We ended up spending a ton of time over at my brother's house so I got to see my darling little niece Scarlet a lot which was nice because I used to spend everyday with her for the first 3 years of her life! She's 4 1/2 now and still remembers me, which I greatly appreciate.
Oh I really do miss that kid!
On a side note, my brother Jherek introduced us to this game called Munchkin while we were out there.
(this is the version we bought before we left Iowa)
IT. IS. SO. FUN. It's essentially a short card game version of a role playing game like Dungeons and Dragons. WAIT, before you stop reading this, it is really fun, for real. Once you get the hang of it, all you do is just mess with everyone and try to make them lose. It's the best game for anyone who is even slightly competitive. Once we got to South Dakota we played it with Joseph's little brothers who ended up buying it before we left. It's like the plague, minus the actual death part.
Haha, I love this movie.
Anyway, Vincent is huge. He's only 1 1/2 but he looks like a 12-year-old. Practically. He also looks more and more like his mom.
My mom couldn't get enough of little Saoirse. She got to hold her and change many of her soiled diapers. Yay for moms!!
My dad and step mom were able to spend lots of time with their granddaughter as well! I'm so glad we were able to see and spend so much time with them. Hopefully when we're done with school out here and move back to the midwest we'll be able to see everyone much more often.
"Dang, they are so much like the same person. You ask them if they want ice cream cone, they both say yes. Wow. How in the heck?"
Anyway, after a week in Iowa we hauled our cheeks on up to South Dakota. It was so GREEN there. The grass was practically florescent and the trees neon. It was great. It made me slightly depressed to come back to Utah where there are a few trees but mostly anything that has life out here growing in the ground is a weed. An ugly weed. BUT while we were enjoying the wonderful humid weather of South Dakota we went with the fam to the zoo! I hadn't been to a zoo in a long time but it was fun! Even if I was a little sad for the lethargic African animals stuck in a South Dakotan cage. But I did get some sweet rays. (from the sun, not sting rays, those are gross).
Rhino. There was a sign saying that despite the massiveness of the fence (and the 10 feet between that and another smaller fence) that the rhino can "spray pee on you" if it looks like it's backing up to you. Gross. Oh yeah, this guy smelled horrible. Not that good lookin' man, but the large prehistoric looking animal to his left.
Look at those freaky little monkeys. They look like they would try to eat my brains. *shiver* ehhh.
HOWEVER this little bambino was ADORABLE. Just like a real baby except he was eating grass and I'm sure his mother would have tried to kill me by removing my flesh if I tried to love that baby.
At one point after finding a secluded place to feed my baby (which was beautiful by the way, a random hut at the dead end of this trail looking over a huge forresty field with tons of momma and baby geese) we come back to find Mark (one of Joseph's little brothers) riding a metal cow. The weird thing is that I guess you used to be able to actually milk this thing. But I did laugh seeing him ride that.
What are the boys looking at?
Oh just some alligators. And despite there being a fence between us, they made me very uncomfortable. They were just pretending to be asleep, I'm sure of it.
Well the zoo was fun. We got a good walk in. Saoirse had her first experience smelling a Rhino and some monkeys. And I saw a bear stare directly into my soul. A pretty good day! And upon leaving South Dakota we were able to get a picture with Joseph's grandma and his great grandma. Once we photoshop his dad in there it'll be a 5 generation picture!!
Let's be serious for 2 seconds. We had Saoirse's baby blessing in South Dakota and guess who didn't get any pictures? Me. I'm super sad about that. So hopefully Joseph's grandma will send some to us so I can remember just exactly how cute my baby is in a bonnet!! Speaking of not getting pictures, I NEVER get pictures of Joseph's family! What the heck is with that?! Well maybe next time.
