Lions, tigers, and bears oh my!

Chanel, Me, and Cambria

Eating yummy chicken enchilada soup for Sunday dinner

The girls in the jungle 

I thought this sloth was so funny hanging upside down to eat his food

Waterfall in the jungle

Fishies

This tunnel aquarium was my fav!  So cool!

I love the eyes on the tiger

Down in the caves.  Looks so real.

Chad inside the desert dome.

Picnicing at Valentinos

Chad loving his pizza

Chanelly

The beautiful Winter Quarters temple

I just thought this one was funny because Chad wouldn't tell us when he was taking pictures.  This was just one of the many where we weren't looking.

All of us at the visitor center

Group effort on the handcart

Cambria pulling the handcart

These two became Wii buddies

Cambria intensely focused playing the Wii

This weekend two of my best friends came to visit. The whole week before they came I was bursting with anticipation while counting down the days until they came. This was a big deal for me because no one ever comes to Nebraska for a vacation destination so therefore we get no visitors. So Chanel and Cambria win the prize for being the first willing to make the journey here to the midwest. They arrived Friday night and we spent the rest of the evening eating candy and playing the Wii. Saturday after a delicious breakfast we drove to Omaha and went to the Winter Quarters visitor center and temple. It was an absolutely gorgeous day! We couldn't have asked for better weather. It was completely unlike Nebraska! It was great! We took the tour and it was amazing to feel the sweet spririt that was there as we watched a short video about the pioneers. One of the things that struck me was when the sister missionary was telling story about the pioneers trying to cross the Missouri river. They were having a hard time doing this and then the river completely froze over night. It was a miracle. Because of the river being frozen they could take their wagons and families across the river by walking across it. The sister pointed out that the pioneers must have had so much faith in the Lord to take those first steps onto the ice trusting that it wouldn't break through. It made me think of my own life and how I need to be more trusting in the Lord and his plan for me. Then we strolled over to the cemetary and the temple to take pictures. Then we decided to take them to lunch at some place that is only in Nebraska. We had a little picnic lunch with our Valentinos pizza outside before we headed off to the zoo. I felt like I was in kindergarten all over getting excited to go to the zoo for the first time. Omaha's zoo was suppose to be one of the best in the nation and so we had pretty high expectations for it and overall I was impressed. They have this huge desert dome there that is the largest indoor desert in the world. It's dry, sandy, and hot filled with all the desert animals. It was huge! The next adventure was in the "Kingdom of the nights" exhibit. You walk into a cave-like setting and get to see lots of things, that in my mind are way creepy, like bats (gross little flippidy flappidy creatures), snakes (freak me out), and frogs. I don't think I've ever seen so many bats in my life! Then we wandered into the swamp area. By this time I was way creeped out from the snakes and bats and then to go to swamp things was almost too much for me. It is all dark and you walk through the swamp on dock-type bridges and right next to your feet are huge crocadiles and aligators! I was beginning to feel like I was in a haunted house and I couldn't get out. Fortunately this part wasn't too long! Yes I'm a whimp when it comes to those reptiles. After that we headed on to something a little less scary. We saw the lions, tigers, bears, and gorillas. Next we went to the aquarium. It was amazing to walk through the tunnel and have fish and sharks swimming all above you and beside you. Loved it! My next favorite was the jungle. Lots of interesting animals and waterfalls and entertaining monkeys to watch. I have decided that when it gets warmer again I would like to go back and see the rest or pehaps get a pass one year. We came home to play games, watch a movie, and eat. Chanel and Cambria had to leave on Sunday, but I loved having them visit and grateful they took the time to come out here. Chad was sad because his new Wii buddy is now gone. I think Cambria and Chad have mastered the snowboarding game officially. But I think it might have been a too much estrogen filled weekend for him. Pretty sure he's never been around that many girls for that long by himself. But he was a trooper and very supportive. Here's some fun pictures from the weekend.