Dress Up

Today we had a wonderful family party at Jon's house. One of my favorite parts was a fashion show by Aurianna and Sophie. Two beautiful little girls paraded around in fancy princess dresses while we snapped pictures. It reminded me of the evening gown competition on Miss America. Here the big girls dress up. Do women ever outgrow the love of dressing up? Cruise ships host formal nights. On the Queen Elizabeth II we had a formal night every other night. Women dressed in velvets and satin and sparkling jewels. Dress up is fun because an ordinary woman can feel like somebody special for an evening. We all grow up on fairy tales and deep in our hearts wish to be a princess or a queen. I loved seeing all the white haired ladies in their gowns on the Queen Elizabeth II. We met a charming lady in her 90's who we called "Lady Sally." She came on cruises to eat, sleep, and dance. We saw Lady Sally at every dance where she floated around the dance floor with the gentlemen hosts. You don't have to be young to be a princess.

Back to School

Back to school again as summer fades into autumn. Leaves on our backyard maple are still green, but east on the mountains I see glimples of red and gold. I've loved this day all seasons of my life.
SEASON ONE: A girl with frizzy curls wearing a plaid dress and squeaky new shoes jumps in an old black Ford. It's her first day in first grade. She didn't go to preschool or kindergarten. She's scared and excited to learn to read with Dick and Jane and Sally and Puff. Her dad drives her to a country school and he stays the whole day. He's the sixth grade teacher/principal there.
SEASON TWO: Twenty-five chattering third graders troop into a classroom, excited to meet their new teacher. She's fresh out of college, enthusiastic, and scared. No computers, no videos, no CD"s in this classroom, only a 16 mm projecter she doesn't know how to thread.
SEASON THREE: A happy/sad, scared young mom watches as her four children dressed in jeans and T-shirts march out the door. Their backpacks are stuffed with pencils, crayons, and apples for their new teachers. Moments later a neighbor drops by. "I'll stay with your new baby so you can walk to school with your kids," the neighbor offers. The mom smiles and hurries off to school again.
SEASON FOUR: Loaded with textbooks, syllabi, and class lists, a backpack rolls into a classroom. The professor looks into eager adult faces, faces of someday teachers and hears their stories. Some are fresh from high school, others from real life at great sacrifice. They're all scared, but they'll learn from each other. They dared the first day.

Camping Trip with Jon's Family

AUGUST 11—We drove up American Fork campground to Granite Flats. We found a campsite and set up our tent. We saw squirrels and chipmunks near our camp and hiked many trails by camp. The girls called it “adventuring.” We found snail shells, blueberries, and trees. I brought two small fishing poles and went with Jon, Madelynn, and Aurianna fishing at the reservoir. We drove Jon’s new red truck and listened to John Denver. Being in the outdoors gives me great memories of my childhood. We ate Italian chicken, hot dogs, corn on the cob and peach cobbler for dinner. Everything tastes better by a campfire made with logs from our old pine tree. Madelynn tried to catch butterflies, but finally captured a moth and put it in a bottle. Madelynn hiked to the top of the mountain so she could draw the sunset. The girls slept in the trailer and the boys slept in the tent. Aurianna was my bunk mate. She tossed around, but we still managed to have a good sleep. I’m a kid at heart in the woods.