Dad - I see all kinds of interesting vehicles here. Most of them are like this: The other day I saw something that reminded me of home though. I saw a black pickup truck with a homemade bed cover. The guy had taken a sheet of plywood and covered it with black indoor/outdoor carpet and used it for a bed cover. It looked kind of like a black putting green. I wonder if he got the idea from some guy running around Provo in the early 1970's.

Explosions of Great Magnitude

Growing up in New York, where all fireworks are illegal, I never really got to experience the joy of blinding explosions and the scent of gun powder wafting through the air. But luckily for me, the area of the dirty south known as Mississippi allows EVERY kind of firework imaginable. To my delight, we purchased our own mortar shells and 1 lb rockets. AND an exploding "Bin Ladin Noggin." And a bunch of other things I had never seen before (Roman candles are much more exciting when you're shooting them at someone). Our fireworks, combined with all the other security people, created quite the display, rivaling the local show, and maybe even that of Niagara Falls. Ok, maybe not quite that big, but it was pretty great.

This afternoon we went for a drive to Arkabutla Lake (yes, that really is its name). We found a nice trail that goes through area looking similar to this:

We're coming back later next week with our machetes to do some exploring. But first we need some bug spray. With a lot of deet in it.

Happy Fourth/ Happy Birthday

Waiting for the parade to start

The Birthday Girl!

As I write this, I'm tired and sun-burned. It must have been a good weekend. As is quickly becoming the tradition, we headed up to Vail for the weekend with Les's family. The Utah part came out as well and we had a fun time together. We went swimming, watched Vail's parade, rode the bus around Vail, rode the gondola and saw Avon's and Vail's fireworks displays all for FREE! Gotta love that kind of entertainment.

Today we got home and celebrated Les's birthday. Yes, that is four layer dessert. I made the cake this year, so I picked what I wanted to make. As usual, it did not last very long.

Have a great week!

Brant

Thunder and Lightening!!!

We are in the middle of a thunder storm and I love to sit and listen/watch it. We have had three days of 90 degree weather and just now as this storm rolled in the heat has broken and it is cooling off.

We had a fun 4th of July breakfast and pinewood derby race at the church for our student ward. This breakfast has always been Seth's thing and since the new elders president is out of town, Seth volunteered to be in charge of it one more time. This year they added the pinewood derby and Seth had to really twist some arms but in the end there were about 15 cars and we all had a lot of fun.

Mom and I enjoyed our usual 4th of July celebration, we stayed home, took a nap, went to Pizza Hut for the salad bar, went shopping at Safeway and then sat at home and listened to the neighbors shooting fireworks and hoping nothing landed on our roof. Now its all back to work tomorrow.

Hope you all had a nice holiday (if you got one).