Independence Day stuff

Here's what we did for the 4th:

• Watched the hot air balloons lift off...kind of (I might have slept in just a few minutes too late)
  
• Went to the parade
• Participated in an Ellis island "reenactment"
• Ate ethnic food at the Freedom Festival
• Went to Colonial Days :)
  
• Had dinner and watched fireworks with a bunch of Asians and 1 Angolan

Then yesterday we crashed the Eugene Zirker family reunion. They invited us over for the blessings of Ryan and Diana's baby Morgan and Jen and Blaine's baby Elizabeth. We joined them for lunch and then went back in the evening for the water park and ice cream treats. Their whole family (excepting Drew, obviously) made the trip and it was fun to see them.

I'm thinking of keeping Trav here on a more regular basis. After just a few hours, it did wonders to improve his surly attitude.

I've always wanted to be an actor at an event like this. Look at this woman! She's my hero...

fireworks

After the breakfast, we headed up to the cabin for some good ol' fun. Seth and I have found a great firework stand in Pullman that we love to support. Last week we stopped by after one of his softball games and while I stayed in the car with a sleeping Koper, Seth and Weston picked out some fireworks. Seth and I had decided on a rough budget for fireworks and we were doing fine until their debit machine wouldn't work. As a result, we had to come back later and pick up the fireworks. When we went back on Friday to get the fireworks, I again stayed in the car with the kids and Seth went to get everything. It took him a little bit and I was starting to wonder. When he came back with a few more bags than expected, I realized our budget had gone out the window. Luckily, Uncle Chuck chipped in instead of buying more when he saw our bounty.

As for vinyl, I've been working on getting approved for Farmer's Market and toying with a booth at the October crafts fair at Beasley Collisium. Teeny might join me on that one and sell some of her crafty things. I'm hoping it all works out.

My vote for t-shirt colors is Kelly Green or Red.

Kori says hi

This year we decided to slow things down a little on the Fourth. Instead of our annual trek to Vail, we stayed home. We had Kevin and Lisa over for dinner on Thursday and then went together to watch the firework show at Clement Park. It was a beautiful evening with just a few sprinkles. It was fun to catch up and let the cousins play together.

On Friday, Les ran in a 5K race near Erik and Jaime's church in HR. It was very hot and there were lots of hills, but she still managed to improve her time. We stuck around for the parade afterwards and came home with lots of candy.

That afternoon we went to a backyard BBQ with some families from the ward. We had fun socializing and joining in on the egg toss and water balloon throw. For some reason, my water balloons kept hitting innocent bystanders.

That night we went to Englewood (near Santa Fe and Belleview) and watched their show. We sat almost under the fireworks and had a great time. We even managed to slip out quickly afterwards and were home in 15 minutes.

Today was pretty light, regarding church, so we all came home and took well deserved naps. There is nothing better than a good Sunday afternoon nap- just ask Seth.

Brant

Grandpa Zirker

We had our ward 4th of July breakfast on Friday. We had invited grandpa and when Mom went to pick him up there he was in his suit. He seemed to enjoy the outing and the food. The elders quorum (Seth) was in charge so he and Lacey did a lot of the decorating, food buying, and cooking. Seth asked me to cook the bacon and sausage. I took our new stove and cooked out on the sidewalk. Everyone seemed to have a good time.

Not much to report on the house. Mom and I bought all the trim boards for the windows. It is laying in the driveway. It seems that I have to phych myself up to tackle each project. I hope to get all the windows trimmed this week.

See you all in a month.