Happy Birthday America

Our morning started at 5:45 am. The ward has an annual pancake breakfast, patriotic presentation and bike parade to celebrate America's Birthday!

The Patriotic bike parade, i.e. race!


Nathan sporting his decorated bike at the finish line.


Tim looking festive on the trike. The YW did the face painting.


The water balloon toss/fight!



We had a family get together at our house and ate lots of good food. The cousins and Uncles had fun swimming in the pool. The water was nice and warm!



We enjoyed pulled pork sandwiches, Hixon baked beans, yummy pasta salad, Uncle Nate's homemade salsa, Uncle Steve's guacamole, and to top the night off this "wave your flag cake"!

After the get together we all dashed out to find firework displays. We made it to Gilbert's Celebrations at Mesquite High School and parked the car off the side of the road. We propped the boys up on the roof of the van and our sweet Liberty led us in song. Neil Diamond's "America" never sounded so good.



We LOVE this country so much and are grateful to be citizens of The United States of America! I will forever remember the two words told to me by a U.S. Customs agent after returning from Ukraine/Russia.

W E L C O M E   H O M E !

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Happy Father's Day, Daddy-o!

Sorry for being a slacker and not having something fabulous for you. We had fun being with you at the family reunion. We'll try to avoid all political/religious talks in the future! Or maybe we'll just forget to invite Steve to the party! Just kidding.

Love you!

How do you spell stinkpot?

Nathan came up to me earlier today and asked me how to spell stinkpot. The following is the result of this vocabulary lesson.




I later learned that Dave had written "Nathan is a stinker" on the same board just moments before Nathan was asking me how to spell stinkpot.

Gratitude for a face

I read about this woman today and it stirred emotions within so I thought I would share it with you. We all know how important it is to be grateful, to share our gifts with others. I'm glad Connie is able to share her courageous story with such humor and strength. What a horrible trial to go through and to think that Timmy's occasional vomiting tantrums are hard to handle. What a joke indeed!

Connie also stated something we all struggle with... judging others unrighteously. She said, "When somebody has a disfigurement and don't look as pretty as you do, don't judge them, because you never know what happened to them," she said. "Don't judge people who don't look the same as you do. Because you never know. One day it might be all taken away."

How true her statement is; we need to live in the present and enjoy what magnificent blessings we have. Our simplest yet grandest of blessings are our five basic senses of sight, smell, sound, taste and touch. My resolve to show my gratitude to a loving Father in Heaven who truly blesses each of us every day. Look for his hand in your lives and you will find it! Enjoy this story and I'm sure it will change your day for the better.

May Day, May Day, Did You See The Flash Mob

May Day, May Day...

I received an email from a friend and it really put a smile on my face, so instead of emailing the videos to you, here they are!

Do Re Me - Central Station Antwerp

The T-Mobile Dance

Frozen Grand Central

So Much Fun!
http://improveverywhere.com/

Maybe they'll come to Phoenix and do something. I haven't looked at the website yet but maybe when I get some free time. For now I need to get my whole wheat bread in the oven.