What’s New With Our Family

me and gabby had tons of fun!  we went to see the frogs and toads at the Utah Museum of Natural History, and then stopped by The Pie for the best pizza in Utah.  pixs, below:

UMNH Frog Day

today i interviewed gaby. i got some journal ideas from here. gaby talks about playing with some new friends at school, describes our home and her room, talks about mommy and daddy and love. here is our conversation (listen or download). i took these pictures right after.

gaby,

today i asked you out on a date with daddy. you said you wanted to stay home. i asked again. you sounded pretty decided. i explained that i don’t have many days off to be able to spend with my daughter. you obliged. you then put on your winter clothes and we headed out to the car.

first stop was…err…. where did we go again? oh yeah, that’s why you didn’t want to come at first. we went to the bookstore- barne’s & noble, i believe. i showed you the children’s section, decorated and painted with castles and dragons and loaded with colorful children’s books. i confidently asked you, “okay, wanna go back home now?” you quickly replied, “no, why? i want to stay here!” and with that you smiled and quickly ran to sit on the steps with a new book in your hands. i told you that at the end of the day you could pick any book there to take home with you.

at the end of the day you chose a book on wildcats, because you “love cheetahs and want to help save them from enstiction” when you get older. you taught me that “cheetahs die a lot because lions and tigers eat them and their babies”.

i hung out in the philosophy section, the science section and then spent 15 minutes looking at the cool leather-bound journals for sale. i thought it would be cool to pass a nice looking journal down to you one day, but opted to keep this blog since i can write 5 times as fast on a keyboard, instead of penning something down on paper.

by the time i was done, you had already “been done” for almost twenty minutes. you showed a lot of patience with me as i insisted on staying “just another minute” and to walk down “one more aisle”. seriously- thanks for the patience, young mature one.

you sounded hungry. no, it wasn’t the rumbling of your stomach that tipped me off, but the comment, “hey daddy are you hungry, cos i’m hungry”. i quickly deduced that you could go for some good food. close by was a great little place called SmokeHouse BBQ. i explained to you that it was the good kind of smoke, not the cigarrette smoke. you were relieved and told me how bad smoking is. we shared a pulled pork sandwich with beans- we didn’t like the beans so we exchanged the side item to some good ol’ fashioned maccaroni and cheese. Mmmmm.

you were hungry- you ate the whole sandwich! it’s okay, i wasn’t hungry at all. we then went to University Mall to see if the kid’s play tree was open yet. it wasn’t. daddy spent an hour looking at clearanc dress shirts and bought a few. you entertained yourself by hiding in between the shirt racks and scaring me.

over and over.

but yeah, i was scared. you’re fun to play with. i had a great day with you. when we left the mall it was dark. you didn’t complain once. i thanked you and you also said you had fun. when we got home you put in a movie in your room and that was the end of our date.

we’ll have to do this again sometime. thanks for the company.

[This is a letter to my father-in-law thanking them for taking care of Janise and Gaby in Brazil and telling them how we are doing during this hot, Utah summer…]

Oi Lauri, como estao as coisas aih no Brasil?

Eu queria te agradecer muito por tudo que voces fizerem pra minha esposa maravilhosa e filhinha a Gabi adoravel. Elas se divertirem muito mesmo quando estiverem aih e eu sei que voces cuidarem muito bem delas. Neste periodo eu pude avancar mais em algumas materias da faculdade. Agora a Janise fala muito de cavalo e parece que ela aprendeu montar e galopar bem. Agora ela quer que eu melhore tambem com o sporte de andar de cavalo entao estou procurando pessoas que tem cavalos aqui em minha cidade. A gente aguarda o dia no qual o senhor teria uma chacara aqui em Utah com cavalo para todos nos se divertirem 😉 hehe. Mais uma vez, obrigado a voces. Read the rest of this entry »

[the following entry is being written in the language as she used it]

Gaby:

I love drawing bunnies (see picture she drew on the right) and I love my family and my mom and dad and I love Mica (our family dog) my favorite dog. She’s big and beautiful and Mica is “more bigger” than the other dogs.

I love my room and Miller and Matthew and I love to go upstairs and play with Marie and watch movies with Marie [pauses] and I love pizza, yogurt, sandwiches, e tambem eu adoro ver filme [I also love to watch movies].

Me:

<Gaby tell me about today>

Gaby:

A gente passiou juntos, a gente comeu pizza juntos e tomate e eu comi chips and that’s all. <Que Mais?>

Eu vi livros no shopping e eu adoro pular na cama com a mamae mas nao gosto do meu “owee” (scratch on her knee) and that’s all.

<Que mais voce fez hoje?> Eu nao sei. eu vi ce Age 2 e a gente…[she thought for a second and then said] having fun, Wal-Mart, shopping [the mall], e a gente read books, e eu estava doente e eu comi chocolate e minha garganta doeu. The end [and she quickly ran off to play].

Today we also registered Gaby for kindergarten at the new elementary school in the neighborhood.