A proposal and visit to the zoo

Last weekend, McKay's work had its yearly work party where they closed down Hogle Zoo and invited all employees and their families.  This was my first visit to Hogle Zoo in about 15 years and it was our little outing with Amelia.  

  

We first attended the bird show and that was really fun.  Not only did we see lots of exotic birds, but McKay's close friend and our basement roommate, Kevin, proposed to his girlfriend Shelley.  A year ago from this time, Kevin and Shelley were set up on a blind date by McKay and I.  Their first date was last year's work party which was held at This Is The Place State Park. Kevin decided to use the bird show as a way to pop the question.  He had a bird bring her a note asking her to marry him.  We were assigned by Kevin to capture this joyous moment. 

From the pictures, you can tell she said yes. Congratulations Shelley and Kevin!

This giraffe was licking the wall; his tongue was so long we had to take a picture of it.

I love this little girl so much. The older she gets, the more she looks like her daddy.  We like to coordinate with each other.  

Newborn Pictures

Last week, Amelia got her newborn pictures taken from an old high school friend of mine named McKell Morgan Photography.  She did a great job and took the pictures at my house!  I didn't have to go anywhere.  Amelia did really well.  She was asleep for the first half and then decided to wake up and open her big eyes.  Amelia did have one little mess. When McKell was changing the background for one of her naked shots, I held Amelia in my lap and she pooped all over me, herself, and my peach colored chair.  This pooping incident was so forceful it felt like a volcano had erupted.  Oh the joys of being a mother.  I've come to the conclusion Amelia likes to have her mouth open a lot.  Here are some of my favorites:  

Amelia meets her greats

 Two weeks ago we took a trip down to Utah County so Amelia could meet both sets of her great-grandparents.  It was very sweet and I took a lot of pictures.  We started at Grandma and Grandpa Killpack's.    

Grandma Killpack told McKay and I Amelia is their 57th great-grandchild.  

Ever since Grandpa died two months ago Grandma's health hasn't been doing very well.  Grandma has really struggled with Grandpa's death, mostly because after spending 70 years with someone I can't imagine how much you would miss him.  For several weeks Grandma completely lost her appetite and had no desire to take care of herself anymore.  This is so uncharacteristic of Grandma and made everyone in the family worried for her health. My Dad told me for several years Grandma has told him that the one thing she wants to do before she dies is to hold a great-grand baby.  The weeks leading up to Amelia's birth all she could talk about is holding the baby.  I kept telling her if she was going to hold the baby she had to eat her meals so she could have enough strength to do so.  When the day came for us to visit Grandma in Mapleton, my little sister called me on the phone and wondered where we were because Grandma was getting very excited and impatient because she couldn't wait to hold Amelia.  When we got to the house she was almost in tears.  I brought the car seat over to her and lifted the cover and my Dad was able to capture this sweet moment of Grandma seeing Amelia for the first time.

    

For the next two hours Grandma talked to Amelia, held her tight, gave me a lot of advice, kissed her, and sang to her.  She wouldn't let anyone else hold her.   

I love Grandma's face in this picture.  I haven't seen Grandma this happy for a long time. It made me miss Grandpa a lot.