"Do Bow-ing"

One particular date night turned family night was a real hit with David. He loved the lights, the ball, the fact that we "take turns," the special shoes--he's been begging for more since we introduced him to "bow-ing."

A few times we have improvised by setting up plastic containers in our family room and using a big soft ball to knock them over. It holds the little guy over, but David is very excited for the next time we head into a bowling alley.

The Boy and His Puppy

On Christmas morning the second gift out of the wrapping was a little puppy that wagged, barked, and walked.

 We had to beg David to open more gifts after this because he thought he had the world by the tail with his new furry friend.

 In a sense, he did. Sometimes the puppy wagged his tail while David cuddled it. Other times David held onto the tail and let the whole body wag.

A friend in the ward offered to trade us for a day--her little yapping dog for David's Christmas dog. I'm sure that offer would have tempted David, but it didn't tempt me. I'm glad David is so content with his new little pet. And I'm happy that it doesn't need to be fed or cleaned up after. It's a win-win for this house!

Happy Birthday to Me

Once we were home, our first order of business was to celebrate my birthday--Japanese style at a grill.

You know you're going to have a good time at Benihana's when the cook emerges from the kitchen with a nametag that says "Happy" on it. And his first order of business was to call the manager over, pretending like the grill wasn't heating up. Boss man fell for it, and came over to put his hand on top of a perfectly hot grill. And Happy thought he was the funniest thing for pulling that prank! He made the shrimp dance on the grill and he did a few dances himself. From there, he went on to dump the mushrooms on the grill, and with his thick accent he asked the hungry crowd, "You like fungai?" Then he turned to me and asked, pointing to Sam, "Is he a fun guy?"

And all of that was in the first five minutes. The fun kept going for the whole meal.

The best part was that they brought me a buddha statue at the end, and sang happy birthday with a bowl of shebert.

Four Years

Our anniversary lends itself to an exciting and fun date night every year. No problem here with finding things to do! This year we went to Outback Steakhouse (yum . . . we went there on our honeymoon, and as my self-proclaimed fiscally conservative and student husband paid the bill, he said, "We won't be back here for another 50 years! I hope you enjoyed your meal." Well, good news. We somehow managed to make it back in four years.)

We left the restaurant just in time to head downtown and see the fireworks. We missed half the show while looking for a parking spot--but the noise was impressive! And by the time we were close enough to see, we still had 15-minutes of explosives to enjoy. That was just enough time for my fingers and toes, standing in the 8 degree chill. Which, by the way, was 30 degrees warmer than last year's fireworks show, so we picked a good year to stand in the cold.

As a side note, Fourth of July in Anchorage has a few fireworks--but not too many, considering you have to wait until at least midnight for dusk to fall. So this town saves the big show for New Year's Eve. Plenty of darkness at that time of year! And just to appease the freezing cold spectators, they shoot them off at 8 pm Alaska time, as the ball drops in Times Square on the East coast.

Some friends of our were nice enough to convince us that David would be just another noisemaker added to their New Year's Eve. Thank you, thank you!

Our 3rd Anniversary

On our first anniversary, we were travelling back through St. George and stayed at the same bed and breakfast where we spent our honeymoon.





On our second anniversary, we had our first set of couches delivered, and we were in the middle of painting our home that we had been in for only 6 weeks.


This year, we enjoyed having dinner at Beni Hanas--a Japanese grill with the chef putting on a show for us at our table--then went to a New Year's Eve party with friends. At the party, we were lucky to have a panoramic view of several different fire works shows going on through the neighborhoods! It beat standing out in the cold -20 degrees weather for the downtown fireworks to ring in the new year!

Halloween . . . Traditions

Since we have been examining every corner of our life over the last several months (as part of our adoption study) I have often thought about the traditions that cement our family. Even a family of two needs traditions! Of course many traditions are much more exciting once little ones grace the scene, but I am determined to not let any more time pass in our family without establishing some new traditions (and recognizing some that we already have!). They may change in the coming years as our family changes, but who knows . . . they also just might become tradition.

Of course holidays are the perfect time for traditions! And one of our most consistent traditions is our weekly date night as a couple. Friday nights usually find us together--we try to steer clear of other commitments as often as possible (although we are open to double dates with other couples). So Friday being Halloween and date night, it was the perfect time to enhance our family tradition.

We take turns planning date night, and this holiday landed on Sam's turn. He was very good about planning a fun evening--our very own Halloween Carnival. He even considered my current weight loss efforts, as you can see with the banana that replaced the donut on a string! And it helped that a last minute Star Trek costume came through so Sam could answer the door in costume for the kids that braved the 12 degree cold. We ended with Audrey Hepburn's classic "Wait Until Dark". It was a great start to establishing more traditions!