Balloons, Cards, Pioneers, Waterslides and Messy Faces

We had a crazy busy Saturday!  We got up early (5:00, just for the record, I'm still surprised I was able to drag myself out of bed) to go down to Sandy and watch the Hot Air Balloon Launch.  This was our view from the spot we Jay-walked to.  The kids were very excited!  So we sat there and watched them fill up all the balloons, I think there were about 12 by the time they were all filled up.  Nate walked around taking pictures and kids to the potty.

This pig balloon is a disgrace to the hot air balloon organization if you ask me.

This is a cool picture, but I mostly wanted someone to be able to tell me if that is in fact Zak MacKay there on the side.... does it not look just like him???

It was fun to watch the sunrise on the hot air balloons, fun to see all the colors, visit with the Stricklands, and pick out which balloon was "ours", but we did have a HUGE let down when they started deflating them.  I guess the wind was too strong for them to launch.  :*(  Brad was devastated.  We're looking forward to the Autumn Aloft in Park City in September.... hopefully we'll have more luck then.

Nate dropped me off at my Mom's on the way home from Sandy so that I could help her go through a few of the closets for her to make room for her and Simon in Grandma and Grandpa's house.  It was so interesting to go through all of my Grandparents things.  They saved EVERYTHING~!!  I'm sure that comes from growing up in depression times.  And frankly it was really fun to go through their stuff and see what meant something to them.  One of the things that stood out to me was a huge box of cards, birthday cards, get well cards, small scraps of paper with little "sorry I missed ya" notes written on them.  Even a napkin that Uncle Forrest wrote to them on had been saved in this box.  It was crazy to go through it and see who had been thoughtful, and the fact that it had meant a lot to them.  I loved seeing the cards from Grandpa to Grandma.  One of them, a get well, Wife card, was signed "Love, Your Bishop".  It was fun to see the ones I had given them as well.  I really loved finding the letters from Grandma to Grandpa while he had been in the war. Grandma had lost her first baby at birth, and at the time of these letters she was pregnant with what they thought was their 2nd, but it was really their 2nd AND 3rd!  She didn't "know" she was having twins, but I think she was catching on to the fact that the pregnancy was VERY different from teh first.  It was so cute, they called their second "Thumper" I'm assuming because he moved a lot (two babies in one tummy, that would be so crazy!).  It was really moving to me to read their words to each other.  To witness her strength during such a hard time and to witness the strength of their love.  At one point she said, "I'm glad we have the marriage that can withstand this kind of stuff"  They really did have an amazing relationship.  One that was strengthened through trial.  It's neat to be able to share in that now.  I hope to follow their examples.  I've always thought they were the cutest couple ever.... now I know they were!  I bawled a lot especially when I saw the baby book for their first little baby, Steven, with only the first page with his name and date filled out.  The rest of the baby book was completely blank.  My heart sunk when I saw the picture of him as well.  I know Grandma held that very close to her heart. As happy as I am that she is proabably with her boys now, it's hard for me to imagine what she went through, and the sorrow she must have felt losing them.  I feel so blessed to have 6 little babies with books filled out passed the first page.  Makes me realize what a privilege it is.  My sweet grandma went through so much.  I felt awful getting rid of so many of their things, but it was time.  I think they understand.  I HOPE they understand and are not expecting my mom to hold on to everything.  I am glad I have some of their things now to remind me of them often.  I love thinking about Grandma and Grandpa.

So while I was at my Mom's with NOah and Erika, Nate took the older four to the Primary Activity.  They all went down to the Church History Museum.  Nate was very impressed with how much they do for the kids to keep them interested, and make it fun.  I wondered how that could be a Primary Activity, but they really had a great time, being pioneers, playing guessing games, and hearing stories about the prophets.  It's fun to have some pictures from it, thanks Babe!

Nate and the kids walked around Temple Square and got some really nice pictures for me :)

After the Primary activity and a couple more hours of cleaning up at my Mom's, and some time with Charlie, we bummed around with my Dad and Steve, ate some pizza, and then found out that even though it was raining, the Ward BBQ was going on as scheduled, so we got our swim suits on and headed up to the Frey's for the water slide part of the party!  This was FANTASTIC!!!  They had this HUGE tarp, or plastic, or wahtever you wanna call it, draped down the hill for the kids to slide on.  It was raining a ton when we got there but that didn't stop any of these kids.  My older four had a blast.  It wasn't till later that I ran home to get the diaper bag and thus the camera, so we didn't get any pictures of Luke doing it, but Nate got some good ones of Charity, Kelly and Brad.  They were so freezing when it was over.

The water at the end was of course disgusting, but we kept making jokes about how clean the kids would be afterward since they had used soap and then shampoo to lubricate the slide.  Suds everywhere!

They had this fun "little" slide for the little kids.... Noah had a little company at the beginning, but pretty much had the whole thing to himself the rest of the time.... he loved it!  And that's new for Noah, he's usually too hesitant to enjoy this stuff.

Here's cute Lindsey Turner going down with some of the kids.... I just love the youth of this ward, they all got into it so much with the little ones.  Especially Annie Schmidt, she was so fun doing trains and dog piles and stuff with my kids.  THey loved it. 

Erika slept most of the time, but at the end had a great time eating her strawberry cream sicle.  She made a huge mess and got really mad at me whenever I licked the drippy parts.  It was adorable. 

I thought I should post the one picture of Luke that we have.  He really had a blast on the water slide, but just got to cold I think to continue.

What a BIG DAY!!!