Out of Africa

We had a great weekend with Katie's grandparents. We went to Out of Africa Wildlife Park out in Camp Verde. About a hour or so away from our house, totally worth the drive!

The baby zebra was so cute! We learned that baby zebras are born with brown stripes so they can blend in better til they get older.

Below is the Tiger Splash Show. It was pretty awesome with the trainers running with the toys, getting the tigers to chase after them.

On the safari

Yep, that's right...you can get up close and personal with the giraffe.

Out of Africa is just an amazing zoo. We recommend it to everyone!

New Years at Disneyland

Howard and I celebrated New Years at Disneyland...we thought it would be the perfect way to bring in 2011! The biggest reason I wanted to go at this time of year is to see Disneyland decorated with Christmas Decorations.

Its A Small World - Loved ALL the lights!

The Castle...so beautiful!!!

All of a sudden Buzz came out of no where and posed for a picture for us!

We had such a great time...just the two of us!

We're really looking forward to a fantastic new year!

Gingerbread Contest 2010

On Christmas Eve we had our Annual Gingerbread Contest. This year, everyone worked VERY hard on the houses because there was a prize!!

Katie's mom and dad's Gingerbread House:

They took the sentimental path...their house represented their family. :)

This side represents Katie's sister, MarLi in Hawaii with the ocean, palm tree and her van, Flow.

This side represents, Katie's brother, Rand's family with the camo, a baby, a dog and a cat.

This side represents Howard and Katie...since we're selling our house and moving to the East Valley. (Nuttybars = moving boxes)

And this side is my parents...with their yellow kitchen and blue door.



Katie's cousins, James and Dakin's log cabin.

And without talking, Katie's Aunt Colleen and Uncle George did a log cabin too! (such a cute idea!)

And the winner is (2 years in a row, might I add!) is our Gingerbread House! Our Gingerbread House was sponsored by Mr. Hersey...even though he didn't give us any endorsements. ;)

Its such a great tradition making our Gingerbread houses...thanks Grandma and Grandpa! :)

Wild Life World Zoo

We went to the Wild Life World Zoo with the Davis Family.  I love this zoo because you can get close to the animals and really see them. 

 Byran was the brave one who fed the giraffes.

Howard and the White Tiger

Howard and Marek

Lillie

My niece, Lillie Burton McIff.  She's ADORABLE as you can see from the pictures!  

With her daddy, Rand.

With her favorite Uncle, Howard.

And with her BFF, Aunt Katie (I even found a shirt that says so!)

Thanksgiving 2010

This year we went to the Sand Dunes for Thanksgiving weekend.  We had so much fun, but FROZE!!  It literally was freezing! 
We were cold and didn't care how we looked all bundled up.

YW In Excellence

For one of my value projects I put on this year's YW in Excellence.  I has so much fun planning and preparing for it!! 
Our theme was "Our YW Values Help Prepare us for the Temple" About a month ago, we had a mutual activity where the girls chose women in our ward who represented the different values.  Last week we took them a goodie plate and told them why we chose them.  We have some pretty amazing women in our ward. 
For the program, we asked a few of them to speak on the different values. 
For dessert we had Cheesecake with different toppings which were all the Young Women Value Colors:

Faith {white} = Whipped Cream
Divine Nature {blue} = Blueberries
Individual Worth {red} = Cherries
Knowledge {green} = Green Sprinkles (I had to get a bit creative!)
Choice and Accountability {orange} = Mandarin Oranges
Good Works {yellow} = Lemon Pudding
Integrity {purple} = Blackberries
Virtue  {gold} = Apples

Plus we had Wedding Slush...mmmm!  Its always a hit!

For the handout I made these temple blocks...I found the idea on this blog.  They turned out pretty cute and were perfect for our theme!

Now just a few shots of our adorable Young Women! :)

I have the best calling! :)