Camping in Idaho

Last Thursday, the girls and I went to Southern Idaho to camp with our CHI adoption group. I felt like quite the outdoors woman, putting up the tent with only the girls (mostly Olivia) to help. We ended up having a GREAT time and loved the campground and enjoyed the company of other families who've adopted from China.

It's so good to see all the cute little children having fun together and it's also good for the parents to be able to talk to other parents who've adopted. I was especially impressed by a couple who are in their fifties who adopted 3 adorable girls after their 2 adult children had moved on. Even though it wasn't a popular choice, they did what they felt in their hearts was right for them. That takes real courage! But now, they've bleen blessed with these three beautiful girls to fill their lives once again with the laughter of little children. They are great parents.

Kirk is off to Startalk Chinese Language Camp!

Outside the apartments

Kirk will share this apartment with 3 other students.

Today we took Kirk down to BYU for a 3 1/2 week "intensive language learning experience". It is a camp for high school students and has 63 attending with 20 different states represented. Evidently, it is well known as a fantastic program that is in its 3rd year at BYU. The Chinese language is one of the critical languages according to our government, so they provide funding for these students to learn Chinese in hopes they will have excellent language skills at a young age.

Isaac, Kirk's cousin has been a top students at the Arabic camp at BYU and is staying in Jordan this summer continuing his studies. I guess our boys are blessed with learning languages.

Heading home...

On our way home, we stopped at the lake at Grand Teton National Park for a picnic lunch. (Our 5 plus 3 of Doug and Cheryl's boys are shown.)

We had a fantastic time visiting Yellowstone! It was fun being with our family and hiking every day. I still don't have the pictures downloaded from Mike's laptop, but hopefully I can add those soon.

Wind and Rain

We went to a few places today, but in reference to my title...
My brother's tent had a few technical problems while being here. Monday while we were out at Yellowstone, there was a windstorm and it broke two of his tent posts. We were able to use some duct tape and tent pegs to splint them, but they aren't quite what they were. So, the past couple of days he has broken his tent down while we were out. So, of course, today it rained and a tent on the ground without the rain fly taut has water problems. He had to take most of their bedding to a laundromat in town and we've been using the machines here at the KOA for quite a while. The kids are around the fire we built and I'm outside using the power outlet and freezing my fingers just to do this. I have the pictures on my computer, but I'm not ready to take the time to upload them yet. We have some really good pictures of bison, elk, and bears. But they may just have to wait until we get home at this point. I'm not used to such a slow connection and I think I'd be out here until tomorrow morning before anything actually uploaded.

Doug and his family are leaving tomorrow and we may leave tomorrow or the next day for the Grand Tetons. Or home. Whichever hits our fancy.

All for now. Too tired of waiting for my battery to recharge and it's really cold now.

Edit: Hear are some photos and a video. Enjoy:

Day 1 report

We went on the lower loop yesterday and had a great time. We saw a lot of animals and if I can upload the buffalo video, it was cool. A large herd on both sides of the road. I'll let the pictures tell much of the story of yesterday also.

A couple of notes, we saw the dragon's lair cave that Eliza and Stephenie really liked. It makes odd noises and steam just comes out along with some water in a stream. You could believe a dragon lived in there.

Also, Grace talked a little about last summer and the earthquake in China. We asked if this was her first time in a tent and she told us no... She lived in a tent after the earthquake for much of the summer. She told how they felt the earthquake and then "pretended" that the school fell down and the housing was destroyed. I think they weren't too sure if there were going to be aftershocks or what. This is one of the first things she's really talked about of her life in China. I think her language skills are getting so much better that she can tell us things easier now.

To Isaac in Jordan-- We're all having a great time and wish you were with us. Have a great time there and come back to tell us everything.

For everyone else, Isaac is my nephew who is living in Jordan (and other places) this Summer. We are camping with his family here in Yellowstone. So, if you see an interesting flag on the list, it may be that he looked at our blog.

Video of Buffalo crossing the road. Why? To get to the other side, of course! If you watch in the mirror near the end, you may notice the Park Ranger trying to get people back in their cars. More injuries are caused by "interactions" with the buffalo than anything else.

In West Yellowstone

We left after church today for Yellowstone and we got here a couple of hours ago. The tent has been setup and the kids are cooking hotdogs over the fire. Everyone is happy and we plan on having a really good time. We are going into the park tomorrrow morning and hopefully take some pictures.

It's cool to be outside by the tent with my laptop and hitting the Internet from the KOA. It seems odd to be "roughing it" and also be connected at the same time.

I have the cables for the camera, so maybe I'll be able to upload them tomorrow night. As long as I have power. I guess I can hook up to the power at the office or maybe near one of the cabins.

Enough for now!

Happy Fourth of July!

Happy 4th of July!!!!!

Olivia and her rose...she's so proud of it!

Yes, like everyone else, I've been to busy to blog much! We've recently had the upstairs carpet cleaned and added a new carpet to our office downstairs. It wouldn't have been so much work, but we'd used that as kind of a storage room for years. Next, we are going camping soon to Yellowstone! I wonder what Grace will think of sleeping in a tent? We've tried to prepare her, but this will be our first time away from home since she came home from China. I think she'll be fine, but I do expect some whining when we go hiking. She's good at that!


Have a great weekend everyone!

Birthday Girl!

Grace's friends from school had a pool party with her in the afternoon.
Grace loved being with her school friends and her two neighbor friends, Laura and Alyssa.

Family party with her awesome cake from Costco! (No extra charge to personalize it and choose how to decorate it.)

Grace has been excited about her birthday for several months. Recently, she would almost daily remind us "June 16th, my birthday!" So we knew that her first birthday with her family had to be special. I bought her a new swimsuit, since she'd been wearing hand-me downs. She LOVES princesses, especially Ariel and Snow White, so I had to go to the Disney store for that! I went to Target and found fun things in the dollar section for her friend's treat bags. Grandma Carol and I found her a couple of summery dresses and I finally found her a pair of decent shoes (she has small narrow feet and has been wearing cheap sandals from Children's Place for quite a while). We also went to her favorite Chinese restaurant for lunch. She was definitely princess for the day!

Don't let the language barrier scare you!

The other 4th graders in Grace's class

(they also had 3rd graders who came in at the earlier schedule

and left early the day I took this picture)

Grace and her teacher, Mrs. Donithorne

One of the worries we had of adopting an older child was the language barrier. I really was nervous about not being able to communicate with our new daughter. This proved to be short-lived. Another issue was how she would do at school. It couldn't have been better actually!

Grace had the perfect first school experience this year. I was worried about so many things: Would she be accepted? Would the other children treat her nicely? Would it be too hard? Did we choose the right class? Since she was only in 2nd grade in China, I wasn't sure about putting her into 4th grade here but it turned out to be the perfect choice! Her class has been so good to her and now she has many friends. They all took her under their wing and have been so sweet. What more could you ask for?


We can't believe how fast she has learned English. We were expecting her to learn fairly quickly, as most children can, but she has just amazed us! Now our concern is her keeping her Chinese skills. She really doesn't want to speak Chinese anymore even when Kirk talks to her in Chinese. I keep reminding her to respond back to him in Chinese, but I can tell she really doesn't want to.


Hopefully she can continue to improve her English this summer and be better prepared for 5th grade this next fall. She is also reading some and I hope to help her improve in that area as well over the summer.

I can't believe it's over!

Olivia with her class and teacher, Miss Adams (it was so fun to have her teacher come!)

Zach's "roller coaster" story (it made one of his friends laugh so hard, he fell off the chair!)

Zach starts the relay...oops, there's the start!

The Cowgirls: Olivia and her friend Lauren after their dance

The Brides: Grace (right in the middle) dancing with her class

Yes, we made it through the last week of school! It's always a rather melancholy time for me, as I realize my children are moving on and growing older. Both Kirk and Zach are making big jumps next year. Kirk heads to high school as a 10th grader, 9th was still at the jr. high here and Zach leaves elementary school to head to the jr. high! It all seems to happen at once.

We did some fun things this week to celebrate the end of school though. Both elementary schools hold "dance festivals" and "field day". Each grade gets together and learns a fun dance. Field day is fun with lots of races, relays and goodies for sale.

Memorial Day Memories...

Last year about this time, we were in Washington, D.C. and visited Arlington National Cemetery. It really makes you stop and consider all the brave men and women who have lost their lives fighting for our country. I'm so grateful to all of them who made our country a place where I can raise my family in the "land of the free". We truly are blessed to live in this country.

I'm currently reading a series about the Revolutionary War, called "Prelude to Glory" by Ron Carter. It's been good for me to remember the early history of our country and learn more details of the people and the battles they fought at that time.

Hope you all have a wonderful holiday full of fond memories of your own!

Thanksgiving Point

Everyone loves to roll down this hill!

Well, our family had a wonderful time visiting the beautiful Thanksgiving Point Gardens up in Lehi. I wanted to share the beautiful pictures we took.

Look at Zachary! Naughty Boy!

These girls are as cute as can be! The tulip festival leads to great pictures!

Isn't this a beautiful picture of the tulips? This garden has a lovely French sounding name.

-By Kirk and Steph

Our Beautiful Blossom!

I know I'm her mother, and have a soft-spot for our little one, but I look at Eliza and am amazed at her beauty! I am a bit worried it might go to her head, since Kirk is always telling her she is the most beautiful and adorable little girl "in the whole world". She usually tells him "go away!" when he says that but she loves him and is his shadow whenever he is at home. Thank goodness Kirk is so patient, probably more so than I am!

She wore her new dress that Grandma Carol bought for her to church on Sunday, so I had to get a few pictures of her in it. This was one of the few sunny days we've had lately, so I was lucky that it was nice on Sunday afternoon.

I Love To See The Temple!

( Zachary took this amazing picture of the Draper Temple)

Friday April 17th 2009

Yesterday was a very special day for our family! Grace became part of our "forever family" as we gathered at the temple for her sealing.

More on Temples:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLXYxmaHWQs

Lovely Easter Weekend!

We enjoyed a beautiful Easter Sunday. The weather was perfect for hunting for eggs and eating lunch outside. Olivia, Eliza and Zach were all sick, so they stayed home from church. After church, we all went outside and enjoyed the afternoon together.

Olivia managed to go to one day of school (the week before Easter Sunday) but she came down with some kind of a flu. She had a bad cough, headache, and stomach ache, with a fever. Then Eliza came down with it and had a temperature over 104'! It was not a fun week but they felt a little better on Easter.

This week was spring break but it was more like winter break! We had a huge snowstorm with about 8" of snow here in the valley. The kids went out and played in it on Thursday morning. Unfortunately, the poor flowering trees in the area were damaged pretty badly. There are broken branches and fallen trees all over the place. That's spring in Utah for you!

"Much Ado About Nothing"

(Zach is on the left in the cape)

The tragic wedding scene!

Today, Eliza and I went to see Zach in the 6th grade's production of "Much Ado About Nothing". I'm glad we went because there was a bit of a surprise. One of the lead characters was sick, so Zach ended up with a main part (Claudio) in addition to his other 2 parts (Shakespeare and the scribe)!

He did a fantastic job and saved the day. His class was very happy he could fill in and do so well at the last minute. The teacher announced to the audience what had happened and that Zach would have to use a script but you could hardly tell otherwise. I guess it was a first for his teacher, but Zach was the right person for the situation!

Grace's choir concert:

On Tuesday night, Grace had her chance to sing with the school choir. She has LOVED going to choir each Thursday after school. It was easy too, since two of her best friends from class were in the choir as well and would walk with her to the music room for practice. Her gift of learning songs really was impressive. She knew each one perfectly! Eliza and I saw the daytime performance, so I have a couple of pictures from that, but Kirk took pictures that night for the "real" concert.