Labor Day Weekend

James got a real bike from Papa's yard sale shopping. This was his first bike with pedals. Even though he dominates his balance bike and can pedal a trike, for some reason it took him a couple of days to get it down but then he was off! Next step is to get those training wheels off.

Saturday we went to the Hill Aerospace Museum at Hill Airforce Base near Ogden. I wanted to go all summer and it finally opened back up in August so we planned to go Saturday. For the record, Sarah and Henry had the worst attitude about getting ready that morning. "I really don't feel like going to look at airplanes." and "But I had plans today" (Plans?? You're 11. You don't get to have plans.) I tried to guilt them into being nice, you know, the I-do-so-much-for-you-and-how-often-do-we-do-something-I-want-to-do shpill. When they still pouted and dragged their feet I finally said I didn't care how they felt about it. I. Don't. Care. I don't care if you're bored or you're missing time with friends. I don't care if it is physically painful for you to be so bored and uninterested. I want to go and we're going. And if you're going to be a jerk about it, I'll remember this next time we go somewhere you want to go and make it miserable for you. Okay, I didn't say that last part but I was thinking it.

Guess who loved every airplane? Every single one of them. Henry even read all the plaques to find the fastest ones.

The big planes are outside the building. And by big I mean tires taller than my nearly 4-year-old.

And taller than my nearly 12-year-old

This plane is parked over the sidewalk so we limboed under it.

Pretty sure we're not supposed to hang on that.

Pretty sure we weren't supposed to be on there.

I liked the face on this one.

Inside they have super old planes (think Wright brothers and Indiana Jones) all the way up to drones.

James liked this one because it is striped like a tiger.

This can go mach 2. I think it's the fastest plane we saw.

We saw the whole collection in an hour. The kids loved it all so I win. Now I want to watch Top Gun.

From there we got lunch and drove through a sketchy part of Ogden to find a not-so-sketchy park. 

I wonder how I can make a tree grow this way.

I want my backyard to have shade like this.

James had some fun with my camera.

Then we drove up Ogden canyon because I had never been there before. It is a very pretty, narrow canyon. 

We continued to take the "backway" passing Pineview and Echo reservoirs and coming home through Provo canyon. It is a very pretty drive but would have been even prettier in the early summer when it's greener or maybe in a couple more weeks for the fall leaves.

Sunday we had dinner at Justin's parents house and were lucky to see his grandpa. He turns 95 next week!

Monday morning Justin and Henry went grouse hunting and his dad and brother. 

This is such a pretty view but all the smoke makes me sad.

That evening we heard that the mountain by Hobble Creek canyon was on fire so of course we had to get in the car to get a better look. Fire season is always so sad and scary and I get so tired of the smoky skies. A huge storm came in this night and the rain put out the fire but it will be sad to look at until spring.

Then James got stung by a wasp so we left in a rush. Kind of a weird end to the holiday weekend.

Flashback Friday: I was the cutest baby

 My birthday is in a couple of weeks so I thought it would be a good time to reminisce my first year. Unfortunately, I don't remember my first year so I had to ask my mom.

"What was I like when I was a baby?" I asked her over the phone this morning. (My other random question of the day was if I could have a wooden chair from their house in Hurricane.)

"You were my most beautiful and sweet baby. By far my favorite out of all my 8 kids."

Just kidding. She didn't say that. She did say that I was easy, good natured, pretty happy, not cross, and funny. I smiled and laughed early.

Kind of reminded me of Erica.

There's a picture of me in the hospital but I don't think I have it. It must be among my mom's photos still. I am teeny tiny and my hair looks green. I hated the picture when I was little.

This is among my most treasured photos. This is my Grandpa Syme who died when I was 1. This is the only picture of the two of us.

I don't know which is more awesome: my yellow pajamas or my aunt's hair. (I'm sad my Grandpa Baadsgaard's head is cut off in the doorway.)

Now a few photos of me looking so sweet and happy in this bouncer seat. 

I love pancakes, syrup, and oatmeal. It started early.

That's all. I think my babies look like me.

First Day of School 2020

 The moment we've all been waiting for! I have been counting down to this day like my kids countdown to their birthdays. I stopped short of making a paper chain. Even Henry had no complaints about returning to school. I think we were just all ready for a change in schedule and for life to go back to normal.

Because of the number of kids opting for virtual learning and the boundary change for our school, their classes are so small! I guess it's one nice thing about this.

Erica is in first grade this year. Her teacher is Mrs. Searle (who Henry also had). She is most excited about having her own desk, eating lunch at school, riding her bike and seeing her friends again. There are 16 kids in her class.

Henry is in fourth grade. He has Mrs. Luke which I know nothing about but she seemed nice and capable. He is most excited about recess and the one lunch a month I let him buy school lunch. There are 18 kids in his class.

He wore this shirt on his first day last year. It is his favorite.

Sarah is in sixth grade. She has Mr. Wright which is who she was hoping to get. She is most excited about everything there is about as school. She is on student council this year which means to gets to monitor the halls before school, do announcements over the PA system, get a t-shirt, go to meetings, and if assemblies ever reconvene, she gets to help at those. There are 24 kids in her class (typical is 34).

James gets to stay home with me! He is most excited about going with me everywhere I go, getting doughnuts, watching whatever he wants on the tv and rummaging through his siblings' stuff.

And then they were off! The girls wanted to ride their bikes but Henry wanted me to drive him. It was a good thing because Erica forgot her masks and I was able to catch her at the bike rack.

I about teared up when I saw the crossing guard at her post. And I'm not gonna lie, my voice had a tone of unbridled giddiness as I said goodbye.

While we are very blessed to be able to return to classrooms this fall (the only major changes are masks and a slightly shortened day) I feel the precariousness of the situation. Too many cases in our school and we go online. For the past week I have avoided all forms of news like the anxiety inducing plague that it is.  I am going to enjoy each day and help my kids be grateful for each day-we know too well that school isn't to be taken for granted. 

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And a shout-out to my brother Matt--it's his 50th birthday today. This is the only picture I have of just the two of us. It's at the airport before he departed on his mission to the West Indies in 1990. I was in kindergarten--more than 30 years ago. Now he has kids his age and I have kids mine.