Saturday Evening

We had a nice Saturday afternoon after spending the morning and early afternoon cleaning the house. Brick had a soccer game which I went to watch and to help wrangle children. Guy has gone to Moab, so Mikayla is being a single parent but needed to be able to focus on coaching the soccer game and not on her children. Mom came to watch and wrangle too. Brick's team won, five to three.

I suggested everyone come to my house after the game for dinner and game playing, and at 9:00 we would burn the last of the Christmas trees that have been drying up by the side of the garage. It was time.  That all sounded good, so I sent Brandt for pizza while I walked home with the children. Mom came for pizza and games, but she left to go to Ava, Crew, and Griffin's promenade. The girls did coloring and cutting on the family room floor, Kal made me the most delightful paper hippo dragon with large mouth and teeth and wings. Mikayla, Mom, and I played a card game before she left, and then I played a couple of games with Freya and Thea. Freya always likes to play Snug as a Bug in a Rug and Count Your Chickens. 

Part of the craft wound up glued to the back doors.

As 9:00 approached, Kent came in and said we couldn't burn trees because there were too many cars in the cul-de-sac. There were many cars, and I surmised they were there for the Oylers. I went over and sure enough, Sam had the whole ultimate frisbee team at his house following a tournament. When told that a tree burning would happen if they would move their cars, and that they could all watch, cars were quickly relocated and the tree burning was back on.

Brandt, ever the entertainer, brought out a speaker, his mixing board, and computer, and began playing music, loudly, as Kent set up the trees. The frisbee team gathered, several neighbors came out, and Mikayla's children were excitedly dancing around. We had three full, pretty tall, incredibly dry trees to burn. Kent secured one in an umbrella stand, then rested the other two against that one. He brought out the fire extinguisher because he was worried they would fall over or the heat would be so tremendous something else would catch fire that we really did not want to burn.

Brandt is out of focus because he couldn't stop moving to the music.

With music blaring, Izzy and Kent lit the trees. They went up spectacularly! The flames were high and hot, and with three, it was quite a show. We heard the following from Mikayla's children and the frisbee team.

Cora: "Let's do another one!"

Kal: "I just to light things on fire!"

Brick: "I want to see something explode."

Kal, said in a monster voice: "I want them to burn!"

Frisbee player 1: "We never do this kind of thing in my neighborhood. I want to move here."

Frisbee player 2: "That's the most amazing thing I've ever seen in my life."

It was a terrific final tree burning and a fun Saturday evening all around.

Click here to see video of the tree burning.