Random pictures from April through June

Hogle Zoo

For Mother's Day this year we decided to get out of the cold weather and headed to Salt Lake to see my mom. We took Patrick to the Hogle Zoo where he got to see the baby elephant, the giraffes and all his other favorites (and not-so-favorites) as well as rode the choo choo and the carousel.



On our way home, we stopped at a fun playground just off the freeway in Blackfoot, ID. It must have really worn Patrick out because he literally slept the rest of the way home, which was GREAT!

Easter 2010

Easter was fun this year since Patrick was old enough to dye eggs and actually look for them in his egg hunt at Grandma and Grandpa Pickle's house. Seeley, Holly & Les came to our house to dye eggs.

Patrick's 2nd Birthday

I know this post is REALLY overdue....afterall, Patrick turned 2 three months ago, but late is better than never! Patrick had a great birthday with lots of little friends. He got a "choo choo" from us, a sandbox from his Grandma and Grandpa Patterson (Grandpa Patterson made it for him), and fun sandbox toys from Grandma and Grandpa Steeley (aka Grandma and Grandpa Pickles). Grandma J was not able to make it to this party, but came to visit a few weeks later and brought him a fun barn with lots of animals.

Washington D.C. Trip

I had a conference in Washington D.C. from March 15-17th. I went with a friend of mine, Erin, who is also in Public Health in MT. We had a great time! We ate good food, visited our Senator's staff members in the Senate Building, met Senator Tester (D-MT), did a little shopping (of course!).....and oh ya, we also attended the conference!

We stayed in a really nice hotel (Dupont Hotel in Dupont Circle), but our room was tiny and the layout of the bathroom was really strange. The shower only had a 1/2 wall (seen below in the picture), so all of the water from the shower would literally flood the rest of the bathroom. In order to avoid electricution while drying our hair - we'd have to mop up all the water after every shower! Crazy.

I'm also pretty sure the hotel room was on a direct route to the fire station, because no fewer than 10 times a night were we woken up by fire trucks (sirens and all) went flying by. I'm so used to absolutely no noise (we have to create our own background noise by using humidifiers when we sleep) that I did not sleep well with all that noise in DC!

After building my own house - I have a better appreciation for the construction of buildings. This building (the Capitol) absolutely blows my mind. It is HUGE and it was built when the common conveniences of backhoes, cement trucks, etc. did not exist yet. Amazing.

Trip to Missoula

We had cabin fever so we decided to head to Missoula to visit our friends Andrea and Seth and their little boy Maxsen. Patrick and Maxsen had a BLAST! They're only about 3 1/2 months apart, so watching them play together, chase each other and talk to each other was so much fun. Before we headed home we went to play at a big park with a carousel. Needless to say, when we got home Patrick was exhausted and so were his parents!

Dark Hair

Most of you know by now that I dyed my hair dark for the first time ever! Although it was a fun change, I think it will be going back to blonde shortly. It has already faded a LOT and I don't want to have to dye it all the time to maintain he color. So, here is the picture for documentation that I really did it!