Our Fourth of July Celebration and BIG NEWS!

Another week goes down into the archives.  Monday, Dad was off to work, mostly in the office.  I had my We Can service group meeting and we worked on more crafts for the Festival of Trees, then we had a great lunch.

After several hours of crafting and chatting, we always have a lunch.  I was very impressed with this Jello dessert that Ardis made.  Isn't it pretty and patriotic? If you want to know more about our group you can take a look at our blog.

That afternoon Emily dropped 'up' with Beckie.  When Beckie gets cranky, but is not quite ready for a nap, Emily brings her up to distract her for a few minutes, and I get to enjoy their company.  Here she is discovering 'another baby'.

That night Dad and I hosted our Family Home Evening group and Dad taught the lesson.  The Lemonade Icebox Dessert I had gotten the recipe for from LaVern was a big hit. 

Dad took the day off on Tuesday and he worked on the garden house all day.  The Provo Temple is closed, so I had him all evening too.  It was fun to work together some, even though it was so very hot.  Of course he did the lion's share, he is a real trooper.

I worked Wednesday, but Dad was off.  He spent part of the day on the garden house, then got things set up for the BBQ to celebrate the fourth.  I stopped on my way home from work for the water balloons, and chalk and prizes!!  When I got home, things were in full swing.

When I mentioned to Becca, in passing, that we were doing sidewalk chalk art and a water balloon fight, so I could cross them off the Studio 5 - 100 Things to do for Summer Fun list , she laughed.  Then I told her one of the things was to climb a tree and I didn't think I would be able to do that.  She then said "Oh this is the easiest tree to climb." She then ran over to the fattest tree and swung, athletically, up to a 'low' branch.

She had Brady hand her Titan for a photo op, then we got a few others like it.  So funny!!

The BBQ was great and we had a good time catching up.  It was extra nice to have Brady, as his work schedule interferes with his attendance at our normal Sunday Dinners.

This adorable cup cake is J. Scott's and he got the grand prize in the contest.

Spencer uses ever chance to advertise for his business that he can get, evidently.  I think he won a glow in the dark bracelet for his efforts.

 This is my award winning chalk art on Trevor's newly shaved head.

Trevor and J. Scott, for the most part, filled the water balloons.  We stood in a circle and threw them until they broke, then that person was out.  Briahnna, evidently on the last full day of her pregnancy, won!!

Some of the kids and grands came out to check out Dad's progress on the Garden House after dinner.

Eva said it should be a grand kids play house.  But when I told her it was 'My Playhouse', she said I could have the main floor but she should get the loft!!  That girl is always, always good for a smile!

 Next it was off to light fireworks at the parking lot at Payson Park.  Davin and Bri left early to watch the fireworks outside the stadium of fire, but the rest of us had fun watching Trevor at his craft!!

I love this picture of Emily sitting in her jogging stroller.  There were about a dozen groups there, and it was fun when we lit off our 'grand finale', so did another group.  It was very BIG and festive!!

The big news on Thursday is that Briahnna had her beautiful baby girl, Adilyn.  I was very surprised to receive a text at 4:30 telling me the news.  Unfortunately I have been sick all week with a sore throat and earaches and dursn't visit.  I still haven't seen her, but Dad dropped  by on Friday and said she a beauty!!

That night after work Dad and I had a double date with Nell's sister Alexis and J. Scott to see 'All Shook Up' at the Scera Shell.  It had rained that morning and early afternoon, so I thought we were safe.  However, as you can see I suffered from a false sense of security, as here we are huddled up  behind stage waiting for the torrential rains to pass. 

I loved the pic above of Bug's glasses covered with rain. Unfortunately J. Scott had a temp and wanted to go home. Dad ran him home, and got back just a few minutes after the rain delayed dress rehearsal started. It was great show, and since Alexis is my new Drama Pal, we had even more fun than usual. She is also going to the Shakespearean Festival with me and my book club in August. She is a Shakespeare fan and has never been, who knew?

Friday I was off to garage sales with LaVern.  We had a great time hanging out and found lots of fun goodies.  Its been a year since we have gone together, so it was definitely time.

That night Dad and I met up with the Kews and went to the Heather Bigler's reception at the church.  Afterwards we went down to the Family Tree in Santequin for dinner.  Todd Ekin's brother sings there on Friday nights, and when the waitress saw that I knew him she seated up right next to his station, and it was fun to visit with him when he took breaks.  (I know him because he is a customer at Treasures.)

On Saturday Dad did more work on the Garden House while I ran to ReStore to try to get paint for it.  I also did some projects for flea.o.logy which is fast approaching, many of which I also use for blogging.

We met up with the Broughs for dinner in Salt Lake.  Marshall has gotten into the conservative radio talk shows, a lot, and talked about that almost non stop.  It was pretty interesting, but you have to take things from people with an agenda like that with a grain of salt, and I am not sure he is doing that.  Ah well.  We were at the restaurant for more than three hours.  We usually spend less than an hour and a half when we go to dinner with them.

Today was church meetings as always, but I prayed last night to be able to feel the spirit more, and it made a huge difference for me. We had our missionaries speak, a new missionary from Arizona and a Filipino youth who moved to the eastern US in his teens.  He is a powerhouse, and a senior comp at 8 months.  (Only about 5foot 6, so the power comes from the spirit!)  He gave us a neat acronym he learned at the MTC.  There is a scripture in second Nephi that ends with "to be Spiritually Minded Is Life Eternal.  Since I already have a banner that says "Smile" in the dining room, I think I am going to add the words now.  (Smile has always been my doodle word, and now it has real meaning for me!!) 

Which reminds me of the epiphany I had this week.  Dad and I have a pillow on our bed that says "They Lived happily Ever After"  I have always liked that phrase because of my fairy tale fetish.  But as I was looking at it, a scripture popped into my head where Nephi says "We lived after the manner of happiness."  That made me think.  The first one feels like living happily ever after just happens.  The second one, indicates that we makes choices to live in a way that brings us happiness.  I like that.  Now I am going to do a huge 'sampler' for our family room that combines the two and says.

We live after the manner of happiness so that we can live happily ever after!

So back to today, Sam taught Sunday School and did an awesome job.  People keep asking him if he teaches Seminary or Institute, when he says no, they say he should, and I agree.  He is very good.  I guess that is why they kept him as a teacher at the MTC for so long.

Emily and Sam and the baby came up to visit tonight, which is always fun.  Grandpa has been sharing Popsicles with her and it is oh so entertaining.  Otherwise we had a quiet afternoon and evening, just reading and dozing ... (at least I did).