an annual pass

Since our house has pretty much turned into a zoo since we had babies, it made sense to be able to take them to the real zoo when we need to get out of the house.  Plus, if all your children are 2 and under an annual pass is cheapy!
here are the girls, for photo purposes, getting a view of their cousins instead of the elephants:

It's nice having a few go-to spots for a quick getaway when the girls {&me} are going crazy at home. City creek and the zoo are among my favorites, I should probably stick with the zoo more often to avoid unnecessary shopping temptations.
The girls really just love being outside- here's some outside pictures that are a result of someone using their camera in manual mode and has no clue what they're doing:

{way overexposed...help me?}

 

Speaking of shopping...we're doing some "fun" homeowner shopping lately- you know: plumbing issues, termite treatments, picking out new sprinklers, building a patio, picking out trees to cut down, dreaming about new windows and plans for a great room and eventually a master bedroom! I'm not being sarcastic about it being fun-- even cute dresses for the girls don't compare to having a liveable, comfortable home to spend our days in. 
Here are the girls before church, checking out the new grass they weren't allowed to walk on yet:

I'm just happy we're starting to do some of the "big stuff" and it's even kind of fun to prioritize what we'll do this year and day dream about the things we might do someday.
Anyways, whether or not you have a picture perfect house, it's nice to get out and enjoy the beautiful weather this time of year. It'll be nice to easily do that in our own yard once it's done, then on those days we don't really leave our house at least we're not stuck inside it!
& More pictures from the zoo, for your viewing pleasure:
I always loved getting a drink from the lion fountain, so I had to do it with the girls...but there were birds all over it when we got there and it just seemed dirty and gross, so I only let them touch the water this time. We'll build up their immunity to drink it later, lol.

With all the cousins:

 I haven't taken them on the carousel yet, maybe I'll wait till Brad can come with us.

 One of those rare moments that I hop in a picture, I should probably do that more often.

happy as clams outside!

 Although June has developed a strange fear of walking outside, as soon as she steps outside of a door she starts crawling.

 My favorite babies:

 I love Lyla's little school girl look in this dress.

 They found all the little bits and pieces of trash and presented them to me.

 They enjoy trying to climb things that are bigger than them.

 oh yeah, there's animals at the zoo too...