Boone's First Day of 1st Grade

My baby Boonie officially grew up enough to go to first grade.  It has been so hard this year because 1st grade was MY THING!  I had so much fun teaching those babies and to think that I could have been his teacher makes me wish I could so badly.  

It was a bit of a waiting game, not  knowing which school he was going to go to this year.  He didn't win the lottery into the Spanish immersion program at Heritage (the school in our boundaries) and it seemed like he was THE ONLY ONE who did not get into the program.  Every single person he knew got into it.  He wanted to learned Spanish so badly and was pretty disappointed when he didn't get in.  I put him on the waiting list at a STEM school and he was first in line - so we were waiting to hear on that too.  About two weeks before school started Lindsey Kelstrom told me that the Spanish immersion school that her kids are in had openings for first grade.  So we signed him up over there because it felt right and we hope to someday be able to transfer him over to Heritage.  Until then, he will be at Bridger Elementary.  It's literally across the road from Mason's work so he takes him every morning.  Boonie was a little nervous to be going to a new school, but luckily he knows two other boys in the first grade - even though they aren't in his class.  Collin Kelstrom (his good old buddy) and Lincoln Maughan (another boy who lives on Hollow Road who didn't get into the program).

Boonie is already growing up so fast.  I was happy that he finally chose a little kids backpack because I predict this will be his last year doing so... he's getting too cool already.  Why oh why do they have to grow??

I just love him to pieces.  The first 3 days were kinda hard on him.  He wasn't sleeping well at nights and not getting naps anymore so he kinda turned into a crazy person.  The 3rd day of school he said he kept welling up with tears to cry because he missed me so much.  It's a long day, but I think he's adjusting.  This parenting business is SO HARD.

Thankfully Collin is there.  We had to get a first day picture of them being we did the same thing on their first day of preschool.  I plan on recreating this when they are seniors in high school.

Eclispe - Girl's Trip

For Christmas last year I gave my mom the gift of time.  I told her to pick an item off her bucket list and we would go have a girls trip.  So when she heard there was going to be a total solar eclipse, being the NASA fanatic she's always been, she decided that's what she wanted to do.  We met in Nebraska where we stayed in Lincoln.  We had a blast.

The first night we flew in and went downtown.  We ate dinner at Buzzard Billy's where they had some spicy Cajun food for my mom.  After we walked around for a bit seeing the nightlife of Lincoln.

We decided that we'd take 'selfies' everywhere we went.  So here was our first 'selfie'.  The next morning we went back to the Haymarket (downtown) where they were having a farmers market.  We stopped by the Licorice store where they sell licorice from all over the world.

This sign said, "Don't disappear like the moon - buckle up."

We had lunch at a yummy fish taco place and then went to the Lincoln Museum.  After that we headed to the Sunken Gardens - which were amazing.  They use to be an old landfill that they have turned into spectacular gardens.  It was so beautiful.

That night we went to a murder mystery dinner.  We were sitting by the killer the whole time.  We suspected it was her the whole time, but she fooled us by becoming our friend!!  We were so mad when we realized she had lied to us!!

Sunday we went to church and then checked the weather.  There had been clear skies since we had been there, but the forecast wasn't looking so good.  It had been storming the night before - the craziest storm ever!!  Everywhere within 4 hours of Lincoln predicted mostly cloudy skies.  So I kept following the weather along the line of totality and we saw that a small town about 4 1/2 hours away was predicting 'partly cloudy' skies.  We figured that partly cloudy skies was better than mostly cloudy skies so we packed up and drove to Boonville, MO.  We literally snagged the last hotel room on the hotels.com app.  

Of course we were thrilled with the name of the place.  It was an adorable little town - population 8,000.  The total eclipse coming through was probably the most excitement that town has ever seen!

We went to a nasty little diner called Maggie's for dinner.  They were so worried about the crowds that they had a fixed menu.  It wasn't that busy.  I haven't wanted to hamburger since.  The hotel we stayed in was nice.  We scouted out the perfect location for the next morning and called it a day.

The next morning, to start off her day, my mom won $5 at the eclipse raffle.  Then we drove just north of Boonville where there was a little store (bathroom purposes) and was right up against a field so we could see everything!

It was a nail biter of a day.  We arrived and it was partly cloudy.  We could see the sun with our glasses through the clouds just fine.  But about an hour before it got REALLY cloudy.  So cloudy that we couldn't even see the sun WITH our glasses on.  I was getting really nervous that things weren't going to work out.  My whole family (Kyle and El Manuel) were texting so much feeling so worried themselves.  My mom was trying to be a good sport.  She wanted to see this so badly and we had spent SO MUCH MONEY and come so far for this event.

About 20 minutes before the eclipse the sky started to turn partly cloudy again.  We were happy to be able to see the sun with our glasses.  The sooner it got to totality the clearer the skies got.  It was so exciting.  There was a dog next to us and about 5 minutes before he started to whine and whimper nervously.  It was neat to see because that's part of the things to watch for.  Just as totality hit the skies were absolutely clear.  

Heavenly Father answered so many prayers for my mom to be able to see the eclipse.  It was truly astonishing.  There are not words to describe it.  It was eery, beautiful, amazing, humbling - just incredible.  I truly felt I was seeing the hand of God and one of his marvelous creations.  I recorded the whole event, it's fun to see our reactions.

We were able to see the diamond ring as the moon was coming off the sun.  Bucket list item completed!!!

Afterwards we headed home through the traffic (which wasn't that bad).  We stopped in Kansas City, MO for some dinner at Red Lobster.  Luckily we didn't take much longer than we did because we were out-running tornadoes and massive storms the rest of the way home.

We had a blast together.  It was relaxing and so fun to be with my mom all by myself.  I'm thankful to Mason for watching the kids.  We need another girls trip soon!

July Randoms

July was SUCH a busy month.  Between all the trips it just made the month go by WAY too fast.  Once July is over, that means summer is over... Ah well.  At least we packed it FULL!!

Highlights of July... Lefler extended family reunion in Woodland.  I didn't go this year bc Emily was visiting from Texas.  We had a girls day instead.  Highlights: potty training Adelyn unsuccessfully resulting in her becoming an unnecessary nudist (my mom nicknamed her Lady Godiva), Boone's bruise on his head is from his lovely sister Marae wacking him over the head with the horse on a stick, 7 peaks, chickens, 4-wheeler rides, Boone's baseball team winning 2nd place in the league (they hadn't won even one other game until the tournament... HA!  They came out of no where!!), Emily bringing her boys up and spending the night, and picnics.  We live a wonderful life.  I love my little family.

Spoiled baby... I did not approve of the binkie.... Daddy caves too easily.