Scary Payaso

Corey was up in Idaho today, which meant that I got to take the girls to a birthday party by myself. We had a sweet friend from Uruguay that we've know for years, since the "pink house" that we were renting when Mel was born, through Ethan and Hyrum before we moved to BYU. So our friend, Eduardo, has a little girl Sophia who is between our Sophi and Lily in age. When they come over here for a visit, all the girls play with her, so all the girls were invited to her birthday party. For some reason I thought that it would only be an hour or so, so I left Owen and Daniel home with Joseph. But he had to go to work. So, I got there, and we spent the first little bit with the opening activity - sledding down a grass hill.

FYI, sleds do not slide down grass hills, (well, they will with a little bit of oil) but without oil, you have to use a rope, or cut up and stripped up old clothing tied together if needs be (which is the "rope" Abi is pulling in the pic above, the rope below is made of belts.)

So poor Eduardo was going to give himself a heart attack from running kids down the hill with the sleds, so I felt I better help him. It was a good workout but I also felt absolutely ridiculous that I was getting exercise this way. Up and down the hill, up and down, and the party was at Flat Iron Mesa, which is a big hill. So that activity killed enough time for the entertainment to arrive. 

 I figured I was probably going to be here a while and had better run home and let my babysitters know. Wes and Hyrum were okay to watch Daniel and I grabbed Owen and we headed back to the park for the party. Abi took Owen - what a fun time we were going to have!

Well Owen did okay at the park part, but then I took him to the table for some food. He ate and happily enjoyed his Doritos, until he turned his head... and saw Mr. Scary Clown....

I had seen part of his show before I went home to grab Owen. Now the magic show as done and he was making balloons for the kids. Balloons or not, this guy should not be trusted, and Owen headed the opposite direction for the park.

Nope, not far enough. Abi, come with me, run to safety! Up onto the slide where he can be securely protected behind red bars. Still keeping a watchful eye. Abi and I were laughing at him, but he wasn't laughing.

When I came closer, and with a small feeling that maybe we were not all in grave and immediate danger, he gave me a smile. 

He still kept far away from the clown and did not want a balloon from him either. Here's the balloons he made for the girls. A dog for Lily ~

A unicorn for Sophi, pretty excising! Kind of a weird looking unicorn if you ask me. I don't think the faces should be drawn on.

And a hat for Natalie, and yes she is a princess.

Owen he wouldn't go back over for cake until the scary clown was packed up and driving away. The girls came over and joined him on the playset.

Owen came over and enjoyed some cake, but there were problems with that too, even with the clown gone, cause the wasps were out and hovering around the food and that would make him freak out too. Owen did not have any confidence in this situation and thus would let me put him down. Good thing I left Daniel home, cause I can't hold two babies.

So the party started at 3, I left "early" and was on my way home around 6:30. I talked with Corey as he and Mel and Eth were on their way back from Idaho. They couldn't tell a difference in traffic on the roads from the upcoming eclipse and Mel was driving great and they were making good time coming home. I gave Corey an update to my day - I told Corey where I was. He was like "Oh, yeah... I forgot about the party..." He teasingly said that now he was glad he'd gone up to Idaho and didn't have to come... glad that he didn't have to pull kids down the hill or spend 3+ hours at a social gathering when he has so much work to do. I took your lickin' sweetie, glad I could help. He helped me out by going up to Idaho. There is a tent already set up for us to sleep in tomorrow night, we're going to the eclipse! Yay. So the party was kinda fun and funny. I was the only gringa there and didn't do any small talk (I'm kinda anti-social) but kept a smile on my face and watched the kids play. After 3 hours when I said I had to go, he asked if we could stay for a few more minutes for a birthday balloon release. I felt a little bad to let my kids participate in littering (just cause it floats up doesn't mean it disappears. What goes up must come down, thus it's still littering. Sometimes I feel like such a party pooper scrooge, I can turn any fun food or party into a "that's bad for you/the planet" moment.) Anyway, then we were on our way home to finish up our last Saturday night before the school year begins. Not the most ideal way I wanted to spend our final weekend, but that's life. It was still fun and will be a good memory, especially Owen's reaction to the scary clown!