Kenya Knows her Last Name!

So the other day, Kenya and I were playing with an old cell phone. After I was pretend talking to someone I said, “It’s for you.” Kenya accepts the phone and answers the pretend caller with, “Hello, this is Kenya Draper.” It was as clear as day! You’re probably thinking, ‘whoopee!’ Well, we are impressed because we have never, directly told her or taught that her last name is Draper. She just busted that out on her own. Yeah, we about soiled ourselves with surprise.

Random side note:

Today, referring to a piece of ice, Kenya said to Uncle Chris “It’s too cold, will you warm up it for me?”

Another random side note:

Today we went shopping at the grocery store and parked in the best place ever. We realized that parked in front of us is the reason why those postcards and commercials with dogs are made!

Hogle Zoo Videos

Kenya's & Robert's 1st Daddy/Daughter Date

The Start of a Great Tradition

I know it's late, but March 1, 2011 marks the first of hopefully many, “Daddy/Daughter dates for Kenya and I. While in SLC, Mommy so graciously allowed Daddy and Kenya to run an errand and then go have some fun. Kenya had a jones for the playground today, but we just didn’t know where to find one. So while Mommy went to visit Grandpa Evans at the VA Hospital, we eventually found Utah’s Hogle Zoo!

We first stopped to play with the ball that was floating on the water.

We stopped and roared at the Cougars just before we went to the playground.

Once we got to the playground we probably spent close to 50 minutes there! She was lovin' it!

The next two photos are of Kenya being regurgitated by a giant snake! She wanted to do this big slide all by herself...and she did.

Then we stopped at the pond and watched and talked with all the water fowls. This is a Wood Duck.

We saw Swans, Geese, and many other species of duck. We stayed there for about 30 minutes! Kenya kept talking about how she wanted to go swimming with them. She got to throw some food to the birds too! Someone was nice enough to share some of the food that had to be bought from a gumball machine.

We then went to see some desert animals. We saw this sweet Owl. As Kenya and I waved at the bird it reacted to us by puffing out its feathers.

As we walked around some more we saw and heard two Geese honking away on the roof of a building.

We went and got a snack and then we saw a Peacock struttin' about. Of course Kenya could not resist pursuing it. There was a boy climbing this wooden fence so Kenya was quick to follow suit. We tried so hard to get it to show its feathers, but it was stubborn.

Later we went to see this building that had small animals and other birds in it. However, there was one quite large animal in there...a male Tortoise named Kronk! There was a female Tortoise that lived with him named Yzma. Yeah, they were totally named after the characters from the Disney film Emperor's New Groove! Kronk weighs 450 lbs!

This little monkey was very curious and friendly. He was interacting with me like no other. He was giving me the "thumbs up". It's a bit blurry.

Kenya had made some cute little girl friends while we were going around looking at the animals. They all got along so well and they were talking like they knew each other from somewhere. We didn't get to see all the animals in the building because the girls were having sooooo much fun together.

We went to see the big cats, but it was pretty much their blasted nap time! We were blessed and briefly saw a Tiger. We saw a sleeping Snow Leopard, but the camera batteries were acting up.

After the girls left and we went elsewhere to see the big cats, we went back to see the rest of the animals in the small animal building. Kenya was very impressed by the Iguana. So impressed that she specifically requested me to take a picture of it.

Here are some Porcupines cuddling together. Ouch!

We were on our way out of the zoo and I had the overwhelming feeling of being watched. You know...like all eyes were on us! Well, they were! We were the last people in the zoo! We could have gotten eaten by a wild animal and nobody would know til the next day! We spotted a Peacock with its feathers open just for us!

There are some cute videos that are to come in another post. Overall, we had such an awesome time! I look forward to continuing this awesome tradition!

Kenya turns 2 years old!

Thank everyone for helping to make Kenya's 2nd birthday a special and fun one!
I think Kenya's birthday was all a 2 year old could ask for. So much family around, dancing, games, and good food.
This is Kenya with her cousins Rachel and Sara who were here for a family visit.

Kenya and cousin Sam.
Sara and Kenya were pretending to be chickens and eating some chips off of the table. What 2 year old doesn't want steak and baked potatoes for their birthday lunch!! We had a BBQ in my dad's honor and it happened to be on her birthday.

Speaking of honoring Grandpa Evans. Kenya sure looks adorable in my dad's glasses.

Thanks aunt Michelle, all of the kids love the vacuum! Thank you all for the gifts for Kenya! She loved them all and felt very special that the presents were for her.
As you can see in the first video we made a slide and the kids loved it!

Here is Kenya playing by herself amongst the chaos of family.

We began her party with the chicken dance. This was something fun we had taught her at the hospital after my dad entered the ICU and Kenya could not see him anymore. Robert was great and we really had to get creative to keep her happy. So, we figured it was a great way to start a party!!


We played "Pin the Tail on the Donkey." It was fun.

Here is a video of the cake. We went really easy this year because I did not have a lot of time to think and/or prepare a cake. It is just a plan cake and on it we put her present from us. Since being back in Montana she has really taken a liking to horses and any farm animals and so that was the theme for the cake. She blew out the candles on her own, after 3 tries!

What a Man!

Donald James Evans

December 12, 1950 to March 3, 2011.

I love you Daddy! I pray that you remember everything you need to!! I am so happy for the answer to so many of our prayers!