Happy Birthday, Darling!

Today is Keith's birthday!

Keith with Roman and Blaise.
He is such a fantastic dad!

(After asking permission to tell), he is 33 years old today!


And I have been a part of his life for 9 years! I still feel lucky for everyday!

So, you remember that prize he won at his company picnic last month? Dinner and a night at a hotel? Yeah, we decided to cash that in this weekend for his birthday. We dropped the kids of at my parents, and had just a fantastic weekend. Great food (fish for me, steak for him), a movie, a hot tub... It all makes for a great weekend.

We has a small party for Keith at my parents on Sunday when we picked up the boys.

Okay, one joke...
That sure is a lot of candles!

Blowing out the candles!
(Yes, he is holding a calculator. That's my man!)

And then today, his actual birthday, we went bowling as a family, and then went out for ice cream. (Oh, I miss ice cream...) And the evening went wonderfully. Just a great way to spend a birthday.

I just want everyone to know how much I love my husband. This shouldn't be a mushy, romantic post, since this should be about Keith, but I can't really help it.

Millcreek Canyon, Again

What can I say? This is such a beautiful place, and so easy to get to that it is always my first choice when the urge to get out of the valley strikes.

Mill Creek

This time, the reason was fall leaves. Autumn is so short in Utah, that I want every opportunity to enjoy the changing leaves that I can.

The start of the adventure

Before my Grandma Ethel died (18 years ago), I remember going up Millcreek Canyon in the fall. Despite the fact that she was very ill and weak at the time, we made huge piles of fallen leaves and jumped into them off the picnic tables. It was one of my last memories of her.


I keep worrying that I will miss the autumn leaves, since it is October already. But when we got up the canyon, the leaves were perfect. There were still plenty of trees that were still green.

Roman immediately started collecting "beautiful" leaves. Before we left, he managed to fill an entire bag with red, yellow, and (his favorite), "rainbow colored" leaves.

We made a leaf pile under the maples. The boys were a little hesitant at first, but with a little "encouragement" (yes, that's what I'll call it), they were jumping in the leaves.

Blaise is not so sure he wants to get in the leaves

Now, he is thoroughly enjoying it.
So much fun!

Roman in the leaves

The jumping in the leaves rapidly turned into throwing the leaves. Isn't that how it is supposed to go?

Blaise ready to throw leaves

An armful of leaves

Autumn joy!

"Enough of the leaves on the ground,
I'm going up"

It is so much fun to be able to get out and enjoy the seasons.

Family Carving

My grandma (Roman and Blaise's great-grandmother!) came to visit us from Portland over the weekend. I was excited, since I haven't seen her since May.

It was cold and rainy during the weekend, making outdoor activities out of the question.

What a gorgeous view from the front door!

So, for a family activity on Sunday, my dad decided that we should all carve pumpkins. My dad and grandma picked up the pumpkins on Saturday, and we all met on Sunday for the carving!

Everyone, hard at work on their pumpkins

Papa, lending a helping hand

Christian and Brooks, elbow deep in pulp

Keith, working on his masterpiece

David, just getting started

Okay, first a little background on this. Keith and I first started carving pumpkins (seriously carving pumpkins) about 4 years ago. Before this, there may have been a little, silly, buck-toothed jack-o-lantern sitting on the porch. But after Roman was born, and was old enough to notice, we have taken to visiting a pumpkin patch each year (will post when that happens). And then, we carve!

Over the years, the designs have become more elaborate. Keith has become the master carver. He is amazingly artistic and talented when it comes to carving pumpkins. I never let him get away with saying he isn't artistic anymore. He gets more adventurous every year. (although the best templates have been removed from the internet for copy right purposes which is absolutely ridiculous. Don't get me started.)

We did try to keep it simple with the family. After all, we were outnumbered 3 to 1 with children under 10.

No one said it was going be be clean!
After all, we cleaned out at least 8 pumpkins!

Everyone made their own designs, as well, which made this extra unique, challenging, and fun! We decided that the little kids "sponsored" a pumpkin, since they told me what they wanted on their pumpkin, I drew the design, and then cut it out. But of course, it is their pumpkin.

Here is the finished work for the evening!

Galilee's Pumpkin: Haunted house
This was as scary as I could make it.

Keith thinks my "haunted houses" look like "Who houses"
(from the Grinch who stole Christmas)


Gwendolyn's Pumpkin: Haunted House
She also wanted a haunted house.
I'm not sure the effect is any scarier here.


Grace's Pumpkin: A Fairy
I was rather proud of how this turned out.


Ariana's Pumpkin: A ballerina

I had no hand in the rest of the designs. I give all credit to the appropriate "artists."

Trelawney's Pumpkin: A Fairy
This was Trelawney's original design.
She drew the picture, and helped carve it out
(with only minimal help!)


Mercy's Pumpkin: Les Miserables
Mercy developed this stencil from one of
her own drawings!
(Okay, she did require just a little help from Keith on the carving)

I will admit that the best pumpkin of the evening does not go to Keith (although this is the first year Keith has drawn his own stencil.) This pumpkin also belongs to Roman, since he sat and watched Keith draw the design, and then punched all the transfer holes.

Keith's and Roman's Pumpkin: Batman, Dark Knight
The letters didn't show up as much as we would have liked.
Maybe we'll try again.


Brooks' Pumpkin: The Grim Reaper
This was very impressive.
Admittedly, he did "steal" the picture from one of
Christian's original drawings,
Brooks did make the stencil and carve it single-handedly.


Christian's Pumpkin: Dragon
I think this won for the evening.
Christian is definitely the most artistic in our family.
This dragon is his own design, and the execution of the
carving is fantastic!

Great fun. I will add more pictures after we have our family pumpkin patch trip. I can't promise that we will top what has already been done.

But we love a dare!

Children's Museum

So the rain has come.

Although I would like to believe that this is just a temporary blip in the weather, the fact that it is now October makes me think that I should really come to terms with reality.

Winter is coming.

Which begins the difficulty of finding afternoon and weekend activities for the boys when the weather is cold and wet.

Today was easy. We went to the Children's Museum. For my last birthday, Keith gave me one of the best presents: a membership to the children's museum. Now we can spend as much time there, as often as we want, without wincing at the ticket price each time.

I love the children's museum. (I still think that the best one I've been to so far is the one in Portland, OR. But the one here is great, especially compared to the old one in North Salt Lake.) No one tells the boys to be quiet, not to run around, and there is no end of activities. It is always crowded, but there is still plenty to do.

First, of course, is the bee hive with the balls. It is usually hard to pull the boys away from this part. (Not that I blame them; I would stay there, feeding balls into the air chutes and watching them twist upwards forever, if the other kids would just let me.)











Playing with balls

Turn the wheel, watch the balls go...

Next, the place to dress up and pretend, and play in the water. Every time we play in the water, Roman wears a water apron, and there is NO convincing Blaise that he should (even though who needs one is reversed.)

Blaise feeding a bunny carrots


Roman rock climbing


Howdy, Mom

Building a ball maze.
It's hard to tell who is having more fun,
Roman or Keith?

Building with blocks and splashing in the water

It is such a magical place. What a great way to spend a rainy day.

Another Week

This week has passed very normally.

Nothing exciting, nothing dramatic (I know that this is a stark contrast to what is going on in the real world, but that is another story altogether.)

Every nice, sunny, warm day I worry is our last before the cold weather starts. Thus, we have spent nearly ever afternoon and evening outside, soaking up the warmth. Summer has really soaked into my blood this year. I'm hoping it is enough to last at least until January.

We spent one afternoon at Wheeler Farm. The picnic ground was full of geese, and as we walked past, heading to the ponds, holding our bag of bread, the geese spied us. Suddenly, we were surrounded! Roman and Blaise were afraid of the geese (not that I blame them. They were the same height, and geese can be a little aggressive.) So they stood on a bench and threw bread to their large, honking audience.

Okay, Blaise doesn't really like to have his picture taken.

Roman and Blaise with their audience of geese

This week, Blaise also discovered dandelions. It was so darling to watch him sitting in the grass, a fist full of white dandelions, blowing them across the grass, giggling.

Blowing Dandelions

I've started a new class, a month of Public Health. It takes me out of the clinic and puts me back in the classroom. That means that the schedule is much more forgiving. The subject matter is very interesting, since public health speaks to my passion for the care of under-privileged populations. But I think that I'm done with busy works, and reflection papers, and such.

The interview requests continue to come in. I think I have seven now. Scheduling what hopefully will be about 20 interviews all over the country over a two month period is suddenly getting very stressful. I had my first schedule conflict today. But I'm not going to stress about it over the weekend.

It can wait for Monday.

A sweet, peaceful moment

Biggest Show on Earth

We took Roman and Blaise to the circus on Saturday.

I remember going when I was a little girl. I'm not sure where I went (Barnum and Bailey?, Circus Circus? I'm not sure), and I'm not sure who took me (my parents, my grandmother, my grandfather, I can't remember). But I still remember the magic: the acrobats, the music, the horses.

It's wonderful to be able to give our boys the same wonderful memories that we have. Of course, Roman has been excited since he found out we were going about a month ago. Blaise probably would have been excited, if he really understood what a circus was.

It was great fun. Roman laughing at the clowns, gasping appropriately at the trapeze artists. Blaise squealing over the animals and the lights. (Although Roman did get scared every time they turned out the lights, and Blaise's great mood only lasted until intermission and the elephants.)

Ready for the show to start

Having tons of fun

I can't think of anything better to take the boys to. It was fast paced and loud. Nobody told us to quiet the boys.

Personally, my favorite part was the aerialists. Roman's favorite was the acrobat who walked across monkeybars on the ceiling with his feet. Blaise's favorite was the elephants. I think Keith's favorite was the motorcycles in the metal cage. It was all great fun. And hopefully the boys will have great memories.

Enjoy the video clips from the circus (Sorry, the sound is terrible, but the pictures are great!)

The Show Begins!

My Favorite Part (Aerialists)

The Cage

Acrobats


The Elephants are here!

Cascade Springs

I love fall.


And there is no better way to enjoy it than a day up the canyons.

View towards Sundance

We wandered a little bit further this time, up to Cascade Springs on the Alpine Loop. There was a forest fire there in 2003, which there is still plenty of evidence of, but the springs are still just as beautiful as ever. There were areas that still looks the same as they did when I was a little girl.

Views of waterfalls

More waterfalls

We went with Grandma, Aunt Auralee, and the little girls. The weather was perfect, the leaves just starting to unfold their autumnal glory, and the children happy. Roman and Galilee spent the time gathering up all the "beautiful leaves." And Blaise, yes, threw rocks (and leaves and sticks) in the water.

Blaise, doing his best to fall in

All the children (well, almost)

Now, there's everyone: Mom, Auralee
Roman, Galilee, Spring, Laurelei, Grace,
And Blaise

It was very relaxing to enjoy the start of a new season with people I love. And to share a place I love with my boys.

What a darling!

More handsome every day!