Four Years of Blessings

Four years ago on September 17 during the Moon Festival in China, Sam became part of our family.  I can't imagine my life without Sammy as our son.  He is truly a blessing to us.  To honor the day, we went to an "artful" Moon Festival at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts and dinner at P F Changs. 

At the Art Museum, we saw a Lion Dance and to our surprise a picture of Sam and Lindsey feeding money to the lion for good luck showed up the next day in the Sunday newspaper entertainment section.  We also did chalk art, decorated paper lanterns, made paper Peking opera masks - at least that was the idea, the end result looked quite different but the kids had fun.

Picture in the newspaper, Sam with Lindsey behind him are feeding the lion

Labor Day Weekend Festivities

We celebrated Labor Day weekend by going to a local festival "Stampede Days" on Antelope Island.  This island has been described as one of the wildest places in America that's so close to a developed urban area.  The day was beautiful and our friend Dave joined us for the outing. The perfect ending to our summer.

This picture slideshow made with Smilebox

Brine Flies

We went to Antelope Island, the largest island in the Great Salt Lake, yesterday for "Stampede Days".   We saw buffalo, antelope, an owl, a coyote and millions of brine flies.  The brine flies were so numerous they look like clouds of dust that the wind is blowing around when you walk through them.  Sammy and Lindsey and I had fun walking through them while Carley and Blain stayed a safe distance away even though they don't sting.

TGIF

It's Friday evening before a 3 day weekend and all is well in our little world.  We've not only survived the 1st two weeks of school, but Sammy and Lindsey have done better than I thought they would.  They both have jumped right into the new routine and seem to be really enjoying school and like their teachers. 

The only problem has been that Sammy has hurt himself twice now on the school playground.  The first time was during Kindergarten orientation when he ran into a bar and the second time was yesterday when he tripped and face planted on asphalt.  He cried for so long that they called up Blain to pick him up because they said he was okay but inconsolable.  Even after Blain got him, he kept crying for his mommy so they called me at work when I was in a meeting so I could talk with him.  Fortunately it was a small meeting and I have a very understanding boss.  I was able to talk to him and calm him down. 

On a more positive note, Carley seems to have had another growth spurt and for the first time is able to reach the light switch.  She's growing up so fast!  I love my feisty and fun little girl, but she's a handful.  She definitely has a mind of her own and isn't shy about expressing herself.

1st Playground Injury

And it only gets worse - 2nd playground injury

It doesn't look like she can reach the switch...

But she can!