Sami!

I just got back from Phoenix, where I picked up Sami, Kim's oldest friend and Skylar's favorite "uncle." The drive up was horrendously long, thanks to a rolled-over SUV near the Riggs Road exit. The drive back was as tiring as ever. But it was worth it. A visit from Sami brightens the household like nothing else. Kim said Skylar could barely go to sleep with all the excitement of his impending arrival. In honor of the T-shirt he was wearing tonight, I present one of my all-time favorite family photos, taken at the Desert Museum when Skylar was three-and-a-half:

It doesn't get much cuter than that. But when you've been through the things that Sami and Kim have been through, cuteness is never cloying. They deserve the chance to sheath that edge from time to time.