Sharkarosa Ranch

This past weekend we had an amazing animal encounter. We went to a place called Sharkarosa Ranch introduced to us by a family in our ward. It is a much smaller than any zoo, but provides a close up, face to face encounter with various animals. We were able to hold a couple of lemurs, a monkey, baby kangaroo, and kinkajou. They have a bunch of picnic tables that they bring the animals out to and let you touch them as they tell you all about them. They also have a safari tour that takes you to various other animals such as deer, horses, camels, and some South American camels that look just like llamas. They put feed for the animals in buckets that hang from the sides of the truck. The animals are so large that when they come up to feed, you can pet them and get some great pictures if your kids aren't too afraid to stand close. We all loved Sharkarosa Ranch. Below are some of the highlights from our trip.

This lemur is the first animal we were able to encounter. We arrived right at opening so we were the only ones there for a while and were able to sit and hang out with this lemur for a while. We couldn't believe how friendly he was and how soft his fur was.


This little monkey, Michelle, loved Lincoln and jumped into his lap as soon as he sat down. Lincoln actually came out to the ranch the weekend before to help with an Eagle project and the monkey jumped in his lap then too. They said Michelle has a tendency to remember people and especially likes men.

Alyssa sat on Lincoln's lap as Michelle was eating peanuts. At first, all was well and Michelle happily ate peanuts as Alyssa watched, but soon Michelle realized Alyssa was taking up Lincoln's attention and she nipped at her. Below you can see Alyssa's reaction from getting bit. Michelle then nipped at Samantha as well. Good thing it didn't hurt!


Samantha got up and personal with the camels on our safari ride. Alyssa and Courtney were much more timid, so Samantha got the best photos.


Here's Samantha with the zedonk - half zebra, half donkey. They also have a zorse there - half zebra, half horse.


Alyssa and Courtney were thrilled to pet this baby albino kangaroo. This joey just started to be pouch trained a few days earlier and this is one of the first times it was comfortable enough to let people touch him. We felt lucky to be able to pet a joey. Who can say they have ever petted a kangaroo?



These two younger camels were quite a riot. They made all sorts of noises at the kids and decided to taste out their hair. Alyssa about died when the camel started to eat her hair in this picture.


We had so many fun pictures so we put a bunch more in a slide show.

If you end up making a visit yourself we would recommend you getting there right when it opens to have the most time to yourselves. Their website is www.sharkarosa.com.

Labor Day Campout

The girls had so much camping at Turner Falls they wanted to have another campout as soon as possible. Since Lincoln and I weren't quite ready to brave another trip, we decided to have a indoor campout over Labor Day weekend. We set up the tent in our family room and cooked smores on the BBQ. We played games in the tent since we weren't able to last time. Then Lincoln and I slept comfortably upstairs in bed while the girls camped in the family room. We look forward to our next campout in the great outdoors. Here are some pics of the girls enjoying their smores.

Alyssa's Day at Pizza Planet

After school had started for the older girls, my friend, Kristi, invited Alyssa and me to go to Pizza Planet with her and her kids. Alyssa had so much fun going on the rides with her friend, Charlie, and her little brother Pearson. She has been talking about it nonstop since and has said she wants to have her birthday party there. She thinks Pizza Planet is the best place ever. Thanks Kristi for a fun afternoon!

First Day of School

Just thought I should post the girls first day of school pictures. Samantha and Courtney seem to like their teachers. I can't believe we have 1st and 4th graders! Alyssa started preschool a week after Samantha and Courtney started. She didn't say much on the first day to her teachers, but came home and couldn't stop talking. She has been praying for quick nights so she can go to school again and wants to be going to school 5 days a week. We are so glad she is enjoying school!

Camping at Turner Falls

The last weekend before school started we decided to go on an impromptu camping trip to Turner Falls in Oklahoma. This was our first family camping trip and quite the camping trip! I can't pass up writing about our experience.

It was Friday afternoon and our plans for the weekend were changed and we now had some free time on Saturday. I got a wild hare idea to try and pull off a camping trip at the last minute. Since we didn't have a tent big enough for the family, Samantha and I ran to the store and bought a tent and everything else we needed for the trip. I was even feeling good about remembering to plug in our trusty lantern to be charged while we were busy getting ready. Lincoln arrived home as soon as possible, but even working at turbo speed we weren't able to get on the road until a little after 6 p.m. We knew we would be fighting daylight since Turner Falls was a good 2 hour drive. Unfortunately, their was a major traffic accident that slowed us down even more.

We finally arrived right after the all light had disappeared. We picked our campsite in the dark and then Lincoln went to work on setting up the tent. Our trusty lantern that I was feeling so good about charging wasn't working and we only had one other flashlight. We ended up shining the car lights on the tent as Lincoln tried his best to assemble it for the first time in the dark. We are lucky to have such a smart dad because somehow despite the lack of light he managed to get it set up after some time. The only problem was that it took Samantha and I the whole time Lincoln was setting up to get the fire going. We realized after the tent was set up that the smoke from the fire would be blowing directly into the tent all night. We decided to move the tent, but since we didn't have much light the only place we could find big enough was on top of two very large rocks on a bit of an incline. We were so tired at that point that we just left the tent hoping our air mattresses would make it bearable to sleep. Originally, we had planned on having smores and playing games in the tent before bed, but it was SO late by the time we got everything set up so we decided to call it a night. Samantha and Courtney were able to fall asleep quickly, but Alyssa had taken an evening nap on our way up and was very aware of every sound outside. Then we had another late arriver at the campsite across from us who stayed up until 4 in the morning and who frequently shined their headlights directly on our tent.

The next day turned out to be far better than the night before. We enjoyed roasting bagels for breakfast and had smores for our morning dessert. When Lincoln was throwing our the trash he saw 3 raccoons in the garbage and all of us were able to check them out. I think this was the first time the girls had seen raccoons. We then headed down to the falls and had the best day ever. We enjoyed swimming and hiking. There are several caves at Turner Falls. We had hiked to one on a previous visit and hadn't been that impressed so we decided to try a different cave that was behind the falls. It ended up being a great hike with a good little cave and quite the view. We have some great pictures from the falls and hike, but I will have to post them later since those were on a disposable waterproof camera. After the hike we enjoyed swimming more and then had our picnic lunch on the creek runoff. They have some great rocks that the kids can slide down all along the runoff. Even with our rocky beginning this ended up being a great trip!

We Miss You Uncle Jake!

Uncle Jakey left us at the end of August. He was here about 6 weeks and the girls and I were gone 2 of those weeks. The time seemed to fly by. The girls are all missing Uncle Jake since he left. We had some good times and some crazy times. Some of our favorite memories over the 6 weeks with Uncle Jake - our temple trip :), the afternoon Uncle Jake did origami with the girls, fondue night, and all the many nights watching the Olympics and cheering on Michael Phelps. We miss you Jake - hope you're loving BYU!

Samantha's Party

Our little girl, turned 9! I can't believe how much she has grown in the past nine years. She has become such a fine young lady who we couldn't be prouder of.

So we celebrated Samantha's big day only once and actually on her birthday - this is a rare thing around our house. We are usually on vacation and she ends up celebrating her birthday multiple times with all different relatives and then again with just our family and then again with friends. We decided to have a small party so we let her invite as many friends as we could fit in the car. She ended up having 5 of her favorite friends over for some good food, swimming, and a sleepover. It turned out to be quite the party and everyone seemed to have a good time. You can read the craziness below.

The girls waiting for some good grub before heading off to the pool.

Here are the girls at the pool. They were so good about posing before hopping in the pool.

This slide is the reason why Samantha wanted to have her party at this pool. The girls all loved going down. We just wished Courtney was tall enough to go down too (next year Court)!

Here's the girl crew - Sarah, Paige, Megan, Naomi, Courtney, Makyla, Samantha, & Alyssa

Alyssa had just as much fun at the pool as all the older girls. She loved showing daddy her new swimming skills. We are especially proud of her floating on her back because this is what she fears the most.

The Cake - Samantha made an easy cake request this year - she just wanted a funfetti cake - nice and easy for mom to make.

Samantha's best friend, Paige, painted this for her to put in her room. Thanks Paige!

Sarah gave Samantha this face paint. Samantha could not have been more excited about a gift. She has since done some pretty cool face painting.

The girls with Uncle Jake - this is a precursor for what was to come. A few of the girls (we won't mention any names) decided it would be funny to sneak down to Uncle Jake's room in the night and attempt to put face paint on him while he was sleeping. Well, Uncle Jake is not as deep as a sleeper as they hoped and he thwarted their efforts not once, but three times. Finally he wised up and put a chair in front of his door. Lincoln and I were oblivious to this until morning - we must be sound sleepers.

Alyssa had to sleep in the play room with the other girls. She only made it about 5 minutes before conking out for the night. The rest of the girls enjoyed watching a movie before bed. Lincoln had borrowed a projector from work so they got the big screen experience.

The next morning the girls ate donuts and played games. It wasn't until morning that Lincoln and I learned the rest of the trickery that went on in the night. Some of the girls (again we won't mention any names) decided to try out the infamous whip cream trick - they placed the whip cream in two of their friends' hands and then tickled their noses. Luckily the two victims were good sports and were friendly with the others the next morning. We hear they are planning their revenge though for future sleepovers.