I kinda got out of blogging when my camera was gone for over a month, and now that I've had it back for over a month, it's high time to get back on track!
first painting
Last time, I left off at the beginning of the month with the state fair and Ben's painting. Here is a better picture of it, hanging proudly in the Lego room, next to the piano so he can see it well. I just saw his latest painting last week when I picked him up from class, and he is the real deal. It's incredible, and should be done in the next week or two.
haiku
Although Ben and Jake finally got off to school at the beginning of September, the second week in, Jake had a couple days off for reading evaluations. Just when I was getting used to a bit of solitude. *sigh* We had fun though. Lots of playing, lots of reading, lots of together time. Jake is probably the one I have spent the least amount of one-on-one time with, so it was all good. He has been enthralled with the Magic Tree House series this year. This day he was home we finished reading #37, Dragon of the Red Dawn, and learned about haiku poetry, the shortest form of Japanese poetry, and it's written about simple, everyday things about life or nature. Jake and I spent some time outside trying to come up with our own haiku's about what a beautiful morning it was. We got a little carried away just jumping around on the trampoline.
It was a fun morning, and although we didn't write down any of the haiku poems we came up with, I'll never forget the cool breeze, the warmth of the sun, the birds flying overhead, and that crazy Jake!!
machine gun fire
A few weeks ago we had this crazy wildfire in the hills of Herriman, just west of us, and it was a little too close to home. We saw the smoke in the afternoon, but by nightfall this is what we saw. First picture is courtesy of Julie, taken from her house. Second one is what we saw from our house. WOW! I think only 4 homes burned, but it could have been so much worse. It was called Machine Gun Fire because it was started at a gun training range at Camp Williams, on a hot and very windy afternoon.
mueller park canyon
Our annual visit to the canyon is usually the first weekend in October, but we had a change of plans this year and went in September. It was the warmest outing there we've ever had, but still lots of good times with family...and the food was outstanding, as usual! Thanks to Barry for bringing everything up to the canyon once again. It was worth it.
Grandpa and Grandma Airplane were here visiting us this weekend too,
and joined us in the canyon.
Nathan "rapping" the ABC's!! So cute.
I love these fun women!! (And boys too.) There were some who weren't able to come
who we missed, including Uncle Terry and Aunt Patty (and we missed her
yummy cinnamon rolls!) who are on a mission in Texas.
And that's our September--good times!
Later the same day...Will's other obsession with the Ghostbusters movie is the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. He replays that part of the movie over and over. After his Halloween party at school, Will insisted on making a S.P.M.M. costume. We used our noggins and this is what we came up with. He even slept in it that night, jeans and all.
A couple weeks ago we tried going to this pumpkin patch with the whole fam, but just as we pulled up it was getting dark and it started snowing. On Saturday--yes, the day we celebrate Halloween here in Utah when it falls on a Sunday (it took me a while to explain that one to my Vietnamese neighbor!)--Jake and I went back to the patch, and most of the pumpkins looked like this. We found a couple pumpkins to take home, but it took us a while to find them! 
The boys were excited to put on their costumes again to go up to Grandma and Grandpa Train's house on Sunday afternoon. Not only did they get full-size Hershey's, but dinner too. Ben was Ben Franklin, Jake was a grim reaper, and then there was mr. buster himself. These guys are the cutest things ever--we'll keep 'em!! 
We figured we were in the clear when Kevin Eubank, our local NBC meteorologist, took off his white coat and chose to wear his dark suit coat for the 10pm weather Tuesday night, but this is what we woke up to Wednesday morning. It was beautiful and a mess all at the same time. Seriously, though?! 
It was a fun morning, and although we didn't write down any of the haiku poems we came up with, I'll never forget the cool breeze, the warmth of the sun, the birds flying overhead, and that crazy Jake!! 
A few weeks ago we had this crazy wildfire in the hills of Herriman, just west of us, and it was a little too close to home. We saw the smoke in the afternoon, but by nightfall this is what we saw. First picture is courtesy of Julie, taken from her house. Second one is what we saw from our house. WOW! I think only 4 homes burned, but it could have been so much worse. It was called Machine Gun Fire because it was started at a gun training range at Camp Williams, on a hot and very windy afternoon. 
