David and Kendra

David and Kendra went on a cruise and came back engaged. They are getting married October 6th. Alex is getting married in 10 days. That's two weddings in a month!

Parrish Canyon Hike

We took a Sunday hike up Parrish Canyon. It's less than a mile but it's pretty straight up. I went up to the pictographs and then they boys hiked further. They almost made it to the top of the mountain. I walked back down to the bridge to wait. It was so quiet,the only sounds were the stream and the occasional background noise of a four wheeler.  There were humming birds and dragon flies overhead.

I don't think Nate thought I could make it up the mountain. In Taiwan all the hiking trails are paved so this was different. We should take him on the Patsy Mine hike except I don't want to do that hike again. That was tough!

Watch out, old lady on the mountain.

First week of 5th grade

First day of kindergarten....Blink....First day of 5th grade.

Alika said "he's into hat's now." Hm, he was into hats the first day of school.

No change here. I picked Sean up from school and three friends got in the car with him. Nate got the boys in the yard playing basketball for a bit.

Nate was proud of himself. He cooked. He found a recipe for tomatoes and eggs and with minimal help made a successful meal.

Mao Yu bought a car. She's pretty miserable at school. She has the class that has been a hard class since kindergarten and they have her frustrated. I don't feel like the school or district is giving her much help. She's recreating all the student assignments and lesson plans. The school district is 8 years into immersion which means there are at least 4 years of 4th grade teaching materials and yet no one will share the information.

Balloon Festival

Because of the wind they blew up balloons but never let them go. That was disappointing but we had a fun day at lake and park

We took the tram up Snow Basin. It was much cooler there.

In the evening we went to the concert in the park and the supposed balloon launch. A bunch of Chinese teachers from Davis County were there as well. One of the teachers was dancing so they came to watch.

Nate was pretty tired after his 50 hours of travelling.

Sunday, Monday....

I went to Ogden Sunday for Chases' mission farewell. He's left for the MTC and then the Philippines.  After church I went over to Lynn's with Catherine's family. Brad and Teresa were there. If Teresa hadn't been with Brad I wouldn't have recognized him without his beard and mustache.

Khloe spent a day with me. Her dad started to daycare only to find she had two shoes for the same foot, one of hers and one of Khloe's. He didn't have time to get home and back to daycare and his internship so he dropped her off with me. I was so tired in the morning I had a hard time following his story. We had a fun day playing.

She met Nate. She likes those who like Minnie Mouse.

Sad little yellow boat

Sitting on the shore watching the little yellow boat. Don and Sean spent the night at the lake to watch the balloons launch in the morning. They didn't see any launches because it was too windy. Kyle and the boys spent the night in Eden so Don and Sean had dinner with Catherine's family. Mao Yu and I stayed home. We had an intern coming in from Taiwan and he got stuck in San Francisco for 24 hours so I couldn't pick him up until Friday night. I stayed at the lake until 6 pm and then came home to get to the airport. The flight was delayed again so we didn't get Nate (the intern) home until close to midnight. Khloe had an ice skating performance at 0850 so we went and watched her skate then went up the mountain.

Watching the boat, thinking life is good. Life is still good, but the boat not so much.

The last pull of the season...

The boat being pulled across the lake by another boat so we could take it out of the water. The kids were going out on the towable and the rope got pulled up in the engine. Saturday morning Don and Kyle pulled the engine apart and got the rope out but the boat still won't work. It was a bummer because we had Hoskins and Warehimes all ready to boat. We still had a fun family day but it seemed like a ton of work for minimal fun.

Khloe won third place in her competition. I'm always so proud of that girl

We tied the floats up and the kids played on them. The drag was without the boat we had to haul ALL that stuff we brought down to the lake up the hill.

Sean stepped on a bee and got his first bee sting.

Catherine's grandma Marian came. She made it up and down that steep hill like a trooper.

Hauling all our crap back up the hill.

Sitting around watching kids play in the lake.

Sarah and Caleb were having a blast.

Don got a call on Tuesday after the boat engine incident that our water heater was leaking and damaging the unit below us. It's been an eventful month at the boat house. Don got all the leaks fixed, hopefully it didn't do too much damage below. We will see. They haven't asked for our insurance information yet.

Walk away from the computer

Yesterday Sean and Andrew were excited because they won two back to back Fortnite games. Oh be still my heart. Our goal today was to make him get out of the house and do something. He went to the rec center and swam laps with his dad.

When I was driving him home from the rec center he said "Jennie never gave me her phone number." I told him I had it and asked if he wanted it and he said no. Then he said "what if Jennie lived your life and you lived hers." I said that would be good for Jennie and bad for me. I'm not sure what he was thinking but I'm guessing he's wishing he had the same life and experiences he has but his birth mom woule fit into the equation. Adoption makes for a lot of deep thoughts.

After swimming and deep thinking he got back in front of his Fortnite. School starts in 10 days he's got to get his playing in.

Star Wonder night

Stewart had an activity at Antelope Island for teachers and their families and since we are Mao Yu's family we tagged along. Holy crap the causeway stinks!

This is a picture of the teachers.

After exploring the causeway we walked over to the lake. I went in as deep as I could in shorts. The sun was going down and it was perfect.

Amanda took this "family" picture.