Baby elephant, giraffe, and tigers – September 27, 2009

The zoo has babies!

…. And my favorite…. the male tiger! Oh my!! I’ve never seen him so active. He was roaring at the baby tigers. He is huge and incredibly beautiful!

Unexplainable

I was cleaning the house and wiping down the furniture and mirrors when I was a little startled by the face that was looking at me in the mirror, and it wasn’t my own.

Red Bud Tree

I’m always looking for new plants, shrubs, trees, and whatever else I can find to make our yard beautiful. I’ve wanted a Red Bud tree for a long time and I finally got one! For our fifth anniversary (which was in December 2008) Isik promised me my tree, he got it and planted it for me today.

Under our new tree is the final resting place of my very beloved friend, Laja.

I look forward to the beautiful magenta blooms in the spring and the red-green leaves in the summer.

Baby Elizabeth

Our friends, Billy and Shannen, lost their baby at 22 weeks gestation. Unfortunately the doctors were unable to stop Shannen from going into labor, and the doctors say Elizabeth’s heart beat twice after coming into this world.

Today was Elizabeth’s funeral. Her father painted her little casket, so she would have somewhere beautiful to rest. What a heartbreaking experience for their family and friends. But I cannot imagine the pain Billy and Shannen experienced.

Our hearts are breaking for Billy and Shannen and we grieve with them.

End of Summer 2009

For the last “real” weekend of summer we went to Raging Waters for the day. This is one of our favorite summer hang outs. We pack the cooler with drinks and sandwiches, claim our spot amongst the shade of the trees and play in the water and sun all day.

Sam is getting more confident in the water and going down the slides. He rode one of the big slides by himself!

10th Grade

Austin starts 10th grade tomorrow. WOW! It truly is unbelievable for me to think that I will have a high-schooler in my house! He is going to NUAMES in Layton. After attending orientation on Thursday and getting his schedule, it makes me want to go back to high school.

They put so much responsibility onto the kids, which is the way it should be. There will be no coddling. They can have their cell phones, imagine that. Obviously they are expected to use them properly. But that is just one of the ways the school shows the students they are responsible and are expected to be responsible.

He is taking Health, Pre-Calculas, Engineering, Biology, English, Spanish, World Civ, and Lifetime Activities. His Pre-Calc teacher is also a University Professor. All of his teachers are fairly young and they all seem to care about the students, unlike MANY teachers we've had for the past 10 years.

I'm really looking forward to this great opportunity he has. I'm hoping he takes advantage of the opportunity because the results will be amazing!

Mueller Park Canyon

Austin, Sam, Roscoe, and I went hiking up Mueller Park Canyon above our house to watch the sunset. We are blessed to live in such a beautiful place, with incredible views.

This was a HUGE slug! YUCK!!

Austin looking at tree fungi

If you ask Sam what happened, he’ll tell you a bear scratched him.