The beginning of school has come and gone, but we have been having a wonderful 2017 school year.
Mark is back at Dry Creek this year! He and Dad had such a special year together last year that it was difficult for them to say good-bye. But Mark got the teacher he was hoping for, Mrs. Burton, and has been having a wonderful year. He has been a great big brother riding bikes with Dax, and letting him play with he and his friends in the morning before school.
Dax is having an amazing year. He was a little nervous about his teacher at first, but Mrs. Navarrete has worked miracles with Dax. He loves school and is up early every morning ready to go. Dax has always complained about going to school, but this year he doesn't want to miss for any reason. We are so glad that he is having such a successful year.
Seth has a busy year as he gets ready to go to Kindergarten next year. He is going to preschool with Miss Tina who we love, and he loves, too. Seth is also going to a preschool at the Lehi Literacy Center which is awesome. It only runs for half the year, but it is such a great kickstarter for reading. Seth is also doing an online preschool called Upstart. So he is a busy boy! But Mom and Seth still have a lot of fun going on adventures and playing together every day.
A year and a half ago Dad asked Stephanie if we could stay at her house in Idaho Falls on August 21, 2017. She was a little surprised and confused, but she agreed. But in the last few months, the hype began to build for the Great American Eclipse. People were renting out houses and even sections of their yards for hundreds of dollars. We were glad we had planned ahead.
The eclipse was Monday morning, and school started on Tuesday. Dad had to take a personal day to get out of his school meetings, but it was worth it. He got his class all ready on Friday and we left early Saturday morning. Idaho was predicting Armageddon traffic, but the drive up wasn't bad at all. There sure were a lot of people there, though. We had a great time staying with Steph, and we like to take our boys to Church on the road. On Sunday night, Melanie showed up to camp in the backyard, and Brittany came on Monday morning, so it was quite the party.
We chuckled at these signs on the way up, but we were a little bit scared of the traffic.
We ate at Rupe's with Grandma and Grandpa on the way to Idaho Falls.
Stephanie always plans the best activities. We painted Harry Potter rocks!
Mom loves to take naps with Katelynn.
Stephanie made homemade Moon Pies that were delicious!
The eclipse started about 10:20 and peaked at 11:34. It would be in totality for only two minutes, and Dad planned to leave Steph's house by 11:40, so everything had to be ready. By 10 o'clock, the van was packed and we were in the backyard with Italian sodas, Starburst candies, Eclipse gum, and Steph's homemade Moon Pies. The buildup to the eclipse was awesome. The kids ran and played in the yard, we ate, and used our eclipse glasses to watch as the red disk of the sun was slowly overtaken by the moon.
We were so excited for the eclipse!
Stephanie created quite a spread for us! Fancy drinks, starbursts, Eclipse gum, and homemade Moon pies!
Mom loves getting together with her sisters.
The oldest and youngest grandkids are best buddies!
It was unbelievably cool. Mom had serious doubts, but she is a believer now.
We noticed some really cool changes as the eclipse drew closer. The first thing was that it started to look like twilight. But it wasn't regular evening twilight, instead, shadows grew sharp, and it seemed like we had sunglasses on, but the sun was overhead. Eventually, it got darker, and we noticed a few planets and stars in the sky. This was when the sun was just a sliver in the sky. Though it was 82 degrees by 10 o'clock, the temperature dropped all the way to 66 degrees! The kids really wanted their jackets! This was as far as the eclipse got in Utah. Finally, we looked and there was a sunset all over the horizon. Then, we watched as the last sliver of the sun disappeared and we were pitched into darkness. Of all our adventures, this had to be the most amazing for all of us. We took off the eclipse glasses and gawked! Though Mom took an amazing picture, no picture could capture what we were looking at. The thing that made it so dramatically impossible to describe was the look of the moon. In photos, it looks flat, but in reality, it looked like a massive dark orb with a glowing corona behind it. We had a wide array of emotions but mostly, it was the most thrilling two minutes of our lives. Mom looked at Dad and said, "Texas, 2024?" and Dad just smiled. It was something we will never forget. It really had to be experienced.
The sun before the eclipse starts.
Eclipse begins!
Don't worry, there are only 100 pictures as the moon moves across the sun!
Also, in case you were worried about my eyes, I put my eclipse glasses over the lens of my camera to take these pics!
As the sun disappeared, the temperature dropped a ton.
There was a lot of cheering when we saw this!!!
The Great American Solar Eclipse was so awesome!
It was so dark outside at 11:40 am!
We will never forget this moment.
Dad let us watch for one more minute as the sun slowly reappeared and then he had the car loaded and we hit the road. Because Steph lives north of Idaho Falls, we really needed to get back to the I-15 before the traffic got thick. We just made it. It was stop and go at every freeway exit through Blackfoot, and it took us an hour and a half to get to Pocatello, a drive which can be done in less than an hour. But Melanie left just one minute after us and was a half hour behind when she hit Pocatello! From there, the traffic wasn't bad at all, and we made it home at around 4pm. We made it in just a half hour longer than usual. We were lucky! Some friends stayed to the end of the eclipse at one o'clock, and they didn't get home until after midnight. Dad's sister Sandy got back to her house in Salt Lake Valley at 4 in the morning! It was a good thing we hurried out, because Dad had to teach school the next day. But none of us had any doubt that it was worth every minute!
Mark and Dad signed up to go to Camp Floyd's overnight boot camp this weekend. Mark would be working on scouting stuff, and Dad would be learning more about his favorite field trip site since he takes his class to Camp Floyd every Spring.
As soon as we got there, we were recruited into the military. We were given itchy wool jackets and caps to wear. We were drilled on how to march and turn and salute, too. Mark really liked all of these activities, but Dad wasn't so sure. They also taught us a lot about the history of Camp Floyd and had us set up tepee like tents. We hooked a ring over a single pole, pushed the canvas tents up and staked the bottom down. Then we settled our gear and headed over to the old schoolhouse. We watched an hour or so of some old Civil War movies, including Gettysburg, which Mark really liked. He did learn a lot what it was like to be a Civil War soldier. Then we went to bed.
Mark had to sign in with a quill pen.
Mark loves school, usually!
Mark and his friend Troy playing pioneer games.
Mark trying to help Troy with the Jacob's Ladder.
The boys were in one tent and the kids were crammed into two more. Mark slept great, but Dad had a snorer in his tent. He finally fell asleep, but our friend Grant shook him awake because he thought Dad was the snorer. After that, they both crawled out of the tent and found a place under a tree.
The next morning we had an interesting breakfast. There was beef jerky, an apple fritter, grapes, and hot chocolate. It wasn't very filling, especially if you're Mark and don't eat beef jerky. After that, we cleaned up the tents and did a few activities so Mark could earn more scout stuff. Then we went over to the old cemetery and fired the black powder muskets. It was Mark's first time shooting a gun, and he had a lot of fun. Finally we cleaned up the tents and headed for home. It was a fun trip, but we were pretty glad to take those itchy clothes off!
Mark wasn't a huge fan of breakfast.
But he is a good helper!
Mark was really excited to shoot the musket!
We made our own cartridges with rolled paper, black powder, and a wad.
Then we loaded the muskets.
Luckily Mark was wearing earplugs even though the muskets weren't that loud.
The Provo MTC added some new buildings and they held an open house so we got a chance to check them out. I was really excited to take my boys to see where the missionaries live for a little bit of their mission. We had tickets at the same time as Melanie and her kids, so we all went together.
It was fun to see the old parts of the MTC that Randy and Melanie remember from their missions and hear their memories. We also walked through the new areas of the MTC, and we could see where the boys might go. There are MTCs all over the world now, so you don't always start at the Provo MTC anymore.
Mark already looks like a missionary. He is growing up so fast!
This map is huge and I have seen lots of pictures of missionaries by this map.
Dax pointed to Japan. Dad pointed to Alaska. Seth pointed to the only land he could reach.
Mark pointed to Brazil, and Mom pointed to Italy.
The boys checked out the bunk beds.
Dax was really excited that he could play basketball at the MTC.
Seth loved the flags.
Mom enjoyed the tour more than anyone!
The best part of the tour was interacting with the missionaries, asking where they were from, where they were headed, and having a few moments to see their excitement. Mom asked almost every missionary she saw a question and there were a lot of missionaries.
It was a great day and we enjoyed walking through the MTC, especially because the chances of doing it again are very small.
