By the time we found a place to park along 11400 South and walked up to Storm Mountain Park, they were already starting to blow up the balloons. We walked right up to them and got a first hand view of the process from blowing the air into them, feeling the heat as they turned on the torches, watching them guide the balloon upright and tip the basket, and then heading up into the sky. It was really cool to be so close to these amazing balloons! And it was a lot of fun to watch them go right above our heads. There were quite a few in the morning. Here are some fun pictures.
After all the hot air balloons took off we headed back to the car. Because I didn't want to get up earlier than 6:30 I hadn't given my kids breakfast yet. Thankfully they were too excited to notice my neglect. As we were leaving the park Brodie mentioned stopping at McDonald's for breakfast. Typically I think spending money on a meal that is so easy to make is a waste, but I know Brodie likes McD breakfasts and I realized our kids have never had such the opportunity. All about experiences for the kids (and my eagerness for some much needed caffeine into my system) we went through the drive-thru on our way home.
Later in the day we headed up to Tremonton for my cute little nephew's 2nd birthday. We all fell asleep on the way there (except thankfully Brodie) for about half an hour. I was surprised the kids didn't sleep longer. Then they played and played at their cousins' house. I was also surprised at how much they played outside despite the heat. They had bright red faces and were dripping with sweat each time they came in the house. We left the party in time to make it to the balloon glow at the South Towne Promenade.
There were only 4 hot air balloons this time, but one was shaped like a pig and that made the kids very excited. We once again stood up close to watch them fill the balloons with air, turn on the heat that we could feel, raise the balloons and the baskets. It was fun to see the balloons glowing from the fire inside them. And of course there was the pig balloon that the kids had fun running underneath. Tessa got a little frightened every time the propane (guessing that's what they were using) would kick the fire on. I had to remind her that's why the air was "hot" in the hot air balloon. I didn't bring my camera, but had Brodie take a few pictures on his iPhone. Maybe one of these days he'll send them to me and I can post one or two here...
We came home before finding out if the balloons were going to go in the sky (I'm guessing they'd stay tethered down but go up a little bit) to get the kids some much needed sleep. And I still needed to work on my primary lesson and Tessa's talk. I remembered all week she was supposed to give a talk, and I occasionally thought about it, but I hadn't done anything. Same with my lesson. But I had ideas. After getting the kids to bed I ran to the store for toothpicks and posterboard. Then I simplified my idea I had for Tessa's talk. I drew a temple on one side of the posterboard and printed off a picture of Tessa's head that I glued on the other side and then drew the rest of her body underneath it. I then cut a hold Tessa's stomach (the middle of the temple on the other side) and covered it with packaging tape. I also covered the hold on the other side so the sticky sides of the packaging tape stuck to each other. Then I printed off some pictures and glued them back to back and covered them in contact paper. Her talk was on "My body is a temple" so I had her hold up the temple side of the picture and say the Temple is a House of God. Then she turned it over and said her body was a temple for her spirit. Then she taped a picture of a little girl all sticky with cotton candy on the hold in the temple and said we wouldn't go in the temple all sticky with cotton candy. When I turned the picture around it showed the other side of the picture (which I had glued on a picture of a bunch of candy) in Tessa's belly and she said we also shouldn't fill our bodies with so much candy to make us feel sick or get cavities. Instead we should eat healthy food like fruits and vegetables and she put a picture on her belly of that. I took the other picture off the back and when I flipped it around you could see scriptures through the hole in the temple. She said in the temple we should fill our minds with the words and stories of the scriptures. She continued on with a picture of muddy shoes for the temple and the other side was beer in her belly, a girl jumproping for exercise on the side with her body and the other side was a kid in church clothes reverently folding arms, and a kid screaming with loud music coming from headphones (on both sides) and a piano representing soft, quiet, happy music (same picture on both sides). Tessa enjoyed putting the pictures on and didn't get nervous about talking in the microphone at all.
My Sunbeam lesson was on Being thankful for our houses and I used a large tablecloth to build a tent with the chairs. As the kids sat in it eating Cookie Crisp I told them the story of Lehi and how his family left their nice house and lived in a tent in the wilderness, and then a boat as they crossed the ocean. Then I told them about the Pioneers who left their homes in Nauvoo and had to pack what they could in a covered wagon and sleep on the ground as they crossed to Utah. Then we talked about their houses and what they could do to take care of their houses. At the end I gave them a bunch of marshmallows and toothpicks and they all built a house. Then they wanted to build the tent again and play in it until their parents came to get them. I'm going to miss teaching Sunbeams.
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