One Evening in September....

I am always so sad about summer ending that I forget how much I love fall.  Every September, I am reminded that this time of year is nothing short of perfection.  Warm, sunny days - cool, crisp nights and leaves changing colors before my eyes, pretty much equals Heaven.

So often we are so busy this time of year that we don't get to take full advantage of this season - but on Tuesday we found ourselves with a free night and took the chance to go on a family hike and enjoy this amazing weather.

We just went up Neff's Canyon (only ten minutes from our house) where we enjoyed the warm autumn sunshine, leaves just starting to change, and incredible views of the city below.

(I was especially impressed with Henry's courage to leave our home wearing 

a BYU t-shirt just four days after the disastrous BYU/Utah game.)

After a fun little hike, we reached a great spot where we could stop and eat dinner and the kids took turns swinging on  a huge rope swing.  

The kids had a blast - but as usual, it was all fun and games until this:

Turned into this:

Yes, two broken wrists later, the hike was over and it was time to come home.  Isaac has been a trooper - no complaining, no crying and he even insisted on having his piano lesson two days later.  

Even with an injury, I still came away from the hike feeling like this time of year is pretty darn close to heaven here in Utah and we're lucky we get to enjoy it.

Peter's First Day of Preschool

Peter started preschool last week - just two and half weeks after everyone else started.

It was a long time for this boy to wait.  Sure, we did our best to fill up his days with worthwhile activities - like bike rides, trips to the grocery store, the library, trips to Costco and even an occasional  trip to Target.  Somehow, despite our best efforts, it just wasn't enough.  Peter needed more.

A few days before school started, he came to me and said,  "Mom, I really think I'm ready to be in school."

Yes, it was time and it was a happy day when school finally started.

It was all smiles when I dropped him off at the school and he marched into his classroom confident and happy to be there.   And he was still smiling when I picked him up after school.  He was even smiling while his teacher told me that he had broken out into hives on the playground.  What?  

Peter is unfazed by hives or anything else.  School has started and he is happy to be there.

While I miss having my little buddy to run errands with, I am so glad he gets to go to school and learn from great teachers and make friends with so many cute kids.  

I love this boy.   I love it when we're driving to school and he looks out his window and says, "Look at those beautiful mountains.  We are so lucky to live here!" I love driving home from school with him when he tells me about his day - who was nice, what he learned, and what songs they sang.  I love his observations of the world and his constant questions.  There is nothing better than a four year old boy and let me tell you, I am loving mine. 

Ten Years Later...

I have been really emotional all weekend as I have watched television coverage of the events of ten years ago.  As I have watched footage and listened to the stories of those who were touched by it, I have been surprised by the raw emotions that come so easily to the surface.  It has been hard to watch, but I have been grateful to remember and to talk about it and share memories of that time with my children.

We sang all three verses of the Star Spangled Banner in church today and cried through the whole thing.  I was filled with memories and emotions of that day, but even more so, I was filled with deep gratitude for this country we live in.

Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light

What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?

Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,

O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?

And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,

Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.

Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,

Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,

What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,

As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?

Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,

In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:

'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand

Between their loved home and the war's desolation!

Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land

Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.

Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,

And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."

And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!