Memory Lane Monday

This is my Grandpa Bud, me and my brother, Will. This was taken in July 1977 in Manassa at my grandparents house while we were there for the "celebration." ( I was one.) I love my Grandpa's smile with his eyebrows lifted. He looks so happy. I can just hear him trying to calm me down. (Yeeeee!) Notice the dark wall paneling. This pictures on the wall are the senior pictures of my 2 aunts. Don't ask why I was crying - I have NO idea!

Whewww!

First off, I'm feeling a little melancholy. Today my home town of about 1000 people are having their Pioneer Day Celebration. I haven't been to it in a few years and I miss it! I wish we could have gone - but let's not get into that! I keep going over the events in my head. At 6 AM the dynamite went off. At 10 AM the parade started. After the parade the hamburger stand would be packed. At 1:30 PM the rodeo started. Then a little later the carnival would be fun. I just keep thinking of all the people that are there and all of those "home" for the festivities! Wow, I miss it!

On another note - I'm so emotional, I hope I can get through this. A week ago today, my good friend went into the hospital to be induced with her 4th child. To make a VERY long story short, she hemorrhaged, the doctors had to revive her twice, they gave her 12 bags of blood and 5 bags of plasma - but amazing enough, she's alive and came home from the hospital 4 days later. Her beautiful baby is doing just fine - after some pretty serious scares. My heart is so grateful that she is ok. Every time I think of it, tears come to my eyes. She was so very close, twice, to dying. I know that Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers and I'm so thankful he answered them in the way we wanted him to.

Memory Lane Monday

Pioneer Days!
The town that I'm from celebrates Pioneer Days too. They celebrate it the weekend (Friday and Saturday) closest to the 24th of July (or maybe it's the 3rd weekend in July). There's always a parade and rodeo and hamburger stand and carnival and "back then" there was a barbaque at the church. My grandpa used to help cook the meat for the bbq. They'd have to check and turn the roast every 3 or 4 hours through the day and night. The the wards would donate the salads, rolls, desserts, etc. It was sure yummy! But the last few years have brought on a LOT of changes. But still, one thing is still the same - A lot of people work hard to make the "celebration" a success.

In this picture, Smoky Bear was shaking our hands. It was a big deal for us because we used to go on picnics to Smoky Bear campground. I'm the girl with the pioneer hat on. My brother is the boy with the orange shirt on. My cousin, Trish?, is in the French braids and I don't think the other boy is related to us. Not sure....
Notice the float in the background and the groovy pickup washed up nice and shiny!

Memory Lane Monday

I'm still keeping with the Americana theme. This flashes way back, 2 whole years to 2007. Austin was 6 1/2, Emma was 4 and Avrie was 1 1/2.

Ward Luau

Our ward had a neighborhood luau. I went to the dollar store and found all kinds of luau stuff. We had fun dressing up...

The lai bugged Buddy's neck, so he wore it like this.

Lewlew had been playing in the water, so she just kept her swim suit on and wore a grass skirt with it. It worked. Noodle's top had a hibiscus on it and then we added lai and a flowered headband.

The Weekend...

Over the 4th of July weekend, we went to our family cabin. All of Bret's sister's were there - it was great!! Most of the weekend we just hung out, ate, watched movies, worked on a puzzle, read, but on Friday (7/3) we went to the North Provo River Falls. It was SO pretty. The falls were incredible. The kids had a blast playing in the freezing cold water and throwing rocks.

This is just one part of the falls.

This is Hubs's parents. Mary celebrated her 60th birthday on the 4th of July and Eric celebrated his 62nd on the 5th of July. Click on my "brag blog" to see the quilt I made for Mary's birthday. (I don't know how to do the "here" thing.)

Here is Mandi, Hubs, Taina and Gina. Taina is the oldest, then Gina, Bret and then Mandi. Don't ask me why they didn't stand in order :)

Here are the cute ones. Notice the wet spot on Buddy's shirt and Lewlew's rolled up pants!

Another shot of the falls.

Buddy

Noodle

Lewlew playing "Pooh Sticks"

A New Look For Avrie..

What do you think of Lewlew's new fashion accessory???

So far she doesn't seem to like them. She says they're too big. They're not. They're just new. I hope I can think of some ideas to get her to wear them. I think once she gets used to them, she'll have no problem wearing them. But right now things are blurry and weird. Noodle had NO problems at all - but she was older and her sight was bugging her. Wish us luck - we're going to need it!

Memory Lane Monday

Because we just celebrated the 4th of July, here is a picture taken on 4 Jul 1997 at the Balloon Launch in Provo. This is Mister and his younger sister Mandi. You can see in the background the sun is just starting to peak around the mountains. (They usually launch the balloons close to 6:30 AM - but we usually get there close to 6 AM) I'm not sure why their tongues are out - there are MANY picture like this!

Independence Day!

Happy Fourth of July, Everyone!! Celebrate our Independence!!