So Proud Of My Husband!

I'm so proud of my husband!  Another graduation!

I think he's pretty excited too

Avengers and Shwarma

Avengers fans.  You know how at the end of the movie they go out to eat shwarma?

My family goes out to eat shwarma at the end of the movie too.

Shwarma is gooood.

Shayna, The Opera Singer

This beautiful bird is Shayna.  Before Pandemonium became a site for conservation, it was a home for birds that were abandoned and couldn't find homes.  When my boss learned that some of the birds she had were becoming endangered in their native land, she decided she was going to do something about it.  She began doing what she could to help save those endangered species. 

Shayna is one of those birds that found a new home here at Pandemonium.  She is a Yellow Headed Amazon, which is endangered in Mexico and Northern Central America. 

She's is brilliant and hilarious.  She learned my name very quickly.  I was outside one day when my boss came out calling my name to let me know that we were about to start our staff meeting when Shayna calls, "Hello Britta."  She became my favorite right then and there.  

To add to her awesomeness, she's got a Darth Vader voice that she pulls out when you least expect it, and she loves to sing opera.  

She came inside to help with our research and paperwork  recently and did much better at distracting us.  We didn't mind.  She's quite the performer. 

Check it out.  She gets sooo into it. 

It's she a peach?  I adore her.

I'm Becoming A Crazy Bird Lady/The Boardwalk

While my cousin, Christina, was in town we had to take her to Santa Cruz.  You can't come to CA without going to the beach.   We had a total blast at the Boardwalk, riding the rides, eating the food (I'm in love with the new potato twists!), and walking along the shoreline and pier. 

However, this guy was the highlight.  For me at least.... my job might be slowly turning me into a crazy bird lady.

He was just sitting out here by all the fisherman.

Posing for all the cameras that were pulled out the second he was spotted.

He was so big.

And so handsome.

And he definitely enjoyed the attention.

One group of people had the brilliant idea to try to pet him.

Um.... did they not know this is a wild animal?

Heck, one look at that beak and I knew to keep my distance.

As one girl reached out her hand, he gave her a look that said, "You idiot, I will rip that thing off if you come any closer."  She didn't get the message and he lunged at her.  She backed off.

One of her friends thought that she would have better luck.  I quickly told her that it was never a good idea to touch a wild animal as she was handing over her life's belongs to a friend.  I guess I seem like I know what I am talking about because she took her stuff back and everyone else resumed picture taking instead of playing games of truth or dare.

Guess what else we saw?

This one is napping. 

This one is swimming.  Sealions are so fun to watch... well, when they aren't napping.... which they usually are.

Another wonderful trip to the coast.

I can't believe my highlight was a bird.  The bird craziness is taking over.  My boss said it would.

Happy Hollow

My cousin came into town from Texas to help take care of our grandpa.  He had a scheduled heart surgery and has been doing very well, but he has needed help doing everything while he heels up.  We've had a lot of family coming and going to help him.  It definitely pays to have a large family when you need help, he's had someone around to help every week.

Anyway, since Christina is not from around here, we knew she'd have to take a break from being a good granddaughter to see some of the bay area.

We went to Happy Hollow for our first adventure.  They have redone everything there and it is no longer a ghetto little place with funny broken down rides and tiny animal exhibits.  All the favorites are still there though.

We all throughly enjoyed the Capybara exhibit.  They are so strangely cute. 

The stepping stones over the little pond are still there.  As are a lot of the fun fact animal displays that have buttons that still don't work.

There are still big beautiful cats, sunning themselves in the California sunshine.

Christina seemed to have a good time.  She's got skillz on the stepping stones.

I could watch these little guys ALL DAY LONG.

Is there anything cuter?

I found myself wishing so badly that I could go home and watch Meerkat Manor so that the cuteness wouldn't end.

Just look at the little fatling.

tehehe... they make me giggle.

I don't think it is possible to be in a bad mood when these guys are around.

Friends and family, please take note, if you are going to tell me bad news and want to break it softly.... we should be around Meercats.  They have magic happy powers.

This guy was stunning.  He even posed for my camera when I whipped it out.

And how could you not love watching the monkey's play?

The new park has a very nice play structure and we found our favorite toy.

This "Ringtailed Lemur Tail" stuck almost straight up our of the ground, but bent a little to one side.  So when you climbed on, it kinda swung you around as you hung on for dear life.

My sister thought that she was pretty skilled at it until I poked her and then she slipped to the side and could get back upright again.  It was funny.

Then we found the carousel.  This carousel is particularly awesome because you can ride things like dragons, Giraffes, lemurs, zebras, okapi and.......

I was REALLY excited about this.....

An Ostrich!  It's actually a life goal of mine to ride one for realsies, but I figured this was good practice for when the day comes that I can seize that opportunity.

Happy Hollow is the bomb.com

So glad that Christina came to CA and wanted to go!

We loved it!

I Make Owls When I Miss My Husband

This is what happens when I've been away from my husband for five months.....

I make an owl to snuggle with.... outta his old sweater that he asked me to dispose of for him.... but I didn't....

I kept it like a hoarder and then made a stuffed animal out of it like a creeper.  Yeah, I'm cool like that. 

I can't decide if this is exceptionally cool, or just a sign that this wife is ready to be with her husband again.... and may be going nuts. 

The sweater had been used practically everyday, and was falling apart.  You had to do a special dance to get it to zip up, and even if you performed it right.... it would still refuse to zip sometimes.

And strange little me saw it and thought, "I can make something out of that old sweater to cuddle with at night."

Then I grabbed some paper from the recycling bin and made my pattern.  Cut and sewed.

And the next thing ya know --- I have a cuddle buddy.  I think he still needs some eyes though....  Just need to find some buttons.

In the meantime, my oxytocin levels are up (the feel-good hormone you get from a really good hug).  

And I impressed myself with my impromptu craftiness.

Girls Camp 2012 and How Much I love Camp Ritchie!

Camp Ritchie is just about my most faroite place in the world.  I've got so many good memories there.

My sister is one of the girls there (she's a level 5), so it was super awesome being able to be there with her!

We got to do sooo many fun things like tubbing....

Canoeing

Paddle Boarding!

Team building

Arts and crafts

And Archery!  Where I learned I've got skills like Katniss Everdeen!

Rock climbing, a personal fav.  I already knew I had skills in this area... you can tell because I'm showing off by going down the wall like spider-man.

This is the beautiful view from the top of the rappel. 

Me, after I just finished hopping down the steep rock (aka. the rappel)...

This is one of my brave girls who decided the rappel was so much fun, she'd do it twice! (It's a really steep rock and their are plenty of girls that wont go down at all because it scares them too much).

Me squeezing through a rock on the climb back up....

Everything here somehow ties back to a lesson in the gospel.  We have an activity called the, "Faith Walk."  Here the girls had to be lead blind by another girl in their level, while the leaders tried their very best to steer them off course.  I wasn't very convincing as Satan.

In the first part, the girls were able to talk to and hold the hand of the girl they were leading.  They knew as soon as I opened my mouth that I wasn't leading them down the right path.  The other leaders knew how to be sneaky and were much better in playing their part.  They would tell them things that were half truths so that it was more confusing to know what to believe and what not to believe.  I'm a terrible lier, so I had to learn quick how to be convincing.

Second part, they were only allowed to talk.

By this part I had given up on telling them where to go, so instead I told them to stop and take a break.  This was a much better tactic for me.  By now, they all knew not to trust where their leaders told them to go, but they would listen to me if I told them they seemed dehydrated and were looking a little dreary.  I would always be looking out for their health right?

Right.... kinda, well, no.  I even got one girl to sit down.  Her partner quickly told her that she was fine and not to listen to me.  And she got back up mid squat.

Third part, they were not allowed to touch or talk.

The third was particularly funny because they would do things like clap, snap or click their tongue to tell their partner to turn, stop, or go.  It is much easier to get girls off course when the communication is so easy to mimic.  It was a lot of fun watching our girls figure out how to tell their partners which way they were suppose to go..... and even more fun when I was able to succeed in getting them off course so easily.  They all made it to the end though.

There are so many ways to apply this activity to truths in the gospel.  Each one of these girls has their hand raised to tell about something that relates this activity to Christ's teachings.

What I took away from this experience was a need to keep open communication with God so that I will be easier to guide down the right path.  I definitely learned how tricky Satan can be.  If one way to derail us doesn't work, he will find another.  Even if it is telling us a million truths, just to get one lie in.  He is always working to find a way to get us off course and I know that by keeping my relationship with God a good, strong one, I will be better at being able to tell which voice leads me down the right path and which one is taking me off course.

I love every one of these girls and I'm so glad that I get to spend this week with them!  I learned a lot, got to do lots of fun things, and met some wonderful people.

Soooo glad I got that last minute call to come and be a second level leader!

My Man is Funny.

I woke up to this picture message on my phone....

I laughed so hard I snorted.

Not only is there a strange fuzzy thing on his lip, but he's wearing his BCG's (Birth Control Glasses) that were issued to him in boot camp.

It's he so handsome in this photo?

Poor guy had been growing out a mustache and I had no idea because he's always little fuzzy on skype.

Even when he pointed it out, I couldn't see it.

I can see it now hun!

And no worries friends a family, it's gone now.  And his appearance doesn't usually provoke feelings of laughter.  He's actually quite handsome.

Ahhh.. much better :)

I hope I don't get in trouble for putting that photo on the blog....  teehehe