Los Valles

this is mostly for Grandma Maggie, unless there are other art lovers out there. Helaman still says he’s going to be an artist when he grows up, and he really does love drawing. Right now his favorite is drawing in Paint on the computer, though there are notebooks all over our house covered in Jack-o-lanters and ghosts, too.

You can click on any of the picture to see them in more detail and read about them.

Helaman is playing soccer for the first time this season, and I’m his coach. He’s so far, unimpressed, but seems to be having fun in his don’t move around a lot way. We’ll see…

Fernando came to play with us for Labor Day. It was lots of fun having him here. The boys follow him around and complete for his attention, and he is so good and patient with them. We learned a lot about being calm and thinking they are funny instead of being annoyed from Fernando in those two days. That and he spoils them silly. He brought toys and took them to Wal-Mart to get more toys while he was here. They were very very happy!

Omar is always really happy to spend time with is brother. They went for a ride on Monday and had lots of fun with their big boy toys. We can’t wait until he comes back!

Why oh why can I not make cookies!  They always turn into this weird flat mess with chocolate chips sticking up out of them. I HATE making cookies! They come out of the oven all puffy and normal looking, and as they cool…. phtttt.

I’ve tried using crisco, margarine, butter… no help!  I don’t use a hot pan, I get a new cold one every time. What else? Any ideas?

In August the fires in L.A. filled the sky with smoke. Even the mountains were completely the blocked, and the sun was a crazy orange that you could stare right at and not go blind. (That’s for you, Bill). I was really happy when the wind came for once, and we could see the sky again.

Helaman started preschool again in August. He’s at a new school and he LOVES it there. And his teachers love him, which makes a huge difference for me. (When daddy gave him a blessing on the first day of school, that was one of the things he blessed him with. I’m so grateful for that man!) The learning here is really self-directed, and he can go at his own pace working on things he is interested in. It’s a perfect fit for my little man.

Isaiah had a hard time the first few days, he really missed his brother. But we are always so busy, he hasn’t had a lot of time to mope about it.

Sometimes we worried that we hadn’t done the right thing keeping him out of kindergarten, but he’s doing so well, we are very reassured. We always knew it was what we were supposed to do, but it’s still so comforting to that he’s so happy and it’s all working well. I’m so proud of my little preschooler, who is flourishing, and doing so fantastically!

My boys have been such good friends lately. I just love watching them play together. They are so different, but they love each other so much and have so much fun together. A couple of goof balls!