July 2012 - August 2012
July
4th of July - Celebrating the 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays of the entire year. My family always celebrates the entire day, and our home town has lots of activities and things to do. In fact! While I was on my mission for 18 months, away from my family, with no contact (basically) the only time I was homesick was on the 4th of July.
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| At the parade with Noah and Abbi. |
This year was amazing! I missed the sunrise ceremony, but made it to the parade. The best part about the 4th of July is how many old familiar faces you see, and the community feeling as you celebrate together. I literally almost cried at the parade, the feeling of patriotism and community was so strong, and they had an amazing marching band from a college come and perform, the first in years. I should have recorded it.
After the parade we had a great time at the carnival in the park where my dad rushed over to his favorite float to see if he could make a deal for his future plans.
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| He's still working on finding some oxen. |
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| The mermaid and the ox, what a pair. |
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| Aubree with her beautiful crown. |
We had a great cookout that night with our cousins who, while growing up, also celebrated the 4th with us. We had the highest turn out of Jones' yet, all but 1, my mom was really sad she missed it, but we had a great time. My brothers tried to light the neighborhood on fire with the most frightening, amazingly wonderful firework ever!
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| Sisters, what a great picture to remember forever. |
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| Cousins!! |
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| Here it comes..... |
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| The beginning of the end....so scary and so great. My dad cancelled them for next year after this one. |
Hurley's New Trick - Finally in July, Wendy and Hurley turned a year older. I gave them a joint present, a book of circus dog tricks. Hurley is a quick learner...as long as you have a handful of treats.
August
Bear Lake Vacation - Every year for most of my life my family goes to Bear Lake for summer vacation. My grandpa was born and raised in Garden City next to the lake, and my grandma was from nearby Bern, Idaho. The lake is beautiful and giant, and freezing cold, and the local area turns into crazy tourist season, but we always have a great time together.
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| All the grandkids in their customized Bear Lake 2012 shirts. |
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| The Oxman at the lake, he even got in the water this year..so I did too. I really hate the beach., but the kids had a great time. |
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| My future golfing buddy, even if she did ditch me this year to go with her dad. |
Beets! - Work has been tough this month. We learned that three of my employees jobs are being eliminated, and it has been an emotional nightmare of a month. So after getting somewhat depressed, Wendy made me leave the house one Saturday for my own good. We went to the farmer's market and I bought some beets. Outside of delicious pickled beets in salad I have never eaten or cooked a beet. It seemed like a good idea at the time, until the bled their red juice all over the kitchen and my clothes, and in case you've never smelled it, they smell like hot dirt when they are roasting. It makes you a little nervous about what they're going to taste like. 
I liked the beets, the salad had delicious vinegar in it. I didn't care for the green parts, they were disgusting. Wendy only bit one tiny bite, and Ana ate her whole serving. She's really good at making me feel like a world class chef.
That's it, a whole year. Nothing too exciting, but plenty to remember. Now I need something new to blog about. Do you want to learn about fire hydrants? or how to read water consumption tables to determine what kind of leak you have? Or how to tell if your water has been in an onion patch?
I love water.
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