My whole fam went to the zoo!

Well almost the whole family. Unfortunately, Clayton, Debbie and Travis weren't able to make it, but everyone else was at the Hogle Zoo for about 15 minutes at the same time. We had such a great time seeing everyone...oh ya, and the animals too! :) I have so many memories of this zoo from when I was a child, so it was fun to take Oliver back here!

the kids were fascinated by this spinning water ball at the entrance of the zoo

This huge elephant makes noise and spits water at random. Oliver did not like it and he didn't want to sit on it, nor did he want me to sit on it. Aunt Shell gladly cooperated for a picture! :)

Some of our favorite animals at the zoo

Savannah and Oliver planning something at the zoo

Madi wanted Gramps to hold her, I thought this was sweet!

I don't know how many times I turned around and Savannah was carrying Oliver. They were good buddies at the zoo today!

Oliver loved having a picture map. He pointed out the animals that he really wanted to see and we went for them! His picks were the zebras and the Madagascar exhibit.

Preston, Oliver and Savannah doing some more map reading

I thought these three were so cute together!

Look at Madi, so grown up!

Taking a break in the Giraffe house.

Three generations: my brother Jerone, my mom and Jerone's oldest Riley

Doesn't Oliver look terrified in the bottom left picture? He really wasn't that frightened, just timing on the picture I guess! :)

The last thing we did at the zoo was watch the bird show and that is when April and her kids came. Luckily Oliver took this picture of Alex. Unfortunately we only saw them for about two minutes our entire trip.

Madi, Emily, Oliver and I were the only ones brave enough for the Madagascar exhibit. Really, the others were just tired and so we hurried and went in while the others walked to the gift shop! :)

Such a cute picture of Oliver with three of Michele's girls: (left to right) Emily, Avery, Oliver & Madi

After the zoo we went back to my sister Michele's house. Oliver loved meeting Madi's new bunny named Hopper.

Michele and Travis took Madi to a school open house, and I got to play with Layla. She was so tired from the zoo that she thought this tummy time position was cozy enough to sleep in for a while! :)

And last, here is a video of Oliver attempting the Hula Hoop. Too cute not to share!

A flying we will go...

Oliver and I took a quick trip to SLC last week. We had a great time seeing my family!

Oliver & Daddy goofed around a bit in the empty space before we had to get checked in through security

Oliver did so well on the plane. This is the first time he has sat in his own seat the entire time. When we flew to SLC last December, the flight attendants allowed him to sit in my lap as he was upset about the seat belt. We had an aisle and a middle and the nice lady next to Oliver let him look out the window about half way through.

Grammy & Gramps picked us up at the airport and we headed to Sandy. They had some fun cars waiting for him, and crazy enough, neither of them made it home with us.

Oliver Clayton Royal is Thirty-Four Months old

I can hardly believe that his little guy will be three years old in just a couple of months! He has so much personality and is so inquisitive. He spends most of his days asking who, what, why, where or how and I spend most of my days answering those questions. We have even included a special question and answer session to our nighttime routine which has a definite stopping point so he can actually get settled down enough for sleep. I can't imagine stopping these months photo sessions even when he is three, so you may just keep seeing them indefinitely! :)

I had to throw this picture of him in. He was all sprawled out on the chair and ottoman relaxing while I was cleaning. So cute!

Anniversary Celebration

We had a great day celebrating our anniversary with our little guy. We spent the morning at a park and then had a yummy dinner at La Hacienda Ranch.

Here are the beautiful flowers Clayton gave me for our Anniversary. I loved the green flowers and the orange Gerber Daisy.

The cute hostess took our picture to commemorate the day.

I think that is supposed to be a tough smile on Oliver's face.

This horse bucks like crazy!

Check out the video of how fast this horse goes

Oliver enjoying the water misters...as if we don't have enough humidity

tasting the water from the misters

Oliver almost never allows us to carry him like this, so I just had to snap this photo!

Our Anniversary

Here are some of my favorite photos of this day six years ago. It doesn't seem possible that we have been married for that long; time really flies!

all done...I'm so full!

I love this little personality, he thinks he is sooo funnny...and so do we!

Friends

Oliver and I had a play date at my cute friend Heather's house this week. Jordan is six months younger than Oliver and they had a good time together. Jordan was a little hesitant about sharing his toys (but, what two year old isn't?), but he did surprisingly well. Next time, we'll have to have Oliver share his toys with Jordan.

We were trying to get them to stand next to each other for a picture and so I suggested they both do Pirate smiles. Oliver started running around galloping and Jordan quickly followed suit. Cute boys!

Big Bob Park

Oliver and I visited a new park this week on the other side of Plano. Bob Woodruff Park (or Big Bob Park in Oliver's words) has a big playground, trails and a huge pond right in the middle. We played for a while, then took a long walk around the pond where Oliver discovered Weeping Willow Trees for the first time. He has grown very fond of them and now points them out wherever we go.

He loved the little seats in the playground.

I thought this one was so cute of him gazing at the swings when we first arrived.

I also loved these of him hanging his head down with only his big floppy hat showing.

This one is my favorite!

Afterward we went to a different Walmart than we usually frequent and we found this cute little firetruck to ride. Oliver loved it!