- Celebrate America Dinner -

My parents have a tradtion of taking us (their kids and spouses) to "Celebrate America" - a dinner and patriotic show with 40's-style music and dancing. The best part of the evening is watching my mom and dad enjoy the "Glenn Miller" music.

We loved it this year because Gary and Lesa were with us. They're back after their seven years in Japan.

Doug (my wonderful little brother) and Kimberly (also wonderful).

Merilee (my little sister) and Val. Love them so much. 

Mom and Dad looking nice as always.

 

 Merilee and Dad always jump on the dance floor when the jitterbug starts. 

The USU Ballroom is named for my Dad. This year there is a new plaque with his name and information about him on the plaque. We were excited about it. Dad loved USU, the campus, and students and gave his whole heart and career to the university. 

The write-up is excellent and nicely describes Dad's work and accomplishments,

This picture is to commemorate our 38th anniversary. On September 4, l974, we had our wedding reception in the Taggart Student Center Juniper Lounge. We stood right in front of this rock wall - surrounded by beautiful flowers and candelabras - and greeted a long line of guests. 

~ trip to vancouver ~

Capilano Suspension Bridge - awesome.

 

Cute Japanese tourists - the girls screamed all the way across the bridge. 

Granville Island with the city in the background.

 

I was intrigued by the people on paddle boards in the harbor.

Scott found an art store and bought some pencils for sketching.  

And I found a quilt shop that was filled with both familiar and new fabrics and patterns. 

We rode bikes around Stanley Park. 

Stanley Park beach at sunset. 

{ lately }

The swamp cooler couldn't keep up it was so hot, and then we didn't even need to turn it on. It happened in one night - the temps just got cooler. You can thank the Raymonds for the (little bit of) rain over the weekend. 

Yes, we finally had our windows washed last week - on Tuesday. It was a blazing hot day. The window cleaner guys came at noon, and I felt so sorry for them all afternoon. I was glad I had to leave to go to work and not have to feel guilty about the two men literally frying on the side of our house. At 4:45, I was driving home from work and looked at the thermostat in my car and it said 101 degrees. I pulled into the driveway and one of them was staggering across the hot asphalt with a dazed look in his eyes. I thought to myself that the heat was really having an effect and next time I would insist that they start early in the morning because of our high windows and the work of hauling super-tall ladders around our yard. 

I then learned the real reason for poor Paul's condition...he had just run into a bike in our garage. It's worse than you think. The bike was hanging from the ceiling and he hit it with his head as he was running at full speed through the garage. He showed me the injury...a huge bump and cut scalp. We wondered if he'd need stitches. Needless to say, they were through for the day. No more ladder climbing for him. 

The next morning I got up early to work on a writing project. It was cool; it felt different. It even smelled different outside. I had to put on my long-sleeve tee and fuzzy socks as I sat at the computer. And at noon when the workers arrived it was still cool. The sky was cloudy and gray. Everyone was smiling...even the window cleaners as they enthusiastically talked to me about their rain guarantee. It just felt so good. 

BUT, I have to say that I don't like it. Not one bit. I'd rather have 95. I love summer. It's my favorite season. I don't want to feel the crisp, cool breeze or see the bits of orange peeking through the green canyon landscape. No, please. We haven't had enough and haven't done enough and what happened to the hikes and cook outs and bike rides? We've had a few wonderful Sunday afternoons like below (and thank goodness for photos), and I need to get outside and enjoy what's left. 

: this summer :

Thinking I should post a few pics from our family vacation before summer's over. We love our little getaways  because it's a special time when we're all together. Even though we had a few work and dancing lessson conflicts, with some of us coming and going, we had times when we were ALL there. Those are the best times. We chose to go to Snowbird because it was close and we could use points from our Hilton timeshare. Little did we know what a fun summer resort it would be. There was something for everyone to do. And the summer scenery couldn't have been more spectacular - especially from the Aerial Tram that took us to the 11,000 foot summit of Hidden Peak.

Becky and Pitt led the hike - we went to Alta ski resort near Snowbird in Little Cottonwood Canyon. Check out Emmett following his parents. Thanks to Pitt, Emmett's done the hike thing many times. 

Brookie Cookie

Scott on the bungee trampoline. 

This is Sierra, Mike's girlfriend, doing flips and super high trampoline jumps.  

Above is Aaron on the climbing wall. He was a climber (in high school) before rock climbing was cool. He still has the love and ability for it. Below, Scott and Brookie are racing up the wall and little Bailee is getting started with a little help from Dad. 

And THIS is Aimee ! I was so impressed with her. She's a mom of four with a year-old baby and look at her rock the rock wall! 

This is Aim and Suz on the fun, fast flying zip line. 

Love this photo of Mike and Sierra. 

The alpine slide was my personal favorite.

So fun to watch our little glamour girl in the pool with her parents! 

Bailee loves the water and Becky will patiently spend hours in the pool with the kids.

We had an "in-between" first birthday party for babies Claire and Elizabeth who are two months apart. 

They're cute, but seeing their happy moms is even cuter to me! 

Since it was Olympics week we had to do our own games. I'm competing with Mike on the balance beam.

Winston and Aimee go after the push-up medal.

Syncronized swimming by team Aaron and Brookie.

It's just the babies, the diapers, and the cupcakes. Oh, and of course, the pink hair bows.                                                          (The photos are out of order because Blogger has a mind of its own tonight.)

                                 Aaron and Brookelyn doing handstands.

The one year olds compete in the crawling race.

Here we are. 

{ amazing sunsets }

Scott has been taking photos of our amazing sunsets this past week. One evening he was shooting pics of the sunset above the beautiful arcs of water in our next-door-neighbor's field. He knows I LOVE to see water from big farm sprinklers. As he shot his pictures the horses in the field suddenly began to gallop across the grass. Such a gorgeous summer sight.