are musts when visiting the zoo.

The baby giraffe was so adorable!

Parker got so excited when he finally saw a 'nake!

I say last week was insane because I was trying to pull everything together for our RS retreat that Saturday. A family in our ward has a cabin that we use for a little get away for the sisters in our ward. (Thank you so much Stacie! We missed you!) We go up on Fri and have dinner and a little program and then stay up way to late talking, playing games etc. Some of the many things that needed to get done were: get all the food, cook ten pounds of hamburger, arrange enough rides for everyone going, make sure we had enough priesthood holders going with us, etc. My enrichment leader and committee were amazing and helped me pull it off. We had a lot of fun getting to know everyone better and I did something that I never thought I would. I am really scared of heights and they talked me into riding the zip line. I had about a million false starts and I had them take a picture because I knew Bryan wouldn't believe me. I did it and my heart didn't slow down and my hands wouldn't stop shaking for about an hour. When I brought it back up the hill they said, "Do you want to go again?" and before they were even done asking the question I said, "NO!"

One of many false starts, I was so scared!

There I go! I screamed all the way down!

Dawn teaching us a song that went along with a wonderful talk that Jane gave
Some of us singing the song

On top of all that I had to get done that week, Bryan's best friend from high school was in town and the only night that worked for us, since I was going to be gone Fri and Sat and working Thurs, was Wed. We had several of his friends and their families over for a BBQ. It was so much fun to see all the boys playing together (the big and little boys). Everyone has boys except Lance has two little girls who didn't come. I tried to get a picture of all the little boys together and as you can see I wasn't successful! It was great to see Seth and Melanie again and we are hoping that someday they might move back so we can see them more often.

Most of the little boys

The big boys: Seth, Lance, Bryan, Joe and Jon