yup, more animals... i cant help it, its my job!

Just a few more animal shots...

Bacardi flying....

Coati on my head!

Jacob actually came over and met some of my animals! Too bad he wouldnt touch any of them:) this is us with Quillson the porcupine!

Hanging with Kong the tamandua

and finally us with my baby girl- Mya the coati- she walked all over his head:)

God of Wonders....

Life... sometimes it can be so overwhelming and it seems like when you are at your wits end and caught up in all the things that dont matter our God of wonders lets you know its time to relax, trust in him and remember everything thats important in this life.

This past week I have felt so exhausted trying to deal with life, being away from my family and close friends, frusterated with all of the house hunting, trying to figure out my new role at work, not spending enough time with my husband and being completely consumed with thoughts and prayers for my baby sister when finally it hit me, none of these things are mine to worry about and INSTEAD I should be focusing on what is really important, and all of the many blessing I have recieved.

Thank you father for the roof over my head, for the job that I you have provided me with, for my wonderful friends, that encourage me and are there for me, even though I know i dont always keep in the best touch with you all but I know you are there when I need you. Cissie I have been thinking a lot about the last few years and how thanful I am for our many memories growing up, you are and always will be so special to me, and I cant wait until we can get together again someday, this time as married woman and rekindle that friendship.

My family that are some of the most amazing and Godly people I have ever met in my entire life. I am so Thankful for you and the example you have been to me and everyone that has been blessed enough to meet you.

and finally for my amazing husband. How blessed I am to have you in my life, I love you now and forever and thank Jesus for you every single day.

Promotion to TRAINER!

So this has been a very busy past few weeks! Last Saturday after our other senior trainer had her very last day at work my supervisor sat me down and gave me a promotion to trainer! It was pretty exciting since it has only been a year and a half since I started working there and it usually takes people over 2 for their promotion! On the flip side of all that she also made me second in charge of my department, its a tough situation since I skipped over two other girls to get there but i guess my bossiness paid off:) I would appriciate all of your thoughts and prayers as I attempt this next chapter in my life!

Here are a few pictures flying our bat Bacardi:) What a nice landing:)

Us Cotter Kids:)

Jacobs family came to visit this week.... We had some fun being tourists in Napa Valley



Cristin and I at V. Sattui
Jacob, Me, Cristin and Caleb

Domaine Chandon, kisses for my honey

Jacob and I shared a hug in the sun.... I love him so much, what an amazing man i married!

Happy Birthday to ME!

So really these are some photos over the last week or so with my birthday pictures at the end... but hey it works

This is a group of us swimming in the tiger island pool. They cleaned the whole thing out this past week and it happenned to be 104 degrees that day so we decided to take a dip in the pool and do some under water tiger poses. For anyone that hasnt seen the show the tigers dive under water to grab pieces of meat and push right up against the window... just like this:)

This is one of my last photos with Mara, sadly she wont be around much longer so a few days ago we took her out for a long walk and cart ride... she really enjoyed herself!

Hanging out with Kong one of the tamaduas... showing off that prehensile tail!

These are the two tamanduas kong and kamala, they found themselves a nice little sunny spot and decided to take a little nap:) They were so cute and cuddled there for such a long time!

So here we are the actual birthday! I had to go into work at 6 in the morning for a radio appearance so i was half way done by the time everyone else got in. Kimberly made me a dirt cake... yummmmmm the best! I was so sugared out by the end of the day! Kim brought the dirt cake, Eric got me pie, Jennifer made me a cheesecake and Lynette brought me a peach cobbler and when i got home Jacob had an ice cream cake.....it was good stuff but i did not feel good by the end of the day!

Here I am posing with Jordan one of our servals. he didnt cooperate very well!

some of my friends from work all went to Olive Garden for my birthday. This is Angela and Ricky, she is one of my best buddies here in Cali!

Ruben made me this shirt for my birthday- if you cant see it it has Erics face on it, its sort of an inside joke but its pretty hilarious... well Eric didnt think so:)

So that was in my 24th birthday and now its over:( Jacobs family comes this week so it will be great to see them! Angela and I are having a double birthday get together in a few weeks so i guess i can keep celebrating right:)

A Visit from my best friend!

Yay for the month of May! It has been an absolutely fabulous month so far, and yes im still like a 5 year old child, i get so excited for my birthday and I chose to celebrate it all month long! So this past week my absolute best friend in the entire world came to visit me and it was oh so much fun! Some of you might remember her, she was in my wedding her name is Becky:) Becky and I went to Grace together so we have known eachother since Junior year and we were always together when i lived in Anchorage. Becky lives in Virgina now and is a barn manager where she works with horses. Because of the distance we have only spent about a week together in the last 4 years, a few days at my wedding and a few days at Amys wedding two years ago. Needless to say there is nothing better than being with a great friend, and we both were so in need of some time together!
This is in Napa Valley, we went and did some sight seeing, its fun to be a tourist when people come to visit!

Becky loved the anteaters so I got to do a meet and greet with her and Kong after a show:)

One night we went to Monkey Buisness it is a company owned by kevin Keith. He has different types of monkeys and other animals he does a show with. He is like the only guy in the US that works a full grown uncut male baboon its pretty scary!this is Mickey one of his baboons. It was so crazy having a baboon on my head! You cant tell in this picture but Mickey likes to "play bongos" on your head, so i ended up with some pretty good bruises from where he hit me:)

We of course played at the park and took pictures with a bunch of the different animals. This is us posing with Shouka the killer whale.

This is the handsome dolphin Merlin:)

Sorry you can see down my shirt here a bit:( that was not on purpose but i love this picture. This is Sivuqaq he is our big male walrus at the park, the one that was in the movie 50 first dates with Adam sandler. He is so huge it is absolutely amazing and when he gives you a kiss it feels like a giant suction cup that is going to take your cheek completely off!

Of course we also have the looney Tunes Characters. Heres Marvin:)

On Beckys last day we went to the City and played all day. Here we are in our matching shirts in front of Lombard street. the crookidest street in the world!

I had to take a minute to give my honey a smooch on Pier 39:)

And here we are, one last picture with the city in the background as the sun was setting on the bay! It was such a great time with Becky, i had so much fun and cant wait to see her again! And for those of you counting down with me.... Only 10 more days until my birthday:)

dolphin kisses and animal paintings

This past week we did some animal paintings. We attempted Mya the Coati. The paintings turned out pretty cute but I think I ended up with more paint on me than the canvas did!

Here she is taking a little rest from her tough job as an artist!

Look at those beautiful paintings:)

Shouka our killer whale also made me a painting. It was pretty awesome, obviouslly she doesnt have feet to walk on a canvas so she is actually trained to hold the brush in her mouth and actually paint with it:) it was really awesome to watch!

Here it is all finished, i think she did a fabulous job!

After we were done with that we took a little break to hang out with Merlin the dolphin:)

and what visit with a dolphin is complete without a kiss:)