Balloon Fiesta!

They say that the Balloon Fiesta is the most photographed event in the world. I have no idea if that is true or not (how would they even track that?), but based on the amount of photos we took, I believe it could be true.

So, here you go- a million pictures!

This is the Dawn Patrol. We had to get up at 4 AM to get to the field (oh my goodness- traffic was beyond a nightmare! It was so frustrating!). The Dawn Patrol goes up first to double check the wind to make sure all is well. That started a little after 6.

About 7:30 the rest of the balloons started blowing up, and then the real fun began. We went on Shapes Rodeo day- so a lot of the balloons were shapes which was fun. They let everybody walk around and get up really close to see them get blown up. It was pretty incredible.

There were hundreds of balloons that went up. It really was awe-inspiring. There is something magical about hot air balloons.

They had a great kids area where got passports and went to different stations to learn about ballooning.

Sadly, the evening Glo (they don't have the balloons go up at night, but they blow up and have a special fuel that lights the balloons and it looks cool) was cancelled due to wind. By then, however, we were all exhausted, so we didn't even stay for the full fireworks.

It was a lot of driving, a lot of traffic, and A LOT of people. It is not something that I want to do every year. BUT, it was definitely worth doing once. I am very glad that we came down for it- it really was amazing. 

Albuquerque

The girls and I drove down to the Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque on Wednesday! We drove down Wednesday, saw the Fiesta on Thursday, then drove home Friday. I'll post pictures of the Fiesta in a separate post.

The drive went smoothly. It is just I-25 South for 400 miles, and BOOM- we are there. Pretty cool.

We stayed at the Ramada at Whyndham. It was fine. The beds were a little small, they must have just been double beds, and Audra likes to elbow me in the back all night, but other than that, it was clean and had an indoor pool. Perfect!

We stopped at this totally random Mormon Battalion Memorial that happened to be right off the highway in the middle of nowhere.

I brought some freezer meals, so we ate a couple of our meals in the hotel.

In between sessions at the Fiesta we had several hours, so we went to the National Petroglyph Park. It was pretty neat, I'm glad we stopped by. Then we back to the hotel for naps, because 4 AM is just too early to wake up.

And, this is what Audra looks like when she needs to borrow my clothes because I forgot to pack her clothes. She left her clothes on my bed for me to pack, but I thought I had already packed them and it was just laundry that needed to be put away. She started crying when we realized that she had no extra clothes. Being the supportive mother that I am, I started laughing. Because, really, what else could I do? It ended up working out fine- between the rest of us girls we had plenty of clothes. Except underwear. She was very upset to have to wear the same pair of underwear for 3 days, which wasn't great, we all admit. But, she survived. She was very sad that she didn't have a swimsuit.

A Big Change

At the bi-annual General Conference of our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a MAJOR announcement was made. Instead of the three hour block that we have used for the entirety of my life, starting in January we are going to a 2 hour schedule.

This is HUGE.

Why are they making the change? They are going to give us all a "homeschool" church guide. The idea is for parents to teach the gospel of Christ more in the home.

Here is a quote from the President of our church: "As Latter-day Saints we have become accustomed to thinking of 'church' as something that happens in our meetinghouses, supported by what happens at home. We need an adjustment to this pattern. It is time for a home-centered church, supported by what takes place inside our branch, ward and stake buildings."

When I read this, the Holy Ghost testified to me that this was true. Gospel learning should occur first and foremost in the home.

But, this means we as parents need to step up our game. The Church is going to provide a home study curriculum to each family for us to study the scriptures at home. We can join with other families to create a "small group" within each ward, or make it work for us however we see fit. Honestly, this is how most faiths work- they have the main church on Sunday, but then they have small groups for more in-depth study.

I am very excited for these changes! But, this is definitely a big deal. I told Audra she will one day be able to tell her kids that she had church for 3 hours as a kid. They won't believe that such a thing existed.

We live in very exciting times, indeed, as we prepare for the Second Coming of our Savior!

Soccer!

As much as I have tried to avoid it, after 11 years it has finally happened: My life is officially ruled by carpool.

Soccer has taken over our lives. All three girls are playing soccer, which is just about killing me. But, they are all loving playing. Camille is so excited to be on her team. She is playing a year up because she needs to be on Ivy's team. Really, it is all about playing with her friends, which is what it should be at age 6.

Claire is out here somewhere:

Here is Audra. She is on yet another new team, but she is having a great time and really enjoys the girls on her team.

Here's Camille playing goalie. She liked it because she didn't have to run:

Claire's game was about the coldest experience of our lives. Fall is definitely here!

But, how can you not enjoy watching this bundle of cuteness???

Murder at the Manor

For the past year I have been thinking about what I want to do for my Birthday. Finally, about 6 weeks ago, I decided on the perfect way to celebrate: A murder mystery party! We used to host these dinner parties when we were newlyweds, and we went to a couple professional ones, but then we had children and there was no time or energy for such events.

When I told Ben about my idea, he said he wanted to join in the fun, so we decided to make it a couples party- with Ben promising to not complain about the mess.

We found a game on-line, from Britain. You buy the PDF, which was awesome. Ben did pretty much all of the work for organizing all the logistics for the guests- creating a spreadsheet so everyone could sign up for their character, printing out all the info, getting everything ready to go, etc.

I was in charge of the food. I used all the skills from helping at my sister's weddings- chicken salad sandwiches, Little Smokies (my dad's favorite at the weddings), cheese dips, fruit dips, etc.

We thought about what to do with the girls- have them spend the night at Grandma's? Get a movie for them to watch downstairs? Then, we told them about the party- and they instantly wanted in on the action. They wanted to help with everything- including serving the food. Claire latched on to being in charge of the drinks. Since we knew there wouldn't be a bartender as we don't drink, she became "The Fizzmaster."

We spent about 7 hours getting the house ready for the party- WHEW! It takes a lot of work to throw the party!

We set up a photo booth which was fun:

This is my prom dress. It fits! I was the rich, grieving widow- Em Fatale- while Ben was the chauffeur, Ford Escort.

Here are our cute servants:

The party was FABULOUS!!!! It was so much fun- we had such a great time! We had 20 total people at the house. It was a little crowded, but we were able to spread it out over our whole main level so it worked. Everybody really got into character and just had fun with it. It was a perfect group of people. I was crying I was laughing so hard. Honestly, this was absolutely the BEST night! The girls were so cute all night, and did a great job of keeping the food and drinks full. After the serving, the girls watched from the stairs- where Camille fell asleep and Audra need to take her up to bed.

The first round involved mingling- everybody went around asking all the characters questions, eating the appetizers, and trying to deduce the killer.

The second and third rounds involved us sitting and asking questions while we ate. Then, we all made our guesses of the killer.

It was a wonderful night! I am so grateful to have so many wonderful friends. I have always been blessed with wonderful friends- it is truly one of the great blessings of my life. And, tonight I got to enjoy them! What a fantastic Birthday!

The Big 4-0

It seems like I keep having more and more Birthdays. I wish I could say I was wiser along with the older, but sadly that is not the case. But, the older I get, the more I do realize that really it all just come down to faith, family, and friends. I am beyond grateful to have an abundance of all three.

(Especially all my friends and family who knew me in my teenage years- YIKES! You are all saints for still putting up with me!)

For my Birthday, the girls made me a crown, and my 6 year old wrote me a song. The girls all sang/laughed their way through it. All joking aside, I LOVE the life that Ben and I have built. As a teenager, I never could have imagined that things would turn out so unbelievably wonderful. That doesn't mean it's perfect. But, dang, it's pretty close.

Camille's Song:

You are a loving parent,
Whenever I am sad,
You will give me a hug.

Whenever I am happy
We have fun with each other.

Happy parents are sweet
With loving inside their hearts
They are so kind to me
They help us anyhow.