5...4...3...2...1...BLASTOFF

So yesterday, we had the most amazing opportunity!  We have a guy in our ward who's brother works for ATK, a contractor for NASA, down in Utah- just on the other side of Brigham City.  It's kind of hidden, unless you know it's there.  Anyway- they were doing a test launch of their booster that is going up in space (supposedly to Mars) in 2018.  AND WE GOT TO SEE IT!  

It was totally crazy.  We had to leave at 5 AM in order to get there in time.  Shaun was actually able to take part of the day off to go with us.  Yay!  

Here we are- you can see the red countdown clock behind us and the white thing WAY up on the mountain was the booster.  In front you can see the big screen that was showing us the engineers inside the booster as they did their final tests.

There were so many people there- Kate had to climb up on Shaun's back so she could see.  It's rough being the only shortie.

Ry was totally enthralled...

T minus 2 minutes and counting...

Brother Manning let us borrow his binoculars so we could see even better.

And... blast off.  They fired the booster and immediately you could see the white and orange followed by tons of purple smoke.  About three seconds later- the sound hit us.  You could literally see it "hit" the crowd.  Then it just shook your chest for the next two minutes as it continued to fire.

The boys loved every second.  What boy doesn't love a good "BOOM" and pyrotechnic show?

Afterward, we had a little time before I had to be back for piano lessons, so we took the long way around and went out to the Golden Spike National Park.  I've actually never been there.  Learned all about it in Mr. Thompson's 7th grade Utah History class... but I've never seen it.

Ryan was super-less-than- impressed at this point.  He was hot and hungry.  Not a great combination in Ryan.  So he was not at all helpful in smiling for pictures.  That's okay though.  I figure these are excellent blackmail pictures later.  Here they all are at the actual site of the "Golden Spike".

Ty and Kate walking one of the rails...

 Ry eventually joined them. Under great protest.

So that mom could have her picture.  They may actually all end up being like Ryan in the end.  Maybe I shouldn't take so many pictures... NAH!  I love it too much.  :)  I tried to help the little Bear out though and told them to make a silly face for this last picture... apparently Kate was the only one that took me up on it.  C'est la vie, right?

Seriously- it was such a fun morning and we were home by 1.  Whew!