Elia's Life

Okay, I realize that this happened back in September of 2008. But Annette has asked me repeatedly to blog about it and hopefully she is still interested. I finally had to go through my pictures because it's time to scrapbook them. Anyway, here goes the pictorial account of my wonderful day of being a zookeeper. Here is the sign that started it all. Mom and I agreed that we couldn't think of a more perfect birthday present. This is the area I worked in. I had my choice of the four areas in the Small Animal Building (SAB). I figure I can work my way through each of them eventually. :) This cute guy here is a cape hyrax. They are adorable and very cuddly looking. Unfortunately, I didn't get to cuddle them, I just washed their windows and scrapped up their poop. This cute little guy here is an African striped weasel. Did you know that in the wild, weasels will always eat the head of their prey off first to guarantee they get enough nutrients? Apparently, they get th...

Okay friends and fans, I have decided to give you a break from the constant pictures of zoos. This post is going to feature pictures of... A botanical garden! Yes, I know, you are all too excited for words. Well, so am I. So this is the end of my words. Just kidding, I can always find something to say, I'm pretty sure I inherited that from my dad. Anyway, here are some more pictures from Mom and my vacation to Arizona in January. Sunday morning after Wicked, we tried to figure out what we could do in Tucson. We were planning on going to San Xavier's church (as I posted before) but didn't want to go in the morning due to Mass. So we decided to go to the Tucson Botanical Gardens. It's a small house that had amazing gardens. The owner donated it to the city, and now it's a beautiful garden. True, we were there in January, so a lot of the plants weren't flowering, but it is Arizona, so there were still some. Here's Annette as a beautiful butterfly. :) And me as ...

As you may have guessed if you are a frequent reader of my blog, I have a thing for zoos. Well, animals in general, but I LOVE zoos. They are fantastic if properly done. I can't stand a bad zoo, and the "zoo" at Lagoon needs to be shut down because it breaks my heart. No animal should have a home of solid concrete. Okay, enough with that. This January when Mom and I went to visit Annette and Alita for Alita's birthday (and more importantly) Wicked. We had a day of just the two of us. Things were crazy at work for both girls so they couldn't take off and entertain us. Well, Mom had never been to the Phoenix Zoo and actually had enough faith in my driving to believe that I could find my way there. It was actually kind of exciting. That was my first time on the freeway of Phoenix and I have to say, I was marvelous. We only got lost once and that was because of road construction not accounted for on google maps. Anyway, we safely made it to the Phoenix...

One of the things that I did when Makadie and Anika were here to visit, was take Makadie to her first musical. She's been to a ballet and a symphony and a ton of really other great things (which is awesome Coleman and Roni) but she hadn't been to a musical yet. So she and I went to the Terrace Playhouse's production of Oklahoma! For those of you who haven't been to the Terrace, it's a very small community theater here in Ogden. Just the right size for a small girl. :) Makadie said she enjoyed it, although I have to admit I wasn't so sure during the first half. She didn't understand a lot of the jokes (a good thing I'm sure) and she had to sit on my lap due to her chair being a little over anxious to close. But she assured me she had a great time. Here's Makadie standing in front of the set. She got to meet the cast after and I think that was her favorite part. They were all very cute with her. It was so fun to be able to share something like t...

Okay, I'm playing more catch up. Sometimes I wonder if it is worth my time to post pictures from over a year ago, but then I remember that these pictures are still fun and my time is worth very little right now. So I'm going to go ahead. Back in 2009 I had my yearly President's Day trip to Arizona to visit the girls. This is a treasured tradition for me. First of all, the weather is always horrible in Utah during that time and for some reason February is a horribly long month as well, so this is a nice break for me. Well, this time we decided to take a trip out to the Phoenix Zoo. Anyone who is going to Phoenix for any reason should find some time for the zoo. I have been to a lot of zoos, have even worked at one for a day :), so I do know what I'm talking about when I say that Phoenix has a very, very good zoo. I love it there. Here are the pictures from this particular visit. We always ride the train when we go to the zoo. It's a great break from walking ...