Oh yeah! We went to the Zoo.

On Friday, I went to the Birmingham Zoo with my friend and her kids, and it was pretty cool. It wasn't the World Famous San Diego Zoo, but it gives a good effort. Here's some stuff we saw:

roosters cock-a-doodle-doing,

 

eagles having staredowns,



 

elephants crossing their hind legs,

 



 

a don't-mess-with-me gorilla, 

 

zebras and giraffes,

 



stinky warthogs,

 



 

napping lions,

 

slimy alligators,

 

 

and a beautiful, blue macaw!

 



It was fun, and I'm glad I got to see it with good friends.  Sometimes, I forget how amazing it is that God created all of these different animals that are all beautiful and unique in their own way.  Isn't this world awesome?!

A Day of Science

I went with my friend and her two boys to the McWane Science Center in downtown Birmingham.  This place was/is awesome!  It's fun for kids and adults which makes it great for families.  It's great for field trips too.  A class of students was visiting when we were and they were loving it.  Personally, I think science is so much more fun when it's hands-on, and McWane Science Center offers just that.  It contains more than 9,000 square feet of interactive exhibits including: bubbles and digging for pretend dinosaur bones.  There's a bunch of physics stuff too, but you can guess what the most popular exhibits were for the boys. :)  McWane also has an aquarium and an IMAX theater.  We didn't check out the IMAX, but the aquarium was really cool.  The aquarium tanks were grouped by different geographic locations (e.g., all the fish you'd see in the Gulf of Mexico were in the same tank), and they had a tank for fish you'd find in Alabama waters.  By the way, did you know bonnethead sharks are always moving and that they lay eggs every few hours, and if the egg isn't fertilized, it becomes a female shark?  Lots of cool information to be learned at McWane!  It was a lot of fun and I totally recommend it.  I forgot to take pictures until we were about to leave, so I was only able to capture this:

It's cooler than it looks.  I promise.

Are you SERIOUS?!

"You've got to be kidding me." "I'm so mad at this car right now."  These are the words spilling out of our mouths as our car breaks down again!  Aaaaahhhh! 

We went back to Atlanta on Friday to fix the alternator on the Jetta.  We spent the night at Newel's sister's house where our car had been staying this past week.  Then we got up in the morning to get to work.  Actually, Newel and his brother-in-law got to work and I went to Zumba with my sister-in-law, after which we went to a consignment sale and got a car trunk's full of clothes for her kids.  I'll need to post about consignment sales because they're the cat's pajamas around here.

When we got back to the house, they had finished fixing the car so we ate lunch, said goodbyes and got back on the road so I could make it back to go to the Relief Society Broadcast.  Turned out, the Jetta had a different plan for how things we're gonna go down.  After being on the freeway for just a few minutes, the car started making weird noises and then the belt went flying off somewhere on the road.  Fortunately, we were able to pull off at the next exit and stop at a gas station where we checked the car to confirm what we thought happened.  Turned out the pulley on the alternator was bad, so Newel's brother-in-law came to take us back to the store to get a new alternator/pulley/serpentine belt and then helped Newel replace it again while I sat in the car and gave some solid moral support.

After replacing the alternator for the second time in one day, Newel said, "This car is officially not allowed to break down anymore."  Ditto.  We then made it back to Birmingham safe and sound.

Old Story

After our very first full day in Birmingham, we went to the movies to see Batman and tickets were only $6 per adult!  It wasn’t a matinee so I said to Newel, “Wow, everything is cheaper in the South too!”  The cashier smiled and said it was just because it was a Tuesday, and they drop ticket prices every Tuesday.   Then I looked up at the actual adult ticket prices and they were $8 - just a little cheaper than what I’m used to.  Oh well.

Downtown

Last Friday I went downtown to meet Newel and a couple of his coworkers for lunch. It was the first time I went there.  I've driven past it several times on the way to and from the temple, but never actually got off an exit and drove through it until Friday. It was pretty cool, my visit was quick because I didn't really know where I was going, and parking was a little crazy so all my pictures are from my car.  And, yes, I know driving and taking pictures is not smart driving, but I was stopped everytime.  Here's a little bit of downtown Birmingham!


Leaving the restaurant - this area was my favorite part of the what I saw in the city.

 

Looking north? Maybe west? I still get mixed up with directions since there are no mountains/oceans.

 

Research and medicine is pretty big in Birmingham.  Most people we meet are here for work or school in something to do with the medical field.

I really like this church building.  I forget what it was called now, but I don't think it's a historic landmark.  Just really cool looking.

 

 

So.... ....is anyone tempted to come visit us in Birmingham yet? :)

 

Taste of Home

I'm a foodie and I come from a long line of foodies, or maybe it just started with my dad, but he is a major foodie and it's been passed on (in a significant degree) to me.  You're probably asking, "Why is she writing about being a foodie?"  Don't worry, I'm getting there.  I think that because I love food and the experience of eating it, I attach certain memories to food.  I remember who I'm with or what I'm wearing when I eat food that tastes really good to me.  When I plan a trip home or really anywhere, I think about the food I get to eat, or I do google searches for the best places to eat wherever I'm going.  I know, I need help.

The other night, I made my mom's chili.  I LOVE my mom's chili.  Newel really likes it too, and he's not a foodie or a chili fan.  It love it because it's tastes so good, and because of the memories it brings to mind.  My mom has made this chili along with her delicious corn bread since before I can remember.

 

This chili reminds me of her and it reminds me of my brother because chili & cornbread is his favorite meal.  It reminds me of evenings at home with my family, eating dinner, and talking about what we did that day.  It reminds me specifically of one late summer night, sitting down at the table and talking with my mom about my long day at work eating her chili and cornbread that she made earlier, and I ate it so slowly because it was so good and I didn't want it to go away.

When we're eating her chili, I think of home and my mom and everything I miss (in a good way).  I had a really good childhood, filled with lots of joy, laughter, love, and food. :)

Another Car "Adventure" Part 2

Once our car was in the lot, we called AAA to have them send out their battery service.  They were able to do some testing and figure out it was a problem with the alternator.  By that time of night, we decided to use AAA's towing service to take us back to Newel's sister's and deal with it the next day.  While the tow truck driver was hooking up our car, another man approached us offering to pay for the towing service.  We explained that it was covered by AAA but thanked him.  We were amazed someone would be so kind to pay for something like that.

Our tow truck driver was pretty funny.  He's from Jamaica and has been living in the U.S. for almost 20 years.  He kept telling us how crazy Atlanta was, and he shared some funny stories about people he's towed in the past.  When we told him we were from Salt Lake, he said, "Oh ya man, the Mormon religion is very big there."  I said, "Yes, that and skiing."  He said, "Oooooh no.  I'm from jamaica.  I'm not gonna slide down no ice!"  We started laughing.  Cool Runnings anyone?  I asked if he'd seen that movie and he said he had.  The Jamaicans definitely don't like the cold. :)

After 4+ hours, we crashed at Newel's sister's.  We went to church with them the next morning, and then had lunch.  Newel's brother-in-law offered us his car to drive back, so we could fix the Jetta next weekend.  We then drove back to Alabama! 

 

Like I said before, even though I initially thought this car "adventure" was a pain, it ended up being another opportunity to more fully realize the blessings surrounding us every moment of every day, and that there are so many good people in this world, willing to help those in need.