Finished basement

Our basement was partially finished when we moved in.  We have since had it completed.  The family room was finished, the bedrooms and bathroom were not.  I don't know why we don't have any pictures of the bathroom.

 Kate's room.  She would like to add that:  It's really pink, and she loves princesses and she has three beds in her room.  She has a clock that lights up when its OK to get up.

 Lily's room.  Kate says:  That is the guest room.  It's really blue.

 Toy area.  Kate says:  We like to play lots of stuff.  And sometimes we play on our own.

 Books and games.  Kate says:  We read a lot and we play games a lot.

Family room.  Kate wants everyone to know that there are plans to put a TV in this room.

Snowbird

In September we got to go to Snowbird with Wasatch Adaptive Sports and get an idea of what they do.

 We went for a hike.  Kian carried a compass nearly the whole time.

 We played on a "boundless" playground, which is a playground adapted for kids of all abilities.

The kids made a craft while the parents listened to a speaker.

 We rode the tram to the top of the mountain.

 It was beautiful.

The girls got their faces painted at Oktoberfest, which was there the same day.  Kate's is a butterfly, and Lily's is a unicorn.

Baby Brains Can Heal

Just saw this video from TED talks.  It talks about neuroplasticity, and brings me refreshed hope for Kian.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=WKVbRDJ-nxs

First days of school

Lily started 2nd grade this year.

One week later, Kate started morning Kindergarten.  That bag made it to school the first day, and then she refused to use it anymore.  Good thing we still have Lily's kindergarten backpack.

And one week after that, Kian started morning pre-school, 2 days a week.

Campout

The annual Parkinson family campout was held this year near Palisades reservoir.  As always, we had a lot of fun and lots of good food.

Bobbie brought his Kubb game (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kubb), which nobody but his family had ever played, but it was fun, and there were some naturals in our group.

Uncle Brett brought his bow and target deer for some practice.  Yeah, that didn't last long before the hosts came and told us to take it down.

Cousin Kylie planned some games for the smaller kids.

The creek was a big hit with the kids, too.  Nice and refreshing.

These are Chris's grand-nephew and grand-niece, Braxton and Olivia.

Kylie and Mikayla taught the little kids some cute camp-fire songs to perform for everybody.

And we got a square ice-cream cone in Swan Valley on our way home.  Yum.

Rexburg

The kids and I spent 2 weeks in Rexburg with my family, and had a great time.  We did all the usual Rexburg things, like...

 ...ride the carousel...

 ...eat at Skeeters (ok, that's definitely not a usual Rexburg thing, but it was fun.)...

...play with cousins...

 ...go to Yellowstone...

 ...and play at the splash park.

You'd never know it by this picture, but Kian loved the splash park and didn't want to stop.  But he was shivering, so I made him warm up.

Slip and slide

We went to Hyde Park for a mission to hear my niece speak in church before leaving for her mission.  While we were there, we decided to try out the "slip and slide" that apparently has been so popular.  Chris procured some vinyl from the throw-out pile at work, and gave it to Tandy's family, who just happen to live in the perfect spot for one of these.  This thing is seriously long.  And fun.

Anna shows us how it's supposed to be done.

 Kian went down on Chris's lap a few times, then we sent him down backwards on his tummy.  He'd get to the bottom and say, "I'm okay."

This is Sister Ailee Olsen, going to the Indonesia Jakarta mission.  We are so proud of her, and love her so much.