Up, Up and Away!

This morning we watched the sun rise over Park City, Utah in a hot air balloon! We had to get up at 4:45 am in order to arrive at the Park City Hotel by 6:30 am.

We watched them unpack and inflate before we climbed in.

Lots of pictures to follow....

It was not really scary at all. I'm not a great "flyer", turbulence makes me nervous, the sudden drops and shakes, terrifying. I expected to be scared but it was so gentle and calm that it was really enjoyable.

The top of our balloon was happy!

Our pilot told us this was one of Tiger Woods homes, it is where he recovered from his knee surgery, he hobbled out on his crutches once to wave at the balloons to say he wished Nike would let him take a ride. Anyway, if you look at the edge of the driveway near the treeline there is a deer, we chased 3 away as we got a little closer.

We passed over a pond and looked down at our reflection.

I feel like it's something I can cross off the 'bucket list'. I don't feel like I can hardly wait to go again, but it was really cool and I'm glad I did, and I wasn't frightened at all!

1st day of school !?

I sent my firstborn son to school 27 years ago in Redmond, Washington. I have gotten a lump in my throat every year since. Yup, even when my kids were heading off to high school and college. Mind you, I got over it in minutes, but it is an emotional moment of reflection. It still makes me want to clean house as a celebratory reaction to the end of summer chaos!

Laura is marking today as "her last first day of school". Hmmmm. Mostly, I am excited for her this time. She appears to have finally gotten good roommates, she is confident in her choices and she already has a job.

One final hurrah at UVU!

... so stay out of trouble, but have fun!!!

Josh Groban

My sweetheart took me to see Josh Groban at the Energy Solutions Arena on Saturday night. Josh was great! He didn't mind walking through the audience - his body guards followed him closely - and he interacted well with the crowd.

We had great seats in the 5th row, (I have friends in the ticket office!) Karl thought it was hot in there, but other than that we had no complaints. I think I need to get his newest CD!

Motorsports Park

For Family Home Evening we took a trip to Toole and the Miller Motorsports Park. We had Laura and Nick Vikari, Karl and Me! Laura gave the lesson in the car on the way out there on the evils of the world and the joy of the Word of Wisdom, based on the experiences she witnessed in Ohio this summer living with young adults of her age. After a quick drive through the Golden Arches, we went to the Kart track and took a couple of turns around the track in the setting sun.


This is Barb and Laura (on the right)with neck braces, head socks and wobbly helmets.

Ninja Laura.

Nick

Hotest Grandma on the course!

This was a memorable FHE. The second time around was the best because it was late in the evening and everyone was leaving so there were just 6 people on the track and we were a little more familiar with the track layout.

The stock market took a huge dive so.....

We went out and bought a car to mark the occasion. Isn't that what everyone does when the economic news is bad?

Actually it was in the works, just happened that the day we signed for it was crazy. I haven't had a minutes worth of buyers remorse. She's beautiful, and a hybrid so the in town mileage is great while it runs off of battery power.

Katie is happy to have an extra car to drive around, she and Jeff will be using the Camry so she won't be getting the kids out of bed to take dad to work!