Fun Times

Today is BigBuddy's Birthday. He finally turned 19.
It feels like his whole life we have been waiting for this age to come in his life - to go on a mission and be a fine young man. And now that this day has come its been totally low key.

He's had his best friend here all week, and he just left this morning, then BigBuddy had to go to work at noon, so it doesn't feel like a wonderfully special day, but this past week I hope made up for today.
Of all his birthday gifts, he was most excited about this coin that shows the Army of Helaman on one side and says Sons of Helaman on the back showing a missionary. I think his next favorite was either a book on the temple, which he'll go to for the first time next week, or the money I gave him yesterday to go out to dinner with his buddy. They hit Texas Roadhouse, ordered 20 oz steaks each and came back like beached whales. Then two hours later they were back in the kitchen looking for something to eat.
We've had thunderstorms every afternoon, and then they disappeared in the evening. All the boys enjoyed making s'mores every night. I thought I'd planned ahead, but still needed to make a Hershey-bar run, not realizing this was going to be a nightly ritual. That firepit has been the best investment. The kids love it!
Here you see Pike's Peak in the background. The big boys took the cog railway up it yesterday afternoon, then when they returned, they decided to hike up the mountain in front of it. As they relayed the hike to me, it was so steep it made the one at the family reunion seem flat. BigBuddy said they'd set a goal of taking ten steps, or up to the next tree, and finally made it to the top, and saw some amazing views. Among them, the trail that made a zig zag up to the top, instead of going straight up it like they had just done. In all their excitement, they missed the easy trail, but this was a week of Big Adventure, so this just added to their stories to tell.
They only spent an hour at the Garden of the Gods, but had fun posing for pictures. We saw some bucks here, which we don't usually see around here.
This morning they were too tired to do much, but eat about a dozen waffles each, and watch YouTube funny videos. It had been a big week. His friend had never been to Colorado and he loved it. He and BigBuddy hiked three different trails this week, totaling probably 20 miles. They rode bikes on a fifteen mile mountain bike trail. They went to see the buffalo farm, and we had bison burgers that night, which they loved. They played Wii and electronic Monopoly and had a lot of laughs. We went to the Olympic Training Center, (they have a new movie there), we had A&W root beer floats at A&W, and I made chicken enchiladas, since our guest told me how sad he was that he hadn't been able to come on Mexican Monday. He was a frequent dinner guest when we lived in Maryland, especially on Monday nights.

One day we say Two double rainbows. This was the first one, which I saw north of us, in the parking lot at the bowling alley as were leaving. About three hours later I saw one north of us when I went out side to check the mail. By the time I got back to get my camera it was gone, but it was even brighter and more vivid than this first one.

I didn't take near enough photos of everything, but I did drive to the far away places, and enjoyed all the time spent with the boys. And our girl, she had a great time at Trek, with only one small blister the whole time. She said the woman's pull was the hardest, but she also realized that sometimes what everyone else thinks is super hard, really isn't that hard at all. And, she didn't take any photos, she was too busy pulling her handcart. I am grateful all of my children had such a good week. Looks like I'll be doing more journaling than cropping in my albums, and that's okay. I'm glad they all made great memories and shared them with me.

Dear Me

I got MyGirl on her way to the Pioneer Trek last night. All the youth met at the church for a fireside at 9:30 pm, then met with their families and boarded the buses with all their gear, and themselves - girls in two buses, boys in the others, and they were set to leave at midnight. Its going to be an adventure, for sure!

This was the apron I made for her last week when she decided she didn't want to wear the dress just by itself. You can see her bonnet a little behind her. It didn't match exactly but was as close a yellow as I could find. Fortunately, she didn't complain about that.

Suffice it to say, I was helping her to the last minute be happy with everything. We braided her hair cute, with an off-center part, which I loved on her, but she was done with any photos I might take. This pic was actually taken a few days ago. I know she'll do well. She is strong and healthy and enjoys the girl she met in her "family." They're planning on riding up on the bus together, and leaning together to get some sleep before they hike their 15 miles today. Praying that her feet will be happy and that she'll be able to sleep tonight on Rocky Ridge. That's what she's most worried about. Somehow I think she'll be tired enough to get some sleep.
So, instead of another girl to keep things balanced at home, we are now all about boys.

This is a friend of Little Buddy's. His parents are one of the ma's and pa's on Trek, so he's at our house. Chick-Fil-A here had a special. Bring in 2 canned goods and get a free sandwich. We were out anyhow, so it was a great place for lunch. The boys got a kick out of the headgear available to try on. These two are so funny together.
When they're not pretending they're cows, they busy on electronics. Just when they were set to go outside and physically play, a thunderstorm cropped up, so they came up in the den where I am and found some great YouTube videos to laugh at. 12 year old boys are in a class all by themselves. Silly, smart, goofy, embarrassing, obnoxious, and tender would be words I would use to describe them yet I am highly entertained just listening to them. What does that say about me? That one in front, I just adore him, so I guess it doesn't really matter how obnoxious he is. He'll only be twelve for another six months. He's growing WAY too fast!
This was our view at dinner time last night. Some of those antlers are getting pretty big.
This was our view as I went into the kitchen to start dinner tonight.
With the telephoto, is more how it looks with the naked eye. I stood on the deck and took these and they just watched me. We still get a kick out of watching them.

Baseball

A couple of weeks ago, we were given tickets to see the Colorado Sky Sox play the Salt Lake Bees. It was a lovely night. We got there at the end of the third inning because our air conditioning crew was running behind, but with the heat lately, it was worth it.

I like baseball games, but sometimes they can be a little long. I think I'll always come at the third inning. This felt just right.
Around the 7th or 8th inning, there were three runs , two were home runs. That got the crowd really into it.
This is the mascot, Sox the Fox. He was fun! At every change of innings there were fun audience contests. Here they were trying to make a hole in run. Didn't happen, but fun to watch.
This was my favorite player - Mike Jacobs. I realized if we were living in a matriarchal society, this would be my husband's name. When I told MyMike that, he looked at me strangely. Where do I come up with this stuff? I know.
For about fifteen minutes there was rain coming down. We got up and watched the game from the covered area. That was during the 9th inning, and we won, 7-6. Then it quit raining. Mike and I don't mind rain delays. It reminds us of one of our early dates when we sat huddled under a blanket watching the Angels in Anaheim. We got wet as we sat down to watch fireworks, but it was worth it. It was a great show and everyone else had wet bums too.
It was fun just to be together. Glad BigBuddy was off work that day at 5:30.

He missed last nights' 17 Miracles movie. So good, but so sad. With MyGirl heading to Trek tomorrow, it was the perfect reminder of the real sacrifices made.

Remembering my friend Amy today too. She passed away a year ago on July 24. It was a Saturday. I still miss her. I keep wanting to call and tell her my boy is going to learn Portuguese. I went to lunch the other day at Panera and missed her there too. It was one of our favorite places to catch up on life. I'm glad her body walks well again and she is without pain. I just wish missing her didn't have to hurt still.

Renaming

I ended up renaming the So Happy layout I was planning on doing, and instead found a stamp called O Happy Day. Yesterday we received travel arrangements, and a lot of other requirements, three which have to be notarized, and all in by Aug. 9. BigBuddy is busy again when he's not working.
MyGirl told me this week that my blog needs more creative projects. So, here's what I've been working on all this week, in about 10 minute increments. I am glad I have my own desk and older children so I can leave things out on it. It makes it easier to just come back to it when I have a few minutes. The big creative projects I've been working on this week involve the sewing machine and the long table. I'll post them next week. I spent hours on those, but that's always made longer by the fact that I have never Ever worked on something without picking it out. Its not that I don't like fabric, but clearly paper likes me better!
I've decided to get out of my box more. The only paper here that is CTMH is the background, the black mat paper and the off white journaling piece. The train and ticket papers are from Crate Paper and the stickers and patterned paper are from a company called Simple Studio. I really like them. Playing with design here too, not so graphically aligned. It was fun. No picking out, and I always scrap with repositionable taperunners, to make it so much quicker when I've made a mistake, which I do, but its so much less painful than picking out, you know?
I would love to do a Harry Potter page, but have nothing to scrap - no photos of any of us at the theater, no film clips, can't even say I could find the ticket stub. I may do just a journaling page. What I enjoy most is sharing it with my children, hearing their enthusiasm and excitement and hearing that even LittleBuddy had tears in his eyes when he thought Neville was about to die. I love that real love triumphs over evil and that ordinary people can do great things without letting it go to their head and craving more power.

Woodland Park

Wednesdays this summer have been our days for field trips since BigBuddy usually has the day off.
Last Wednesday we ventured to Woodland Park, about 45 minutes away, picnic in tow.
We found a shaded picnic table right on the main street in town, and enjoyed the fact it was ten degrees cooler here than at home.
Pike's Peak is just south of here, and the views were lovely! Looks like the snow is finally about melted up there.
We walked through town and found this cute guy sitting on a park bench. There were some fun Western shops and even a cute craft store with amazingly good prices. I helped the economy there.
We like antler arches. It reminded us of Jackson Hole, but of course, there are more there and they are much bigger. We also stopped by the visitor's center, just to see what they had to tell us, and found there are about ten different cool places all less than half an hour away. My boys were thrilled to hear about the Colorado Wolf and Rescue Center about ten minutes away, so we went to check it out.
Tucked back from one of the mountain highways, this was a fascinating place. It houses 17 wolves, 2 coyotes, and 6 foxes.
We learned a lot in the hour plus tour we received. Some wolves prefer to live alone, but when they mate its for life, so sometimes they live with their mate. Other times they just live with a friend, if their mate has passed away. That was true in this case.
This was Princess. She lives alone. She is a diva and can't share or get along with others. The fences are all electrically charged. We were reminded to keep our distance regularly. Princess is probably one of the reasons why.
Wolves come in many different colors and sizes. Some of them are grey, black, white, or mixed. Very few are just true brown.
We were there in the afternoon. Several were laying down in shady places. Some were asleep.
One thing I learned was that some wolves are very friendly to people. At this facility, some get taken for walks on a leash. Others are so friendly, they are offended if you don't physically touch them and love them. In fact, a wolf accepts you into their pack by licking you. We were told that to really let them love you, you should open your mouth so they could lick inside. You COULD NOT PAY ME to let a wolf do that to me, but there were six people who had paid $75 that day for the opportunity. They get a more "advanced" tour. No thank you! ICK!!!!

The funniest part was at the end of our tour. We were told to communicate with them and howl like a wolf. It was funny, and of course, my gentlemen were the loudest howlers of our group. We heard one, and then several began to howl back. The kids loved it. Now they want to practice in our backyard the next time they see a coyote. The neighbors will love that I'm sure.
This was a unique place, and one my children will not likely soon forget. Now we have a new list of fun adventures all less than an hour away that we want to try.

So Happy

This month I wanted to get Bigbuddy's emotions caught in a scrapbook while they're still fresh. I used Becky Fleck's Page Maps contest as my inspiration. Sometimes creativity is in the altering not in the original creation, like following a pattern to make a quilt or a skirt. I need to make the coordinating page to go with it. The title will be So Happy!

A New Winner

LittleBuddy pulled the numbers 1 - 11 out of the hat, and the winner was:

#9 Nannypanpan@gmail.com

I'll contact you for your home address, and your creative juices can start flowing.

Thanks to everyone who participated.

More creative inspiration to come soon.

Giveaways!

I've decided on a Christmas in July theme for this giveaway.

It includes a number of things you could use for creative fun:

10 patterned pieces of paper, stripes, dots, and patterns, all 8-1/2 x 11 (Provo Craft)

1 paper of beautiful ornaments (??)

1 paper sampler of stickers (Pebbles)

1 cardstock stickers (daisy d's)

1 pkg. glittery star gift tags (Pier One)

10 generic off white gift tags with strings

1 roll approx. 3 yds. gold organdy ribbon (Offray)

1 roll approx. 12 yards red grosgrain ribbon (Offray)

1 pkg. of 3 wooden frames (Ikea)

1 pkg. chocolate, bamboo, colonial white embellishments (Close To My Heart)

1 tiny alphabet wooden stamp set (Studio G)

Wherever you are in the world, just give leave a comment with your name and e-mail by Friday at midnight.

I will then have my LittleBuddy randomly draw out a number on Saturday morning, and if you are that number, you will win!!! Tell your friends to come leave a comment too.

If you want to enter other giveaways, here are a couple more.

Wendysueanderson.blogspot.com is giving away the other Dots and Stripes paper pack on her blog. If I could win, you could too.

Then on her blog post is a link for EchoPark's blog. They are giving away the large Cricut's. They usually sell for at least $300 unless you find an outrageous sale, but who doesn't like FREE?

They are also advertising the new MyCraftChannel run by Kristine McKay, who designed a really cool Halloween line for Echo Park paper. Check that out, make a comment, and maybe you could be the winner.

It doesn't hurt to try all the others, but at least leave a comment here. Good luck!

And the winner is . . . .

ME!

You may have recently noticed that I added a few other blogs to my bloglist. These are people that occasionally I check out what creative projects they're doing. They have so many inspirational ideas that I decided to add them to my list to make it easier for me to find them. Well, one of them, Wendy Sue Anderson, was having a giveaway of dots and stripes paper. Who doesn't love dots??? I've been known to buy dots in several colors before or whole pads before of just dots, so this was a cross-your-fingers and make a comment. And, for the first time, I Won!

Wendy's pages are always colorful, cheerful, and darling. She uses cute little embellishments that aren't complicated, but perfectly add to her scrapbook pages. Thanks Wendy! Her blog is called just me . . . and my little world.

Anyhow, I thought, what if I did a giveaway also? I'm going to take a look at my stash so check back tomorrow and see what I've come up with, and if you're interested, maybe you can be a winner too.

With so much attention being paid to BigBuddy these past few days I thought it was time to give a little to the rest of the family.

Cowgirl, our hard-working, fun-loving, and family-centered oldest daughter is picking up furniture from her grandparents this weekend before they move. She is really sad that they are moving closer by me because she has really enjoyed having them closer to her. I understand that. I really do. If we can get her here more often it could be the best of both worlds! We have a lot of fun when she's home, but she's at that busy phase of life so that doesn't happen often enough for me. At least we can talk and text regularly. I love having her for my daughter.

MyMike. . . poor guy. He's getting a root canal this Friday, after being miserable since last Friday. On the more positive side, the company that he is working for loves him and he loves working there. It is such a good fit it was worth the move. Everyone should know that they are contributing and appreciated. Right now he is working on unmanned vehicles which I think should make the world safer for the good guys. Its nice that its not top secret and we can visit him at his office once in a while. I love this man. Part of the reason he wanted to move me here was to have less stress in my life and that has been the case. I don't teach anymore. I can send MyGirl to public schools sometimes and get a break from homeschooling. Getting old together with him is a good thing. Now if we can both stay healthy enough to enjoy it!

LittleBuddy told me today that he wants a real job. He told me he gets bored when his big brother goes to work and he would like a nicer paycheck than he's currently receiving. I thought that was cute for a twelve year old. When he gets bored he resorts to his electronics, which I've limited. But, I have to give him credit, because after we talked this morning, he went hiking with his brother and sister, then read his book for two hours. I am teaching him piano lessons again and I am looking for a good viola teacher close as well. This little guy has a lot of untapped talents. I think I need to work harder at helping him find them all. Last week he thought he'd try his hand at computer programming, and he was successful. He has a lot of fun at Scouts and with his friends. One is coming to stay with us when his parents go to Trek, and LittleBuddy can't wait!

Here is a sweet picture of MyGirl. She didn't know I was taking this photo of her at the reunion. That's a good thing. She's Anti-Photos. She went to her friend's house last Saturday. They went on a hike to the park and back. She saw a garter snake on the way and didn't freak. She's a better girl than her mother! The Pioneer Re-enactment Trek is in less than two weeks. They're going up to Rocky Ridge and Devil's Gate, where the actual handcart pioneers suffered. She was sick when our former stake went on Trek, but now she will get to leave young women's having had this opportunity. This will be a unique and truly memorable experience. Only nine groups a year are allowed into Rocky Ridge, and our stake is one, however they have to climb/hike 15 miles the first day. Rocky Ridge is mostly uphill, and its not going to be easy. The Trek Dr. came and spoke to us all last week and told the youth to take a Large gulp of water Every Five Minutes. Its going to be hot and dry and rocky and dusty! They are walking in memory of one of the pioneers who actually walked. Its been humbling to learn about that woman's life. I'll share her story later. I have been proud of MyGirl that she really hasn't complained as she's been preparing. Last week she and her big brother hiked 13 miles in a few hours and she did fine except for the sunburned top of her head. At least she'll be wearing a bonnet on the real trek. I know it will be harder to have a handcart to move besides herself, but she's strong and she's healthy. What a huge blessing that is! And she won't be doing it alone. We still have some wardrobe issues to fix, but that's tomorrow's agenda.
So, that's what's up.

Families are the best!

Every day there's something on the news that makes me want to hug them all and keep them closer. To quote one of my favorite songs, "Shower the people you love with love." Words that I need to remember always!

Yummy Things

I forgot to share these photos of the dessert MyGirl made for the Fourth. Yummy cheesecake bars with an oatmeal crust. Loved how patriotic these were, with the help of the smallest size Wilton star cookie cutter.
And, the Corn Salsa - So good, I'm including the recipe. I got this from the cookbook "Celebrate," put out by the American Cancer Society. Fresh, Healthy, and So YUMMY!

Corn, Onion, Red Pepper, White Bean, and Cilantro Salsa

1 15 oz. can white beans, rinsed

1 15 oz. can yellow corn, drained

1 large red bell pepper, diced finely

1/2 large yellow onion, diced finely

1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped finely

1 T. lime juice

1/2 T. tabasco sauce

dash of salt

Toss it all together and serve. This picture above was taken right after I put it on the table on the 4th. Fifteen minutes later, half the bowl was gone. It was that fresh and good. Everyone loved it, even LittleBuddy who doesn't like peppers. MyMike and I put it on our grilled meat for a relish. I am definitely making this again! BigBuddy likes all salsas. I wonder if they have a lot of those in Brazil? I can only think of the Rodizio Grill, a Brazilian restaurant that serves a lot of yummy marinated meat. If he has to survive on that, he definitely won't mind!

It was raining yesterday evening, so instead of our S'more Saturday Night we made Foil Dinners and baked them in the oven at 350 for an hour.

Foil Dinners -

Layer the following:

sliced onions

hamburger patties

salt, pepper, and Montreal Steak seasoning

baby carrots

sliced Russet or Yukon Gold potatoes

Wrap tightly in Aluminum foil and put directly on the oven rack or outdoor grill, seams up.

Then we put the foil dinners on paper plates, and made the most of our indoor/outdoor meal. We like a squirt of Sweet Baby Ray's on top. . . .Mmmmmm! You can substitute chicken breast or pork chops for the hamburger also.

Served with fresh watermelon and cucumbers, everyone was full and happy. I liked this because MyGirl and I could put it together as a team easily and quickly, and everyone loved them.

Our Missionary

*Note the change made below - what I mistakenly wrote as Jerusalem, was an error of my too excited brain, and should actually be: Bethlehem.

I woke up this morning to BigBuddy looking out the window. "Look, Mom! They're on our side of the creek." Not one, but two, beautiful does enjoying the green grass and the water. It's going to be a good day, we both agreed.
Around 1:15 pm I checked the mail box. It's Here!!! I texted him at work, then found Cowgirl's work number, grabbed my camera, and called Mike, who had just called me. About ten minutes later, Mike was home, I was dialing my cell phone, and Bigbuddy drove into the driveway, got the keys, and went to the mailbox. LittleBuddy was with him.

It's HERE!!!
As he's opening it up, he's so excited, the envelope gets pretty ripped.

Cowgirls on the phone by his ear, as he reads out loud the words,

"going to Brazil Belem, entering the Brazilian MTC on Dec. 14, 2011."
He talks to Shaena and is so thrilled. Tears are in both our eyes. MyGirl is running around exclaiming, "I can't believe I was right. I said he'd go to Brazil. I just can't believe I was right." My dad had predicted the same thing. He then called his grandparents, his best friend back in Maryland, and texted our bishop and his favorite friend that is a girl. He really felt speechless. Happy, overjoyed, and humbled.

He is going to be a missionary! What a tremendous privilege! To be called to represent the Lord Jesus Christ, and bring His message to others is a great joy and opportunity not given to everyone. In fact, the third paragraph of his letter says, "You have been recommended as one worthy to represent the Lord as a minister of the restored gospel." To hold oneself to this standard is not for everyone, but the blessings are great for those choose to do so, and I am very excited for the blessings that await him as a missionary. He has a new language to learn and we have a lot of things to buy and prepare, but he has his VISA, he has his CALL, and he is Willing to Serve!

So, in the past two and a half hours, this is what I have learned about Belem from the internet, either through Wikipedia or letters written by missionaries that have been posted, or by the girl from our stake who just returned from there a couple of weeks ago and spoke in our ward.

The city is named after *Bethlehem, where the Savior was born, and also after the city of Belem, in Portugal. Cowgirl gets credit there for dreaming he was going to be serving in Portugal - very close - speaking the same language, and named for a city there.

It has almost 2 million people that live there, and lately has had a large influx of skyscraper building. It is located on the 5th degree latitude from the Equator, so is considered a tropical climate and has no dry season. Belem is on the estuary of the Amazon River, that spills into the Atlantic Ocean. The mission itself takes the northern border of Brazil and goes halfway into the rainforest.

There is a big disparity between the wealthy and the poor, and the missionaries for the most part live poor, as in no warm showers for two years. The language in that area is known for being the most difficult to understand due to their extremely fast speed, slang, and accent. My boy will be calling upon the Lord regularly, I'm sure, for help. He and I had a good talk last night. When you love the Lord and trust him, it doesn't matter where you're called or what language you're speaking, "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28)

He loves the Lord. He will love the Brazilian people. He will probably like all the food except for the cowtail soup, which the sister missionary said was chewy, and not very appetizing. He will serve with his heart, mind, and strength, and share his testimony of Jesus Christ.

I know there will be challenges and I know there will be trials, but I am thrilled he has this opportunity. I will now be developing a new love for all things Brazilian. This will be a wonderful experience for our whole family to share, as we do what we can to support him. Part of our faith is to know that we are sending him farther than we can drive if things go bad, and trusting that the Lord will provide what is needed. I shed tears of joy after his call, feeling the same emotion I did when he was born - what a privilege it is to be a mother and to now be the mother of a missionary. I will cherish this day always, for the opportunity it presents!

Fourth Fun

I knew it was going to be a good day when I saw this deer with antlers staring at me when I got up. A little while later his two friends joined him further up the hill, and stayed for about an hour.
We got up early this holiday weekend, made waffles, then headed to the high school for the bus pick-up that took us downtown. Our little town only has about a dozen square blocks, and they were expecting about 25thousand people, so we wanted to Avoid Traffic. That's usually our third major goal of all 4th of July's. #1 is to feel patriotic. #2 stay safe.
The theme was, "Liberty and Justice for All."
I loved everything about this. Sitting at an intersection, under a shady spot of trees and the community church behind me, we'd brought our camp chairs and water bottles and were ready. Everyone was dressed in red, white and blue, lots of families and teenagers and elderly and groups of friends. . . truly something for everyone. We arrived about twenty minutes before it began.
First came the children's parade - on bikes, scooters, and wagons
all decorated, with parents close-by.
These two pulled out of the line and onto our street. A second after this occurred, the hat was snatched, the boy was screaming and the girl looked as smug as a toddler can. It really was the comedy moment of the whole thing.
Music was interspersed. These teenagers were first. Sounded great! I love marching bands!
This was one of the last. He was being towed behind a truck, just playing patriotic music down the road . . . so great! Loved all his decorations too. It had that kind of home-town feel.
The fifes were part of the Civil War Reenactment unit. Didn't know there was one close by.
Then came the troops. Everyone stood and clapped and cheered so loudly. It was moving. I almost forgot to take their picture, but at least you can see their backs.
We saw all kinds of military assemblies -

Tanks,
Vets,
Subs?? MyMike looked at me somewhat shocked. We're a long ways from water, so we weren't expecting this, but it was still exciting.
Shriners carrying our flag and those of our neighbors. I took this photo for my mom, Dennis, Debbie, and Julie. You know I love you always!
There were some surprises too. . . Captain Jack? At the 4th of July parade?
He was with the Renaissance group. I was glad to see the camel. I missed it on our trip to the zoo. Now I've had my camel-fill for the year. I like camels. I don't know why, but I do.
Cowgirls, of course. Cowboys too, but this photo is in honor of you know who. Go Brunettes! Love you too always!
Our only float - a Marine!
My new favorite colors this year are orange and turquoise. A beautifully costumed Native American. So bright and neat headdress.
Our local heroes - they took the state 5A hockey championships
Old cars. Yes, there were some really old ones, and some really cool ones, but this was my favorite. I used to have a yellow one. It wasn't a convertible. I never owned a surfboard, but I looked at Mike and said, "That's what I want to drive next - in turquoise. He smiled, "First you have to find one that runs, and they're probably not selling that one." Always has to be the practical one. . . . mmph! Translating that also to mean - no chance am I fixing up an old car for you. Still, I know he loves me. He did all the clean up with the kids after our BBQ while I had nap 2.

There were over a hundred entries in this parade, but this is a good sampling. It was a lot of fun. There was a great spirit of patriotism and values. Lots of signs like "Freedom isn't free" and "Sons of liberty." I loved it all. However, it was THE HOTTEST DAY OF THE YEAR. Thank goodness for the shade tree! I drank my entire liter of water, came home, ate a popsicle, went into the basement, where it is always cooler, and fell asleep on the recliner. Woke up just in time to make everything we needed for our BBQ, napped again, then went down the street to the school hill, and watched the Air Force Academy fireworks on the Left, and the Lake's fireworks on the right. We liked the Academy's best. I think next year, we'll go to where we saw the Thunderbirds and get a close-up view and avoid the 50 thousand who were in the Academy stadium. The traffic coming home will be so much better!

AND - - - Waiting still for THE CALL. Today his schedule is noon - eight, so he's coming home on his break at 4 to check. The mailman should have delivered by now. I'm letting him take it out of the mailbox. Just thinking it could be here right now - I can hardly stand it! There may be another blog post later today. I'm on my way to Costco. Got to keep busy and free from temptation (of the mailbox kind - not so good for the appetite kind) until 4!

UPDATE: Sent on the 28th according to the church website, doesn't necessarily mean its in the mail. Our bishop checked - it was just sent Today. We've waited this long. We will wait some more. If it gets here on Thursday that will be 23 days . . . long compared to everyone else we know around here, but sometimes that's just the way it goes.