lights

Sunday evening we drove to Salt Lake City. Sam wanted to take pictures of the temple for his photojournalism assignment.  We arrived just as the Christmas fireside was starting so it was too crowded to park.  I dropped Sam off and he went in to Temple Square to take pictures.

We circled around, picked up Sam and then the rest of the kids wanted a turn. So Grandma Martha agreed to take the whole group while I drove around  the city again. I didn't know there was an ice skating rink by the Marriott.  Caitlin loves to ice skate...we'll have to do that sometime.

Monday I brought home a Christmas tree. We spent the evening cleaning and decorating the house.

We got a surprise visit from some friends from the ward.  They knew our townhouse has no coat closet so we had a big pile of coats in our stairwell.  They came to our rescue with a drill and coat hooks. We love the new system.

We're grateful for friends.

finally six

Tuesday morning, August 18, the first thing Mary said to Olivia was "You're finally six!" We started off with the traditional birthday morning favorite cereal buffet. Olivia loves Waffle Crisps.
I went in in to ISB with cupcakes for Olivia's classmates. Mrs. Chapman and the class sang in English and Chinese.

In the evening, we had a family dinner with Olivia's favorites, pigs-in-a-blanket, and macaroni and cheese and beans (the Boston-baked kind) and jello jigglers.

Sam insisted on making the cake. Olivia showed him one she liked from the Pink Princess Cookbook that Auntie Annie gave her this summer. Sam worked all afternoon and evening. He is a terrific older brother.

Of course, there was the present-opening-chaos. Our big present to Olivia was a new bike. I should have a picture.

Saturday August 22, Olivia had her friend party at the Ice Zone skating rink here at River Garden.



It was Caitlin's first time ice skating. Mary was excited to help her. She showed her how to use the cones to hold herself up.