The Merrill's Day at the Zoo

What a great time we had at the zoo today. It was so fun to see my girls have such a great time together. Several times during the day I stood back, not just to take a picture of them, but to see how blessed I am to have such a great family. Tasha and Emma mean everything to me and I am truly grateful for all that they add to my life. Here are two of my favorite pictures from the day.It was fun to see Emma and her energetic personality. I think I saw this more than anything else all day.....
Here is a fun picture of my girls that they unknowingly posed for (I'm talking about Tasha and Emma, not the zebras)....
Emma looks so understanding of what Tasha is saying.... I love it!Here are a few cool animal pictures from the day:

Pretty sure this tiger was looking right at me....
This Cougar just looks so confident.... Like it's a big week for Cougars or something....I loved the lighting and the color contrast of the fur...
The eagle has always been one of my favorite animals, such a pretty bird...Loved the colors of this one and the way the light hit the feathers....I loved the sky blue background with the deep colors of this bird...Emma has had this weird fear of slides lately. She has no problem climbing up them and will sit on the edge for a while, but she hasn't been going down on her own.... I think she conquered this fear today because by the end of the day it was all we could do to get her to stop sliding down the big green snake slide head first.... It was awesome! But, this picture was of her on the steps leading up to the slide...
and her on the slide.... not sure how she feels about this one....
Tasha has been called every name under the sun (Pasa, Pasha, Sasha, etc...), and when I saw this shack, I knew I had to get a picture of her next to it. Isn't Tasha's face great?!?!?This was a fun drinking fountain that didn't work, but Emma insisted on trying every one, several times....She acts like I took 304 pictures at the zoo....I don't have many pictures with Emma as I am generally the one who is camera-happy, but this definitely goes down as one of my all-time favorites with her. I love my Emma Lou!After today, we had our FHE lesson on God's creations and how they are all a witness to His love for us. Today was a witness to me of how blessed I am. No matter the stresses of life, the struggles with work, frustrations with car problems, or any other thing that comes into my life, I know that I have the greatest thing a man could wish for: a beautiful family.

What a great day today was!