Enough Already!

I know I've been posting a ton lately, but we've had a full week & I took a lot of pictures that I know you're just dying to see! (& if you're not, I'll never know.) Last night, for one last hurrah before Rachel had to go, we went back to Zion to our favorite swimming hole & discovered a waterfall/waterslide just up the creek!

After jumping and sliding in just one more time about seven times, we finally dragged ourselves back to the van as the sun was going down. I took Rachel halfway home this morning, Jamie met me at Cove Fort. (If you've never been, you really should stop by.) & now, I guess summer's over. For how tired I am of the heat, and how much I was looking forward to the schedule and sanity of back-to-school, it's still sad to see it end.

We'd better put the Tooth Fairy on-call

She came home from school grinning like this yesterday. She wants to leave it in until Halloween so it can be part of her witch costume. I'm not betting on it!

Meanwhile...

After dropping off my big girls, Rachel, Catherine and I drove on up to Zion for a quick hike. We would've spent all day there, but I had to work at 2:30, so we just did the Riverside Walk and hiked up the Narrows a little way. (Yes, I had to work on my girls' first day of school. I wasn't there to meet them with a hug and an after school snack. Not feeling so good about my job lately... just your usual working-mom-guilt. I need a day job!)Rachel wants to go back ASAP. We'll have to plan a time next summer to explore more of our favorite National Park together.Rachel is truly a nature girl. She loved the scenery, the deer, the squirrels, the rapids, everything. She is also a little shutterbug, taking pictures constantly. I'm sure that love will develop into a great talent as she grows.

Catherine enjoyed all the attention from her cousin, playing in the shallow water and riding in the backpack for the two mile walk. She is getting HEAVY!

First Day of School

Bethany told me she got fun homework. Homework on the first day, what more could a second grader ask for? (Can you see how loose her tooth is?)

Gwen reported that kindergarten was rockin'.

They were a little disappointed that I drove them to school on the first day, so they were thrilled to walk to the bus stop together this morning.

We got Rachel

and she's got it all!

Mark & Jamie, we are taking good care of your Baby Rachel. She is taking good care of us too. She made us popcorn last night!

School starts tomorrow which means lots of pictures are coming!

Chiasmus by Matthew and a Borrowed Poem (Response to "Nine Years of Bliss")

Nine years ago I had no idea how completely happy I would be in marriage. I've been blessed more in these years than any other. Thank you, Emily, for being my wife.

Thanks, Ma and Dad, for the nice comments (in Emily’s post). I remember, growing up, having my parents tell me that "you don't only marry your wife. You marry her whole family." How true that is. Thanks for helping Emily become the woman she is. I can't thank you enough.

And thanks to my own Mom and Dad. (Paraphrasing what I heard someone else say) I have experienced 32 years of happy marriage. 23 as a child in the home of my parents, and nine as a husband and father. What more could one hope for?

Emily, when we met eleven years ago we were very young. There is no way we could have known what we really wanted in a spouse. I feel that God blessed me to find you, (and to have the sense to make you mine.)


The Great Advantage Of Being Alive
e.e. cummings


the great advantage of being alive
(instead of undying)is not so much
that mind no more can disprove than prove
what heart may feel and soul may touch
—the great(my darling)happens to be
that love are in we,that love are in we

and here is a secret they never will share
for whom create is less than have
or one times one than when times where—
that we are in love,that we are in love:
with us they've nothing times nothing to do
(for love are in we am in i are in you)

this world (as timorous itsters all
to call their cowardice quite agree)
shall never discover our touch and feel
—for love are in we are in love are in we;
for you are and i am and we are(above
and under all possible worlds)in love

a billion brains may coax undeath
from fancied fact and spaceful time—
no heart can leap,no soul can breathe
but by the sizeless truth of a dream
whose sleep is the sky and the earth and the sea.
For love are in you am in i are in we

Nine Years of Bliss

Happy Anniversary Honey!

(Our big date is tomorrow, we're going to Les Mis at the Tuacahn.)

Cate's Clone

Saturday we went school shopping with the whole family. When we were in Target, Catherine turned to Matthew & me and exclaimed, "There's another Cate! I saw her! Another Cate with her Mom and her sisters!" We looked up and there she was, another small, blonde, wispy-haired girl wearing a T-shirt exactly like one of our own Catherine's and a pair of lime green shorts like the ones our Cate usually wears with that shirt. It was a little uncanny. I didn't get a good look at her from the front, but from the back, I'd have to agree with Catherine Lowe. It was another Cate!

Update on our SFG

(Just a pretty picture I took the other day from my front door.)

I think our garden has done well this summer. I hope we get enough corn, beans and tomatoes to freeze & bottle some. We've learned a lot and each time we work outside, trimming and training the vines or hunting for tomato worms, we talk about what we're going to do differently next year and how much more spectacular our little square foot gardens will be. More corn, more string beans, more trellises, more flowers around the borders, peas & strawberries much earlier, probably no crookneck squash, but definitely watermelon and winter squash again. We haven't harvested much besides a few cherry tomatoes and cucumbers, but more veggies should be ripening soon. The girls are getting excited about the big green pumpkins that are swelling on the plant they picked out. Here are some pictures of our progress since April:

My box (basil, green beans, tomatoes, crookneck, & flowers,) Matthew's (peppers, soy beans, tomatoes, butternut squash & cucumbers) & the girls' (CORN! pumpkin & watermelon behind the CORN!)

I love the trellises:

Also, our friends posted some more pictures of our beach vacation, so if you're dying to see more of the Lowe family wearing swimsuits and sand, visit the Snow's blog.