FIrst Day of School and Some Face Painting

Last week Trent and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary on September 3. We went to this awesome BBQ place in Layton (we are lovers of fine smokehouse's) called Holy Smoke BBQ. Then we went to see a musical comedy at the Rogers Memorial Theater called "Lucky Stiff". The singing was great and we lauged a lot--just what we wanted. On our way home from the date (and while stopping at Coldstone) we were reminiscing and trying to remember all the musicals we have seen in our 7 years together. We counted 21 in all.

One we actually saw on Broadway in NYC (42nd Street--it was awesome), and we drove to Denver to see the Broadway National Touring Company do "Wicked". Then in Salt Lake we've seen the National Touring Companies do " The Producers", "Annie" (actually that was in Phoenix), "Riverdance" (so cool!), and "Miss Saigon" (loved it). The rest that we've seen have been community theater--but in Utah, that's pretty much near professional. Our favorites (a lot done by Hale Centre and Center Street Musical Theater) have been "Pirates of Penzance", "The Secret Garden", "Jekyll and Hyde", "Les Mis: School Edition", "The Scarlett Pimpernell", "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat", "Into the Woods" (twice), "The Mikado", "Oklahoma", and "Pride and Prejudice." (Okay, Curtis and Jenni, how many of those shows were YOU in?!) The ones that were kind of forgettable were "Guys and Dolls" (we saw it too close to seeing 42nd Street on Broadway), "I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change", and "The Garden." So if you count "Lucky Stiff", that's twenty-one shows in all. Phew!! It's a good thing I married someone who likes musical theater!!


This is Cory on Aug.31, 2009. His first day of kindergarten. Clearfield, UT



Cory getting on the bus! He was so big and not scared or hesitant at all--he just hopped right on, waved good-bye to me, and that was it. In fact, I met him at the bus-stop after school was over to walk him home. He told me I didn't need to ever do that again, because he knows where our house is (we are quite close to the bus stop) and he does not need me to come get him. That was the only time all week (with him starting school and all), that I got a little sad!



Cory with Trent on the first day of school.



Cory with Hailey and Karen on his first day of school.




Hailey and Sophie just being really cute one Sunday afternoon in August.

I told Hailey to smile, but not to squint her eyes shut--this is what I got.

Our cute Sophie--6 1/2 months old.

In August, we took the kids to the free Hill Air Force Base Museum. They have a new section that lets the kids dress up like real pilots and sit in the cockpits of some jets. They loved it!

Cory in serious pilot-mode.

Nice helmets, guys!

Cory really wanted to learn how to pound nails in wood, so we got some scrap wood from Trent's dad, and Trent helped Cory build a contraption out of some wood pieces. I think Cory calls it his parking garage for all his Hot Wheels. It even has a ramp! This is what we do on Trent's 7 days off.

This is what happened when I left the face paint out after painting the kids faces. I went to take care of Sophie, and Hailey was so proud at her face-painting job. She was even holding up a hand-mirror (so she said), so that she could make her face "pretty."

This is how Hailey likes to admire herself in the mirror. She's our little fairy. (If you've ever read the Fablehaven series, you'll know what I mean by that comment.)

This is what I actually painted on her face--before she destroyed it.

Some little girl gave her this flower outside one day, and she was quite determined to have it in her hair behind her ear. We're not sure how she knew you could put flowers there, but that sure is where she wanted it!

This is the tiger face I painted on Cory last week. I told him to make a scary tiger face, and that is the expression I got.