Lunar Eclipse

I really love stargazing.  That’s one of my favourite things of living in Eagle Mountain, as I can look up almost any night and see the moon and many stars, sometimes the milky way, and on occasion a shooting star.  When I hear things about an eclipse, I make an effort to view it, if weather and timing permits.

We had a lunar eclipse happen during the night, and the forecast was clear, so I was excited.  I pulled out the camera and tripod and got them set up, taking them into the back yard to test taking pictures.  Turns out, taking night pictures with a digital camera isn’t the easiest thing to do, so I ended up spending half an hour testing different settings, until I finally got the camera ready.  Then I brought it inside and set my alarm for the middle of the night.

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I woke up and went to the window, seeing the moon partially red, as it is during a lunar eclipse.  Ethan also joined me, waking from my alarm.  I grabbed the camera and took it outside again, and just sat on the back porch steps watching and taking a few pictures.  I needed to tweak the settings of the camera again, probably due to the difference in light, but at least I knew better how to do it.

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Flies?

Lydia must have sung The Wise Man and the Foolish Man in nursery today. She is still singing it, but when she gets to the chorus she sings “…the rain came down and the flies came up…” instead of “the rain came down and the floods came up”.

I tried correcting her but she told me I was wrong. 😛

Girl Scout Investiture

We had our Girl Scout investiture at the pavilion at our old stake center. We tried to get there early to get set up, but we didn’t get there as early as I would have liked.

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Chloe and Dinah got to recite the Girl Scout law with the group of daisies. Then Chloe, since she is a new daisy this year, got to plant a seed of one of the daisy flower friends.

Tyra got to participate in a short candle ceremony with the juniors. The wind made it impossible to actually light the candles though. The wind also kept knocking the flags over.

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Our program was nice and short (I think a couple of the families appreciated that), and our refreshments were provided by the girls. I think the girls really enjoy being responsible for the treats once in awhile, and they like to show off what they brought to all the other girls. We mingled awhile while we ate refreshments. Kyle and I kept picking up the trash and putting it in the van (we should have taken a trash bag with but totally didn’t even think of that).

While I was talking to someone, I noticed Lydia off in the field holding her dress up above her waist as she peed. I had to go tell Kyle about it, and a few others noticed and pointed it out to me like I hadn’t already noticed. We have been working on potty training with her and obviously she needed to go, but there weren’t any bathrooms at the pavilion. So wetting herself meant it was time for our family to go home so we could get her taken care of.

Just floating along

Kyle recently came home saying that he decided to get a membership to the Legacy Center in Lehi. We were signing Ethan up for another round of swim lessons and members get a discount. Having a membership also means that while Ethan is at his lesson, the other kids can actually get in the pool too, instead of just sitting on the deck watching the lessons.

We were at the pool today, and all the kids put life jackets on before going in. I really appreciate that, because NONE of them know how to swim, and it helps me to worry less, knowing they’ve got a life jacket on. We are finding that it’s impossible to keep all of the kids together in the pool, they just go wherever they choose. I still find myself stopping every few minutes to see if I can track all seven of them down. Today, Lydia had her life jacket on, as usual, and just floated on her back. She just let the water take her wherever it wanted to take her. Twice the life guards had to pull her out of the area of the pool being used for the swim lessons.

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