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Labor Day Perfection

Today could quite possibly have been called a perfect day.  I had a slow morning, followed by  getting some laundry started, cleaning the kitchen and mopping the floor and vacuuming the rest of the upstairs.  The little girls played together nicely, Spencer and Emma went to the blue barn together and Taylor and Zach Skinner hung out with their electronics (Zach's family went to Lake Powell for the weekend.  He wanted to go on the scout camp out Friday night instead of going to Lake Powell--what is wrong with him??, and his mother didn't want him to stay home alone for the rest of the weekend so she asked if he could stay with us.  Of course he could).  Destry worked for a couple of hours at the Oborne's on a small remodeling project they hired him to do.  I also had a nice visit with Renee who is homesick.  I am sad for her.  Her hubby is out of town again.  He has been working lots of overtime since they got to Alaska.  Renee and the girls have made some nice friends, but she knows that the Smiths usually go camping together on Labor Day weekend so she was missing us.  We didn't camp this year so I told her not to be too sad.  I am secretly glad that they don't love it there so much that they never want to come back.  We are homesick for them every day!  Estelle played Uno and did the "chicken dance" with Abby over Skype.  I love skype.  What a great technological blessing to be able to see our cousins who are hundreds of miles away.  The girls are always so cute and creative when they Skype together.  Sometimes they play ponies and princesses or read books together.

After we ate lunch, we packed up some snacks and climbed into the Yukon.  Our intended destination was Cascade Springs, which we did make it to eventually.  That is one of my favorite places to visit.  It is so beautiful and peaceful there, even when it is really crowded like today was.   Destry saw a side road he wanted to explore, so explore we did.  We made our way up a one lane dirt road into the back country.  It was beautiful.  When Estelle found out that this was actually a detour and that we did not know exactly where the road went; although Destry had a good idea, she quietly cried.  We found a turn around spot and went back.  I am sympathetic of her fear.  I have a certain amount of anxiety of off roading myself.  What if we roll down the side of the mountain and no one is around to notice?  What if the car breaks down and we have to walk ten miles to phone service?  What if we get lost?  What if there is freak thunder storm and the road washes out...?  I try to keep this in check, but I know where she is coming from. We went home via Midway and Heber.  We had dinner at a burger joint in Heber that has serving crowds down to a science.  

We had a great day together.  It was only partially planned and the detours were great.  We enjoyed Zach's company and he seemed to survive the weekend with us.  Even Taylor's blood glucose was mostly in check.  He was not sick and he wasn't annoying either; that was a real bonus!  When he is not sick he is usually funny and goofy that doesn't know when to quit.  Today he was just pleasant.  I was about to say there was no fighting and no meltdowns, but that  would have been going too far.  With all three girls sharing the third row seat there was a small amount of fighting, but only when we started out. Sarah had a small meltdown when the only bathroom facility available when she needed one was an outhouse.  Once she decided that her need to use it outweighed the smell and scariness she was fine.  I can't say that I blame her for that one.  I have internal meltdowns whenever I have to use one.  All in all it was a great day!  I love uncomplicated, semi-structured time with my family.  Days like today are the ones we will all remember when we get old.

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