Summer Days....

Emma and cousins Josh and Jonah on the 4th of July.


And the rear view....

Emma had her first visit to the dentist a couple of weeks ago. All went well and she was a hit with the two dental assistants, who plied her with stickers and plastic jewelry. The dentist, an earnest fellow, gave us many helpful pointers. He stressed the importance of proper nutrition and looked genuinely taken aback when he asked what Emma's diet consisted of and Joe answered, "Mostly Slim Jims and Mountain Dew." "Well, YOU get the Father of the Year award," he retorted. (He's a kidder, doc...)

Good thing the dentist didn't see Emma on this day, post-grape sucker.

The summer is flying by. It's hot. Our electric bill is high and 'twill be higher yet next month. Emma is growing taller; her head barely clears the underside of the kitchen island counter and I plan to note in my journal the day she bumps into it. (Ouch; poor honey)

We've had a busy and social couple of weeks. Two of Joe's out-of-town siblings and families have been in town recently and we've had lots of family get-togethers. Was fun to have Uncle Mike stay with us for a night last week. We ate chocolate Dunford donuts and watched a DVD about 9/11 conspiracy theories. Good times.

On the 4th Emma experienced the Kaysville 4th of July parade. She was equal parts bewildered and fascinated. What in the world are all these people marching down the street for...? Then the fire trucks drove by and sprayed all the kids with water. She hung on to me tight but didn't complain; it was hot and the water felt good.

Aunt Laurie and family are now in town and it's fun to see the Illinois cousins.

Last night my folks treated my sister Barbie and me and some of her kids to a night at the theatuh -- Les Miz at Pioneer Memorial. A half hour into the show -- pop! the lights went out -- right in the middle of the brothel scene! The actors froze on stage, then scampered off. The power outage lasted for about an hour; the director came out and gave us periodic updates and said if the lights didn't come back on by 9:00 we'd all go home. At 8:55, bing! they came back on, to enthusiastic applause. Oh goody. I saw Lez Miz about 20 years ago and very much wanted to see it again. Great production. Thanks, mom and dad!...

Emma is doing great. She had an assessment by the DDI Vantage early intervention folks last week to see if she's eligible for speech help (because of her delayed start with English), but she tested too high. She's either at or above her age level in every developmental category except expressive speech, which they estimated was only about 3 months behind a native-born speaker, so that ain't bad. Way to pick up a new language, Em.

Thanks for checking in. Sorry we're not frequent posters, but we'll still do the periodic updates.