from the senate to the solar system

Yesterday was such a busy but great day.

I got up early & went with Karrie to PTA day at the legislature. I always love going to these things at the capitol. I just love being at the capitol & seeing all that is going on.

It's fascinating to me. Here is the senate floor. Karrie & I went into the House of Representatives for an hour or so, then to the Senate to see what was going down. After that we went to a class on what the PTA is supporting/not supporting as far as bills go. Interesting.

I wrote a note to my representative stating my point of view on a couple of bills & sent it in to the floor.

Pretty cool stuff!

One of the things I love most is the incredible art & architecture of the capitol building.

Oh, it is beautiful! Here is a shot of the ceiling in the Senate chambers.

It is really stunning & I love to walk around all that marble.
You just can't take a photo that does it justice.

Because of traffic & snow- (yes it snowed 2 inches... I told you we've got a while to go of this winter stuff) Brett drove us up & dropped us off, then picked us up early. We live really close to downtown. It only took 15 minutes but still- thanks honey :).

{Trent- The Native American Program}

We left early, before lunch with our representatives because

HOoray

Trent had his third grade Native American program.

I wouldn't miss that for anything!!

funny thing- Trent left the house with a white button down shirt & church shoes on. When we got there- he was in his tennis shoes & undershirt...? he said "that shirt was too hot & the shoes are uncomfortable" (just in case he had put his tennis shoes in his backpack)- hmmm, boys-
Lucky for me I have such great friends- Kristy saved us seats in the front row, right in front of the little, big guy. He was not too thrilled about his part in the square dance- dancing with a girl in the third grade is pretty much the most embarrassing thing ever. The cool dance to be in was the Bear dance...you know- all boys, with arrows, mimicking killing a bear, well not really but- you know? Of course, all parts in programs are important, but dang it's hard being a kid.

Later that night-

It was time for our monthly scout field trip.

This month I planned a REally special trip.

We went to the U of U observatory & earned the observatory patch.

It was so much fun! SERiously!!

I had six boys- again Brett came with me- and we went up to the top floor of the physics building on the University of Utah campus to the observatory. Up there a couple of Physics majors (astronomy minors) met us & showed us the brilliant night sky.

I unfortunately forgot to tell the boys to dress warm. BIG OOPS.

They nearly froze to death, but had a lot of fun anyway.

It was an unusually clear night with an amazing view of Venus right next to the moon. Through the telescope you could even see the craters on the moon. We saw a nebula, Beattle Juice, the big dipper, seven sisters- I think brett & I enjoyed it as much as the scouts.

That little sliver of white on the left is the moon.
The pictures here are not too good... but you get the idea.

Lucky for the boys I had some blankets in the car.

It was a Great but busy day.

I think those kind of days are my favorite-

even though I am glad it's over.