American Fork "Steel Days" Parade

I wanted to attend the Freedom Fest Parade in Provo this year. I did not make it and when I read about how crowded it was in the newspaper I was happy I did not go. 3/4 of a million people attended and the crowds were 10 people deep on the sidewalk.
This parade was crowded enough for me. I hate that they throw candy. It makes kids crazy. They cry that they are getting enough. They stood in front of me and waited for the candy and blocked my view. I mean right in front of me....not their parents...me.
A little boy by me had his pocket so jammed he could not fit one more piece in and he was not using his other pocket. A family by me was not letting their kids eat theirs and they each had a sackful. I highly doubt that when they got home they would not even want it because it is "parade candy" weird stuff that does not break or melt. Thanks for letting me rant now on to my post:

American Fork High School Marching Band is nationally known for it's excellence. I was so happy to see them live marching down the street. They were great! On the left side of the picture wearing all white is my friend's daughter. Yes, she's a drum major of the American Fork Marching Band. I was so proud of her when she came by me. I yelled,"way to go Hailey"! She of course did not even let on that she heard me and of course I knew that she would not even move a muscle on her face. Her mom told me so.

When my town's high school, Westlakes', band came through I was so happy to see them. It's a brand new school finishing up their first year and starting their second. Kelsi will be attending there this fall.

And UVU had a float in the parade. Jake attends there so I took a picture. I wanted the dance team to be there that competed on Dancing with the Stars and won, but they sent cheerleaders instead.

It was a great parade and it made me know for sure that the Pioneer Day parade in SLC is for sure out of the question for me.

Faith and I attended the quilt show and after parking and walking down the sidewalk past the set up rides with all their sounds we approached the food area. I said, "Stop and smell" "What does this remind you of?" With the sounds of the rides in the background and the smell of carnival food we both instantly were taken back to the age of 12 and Seaside Oregon and my grandparents and the downtown area. My grandma had a friend named Abbey who owned a snack store that sold cotton candy, carmel corn and pronto pups and my grandpa worked the "Tilt a Whirl". Oh blessed memories!

It's about time!

Logan is 13. It's time to get his clothes off the children's hangers! Look at how nice it looks! And as an added bonus the shirts don't fall off!

Do you think all this can fit in these 2 boxes? Flat rate mailing boxes, these are the biggest ones they make. I have a friend in Wa who loves my outgrown boys clothes.

It fit and then some. We had a little room so Kelsi added some girl clothes.

I bagged up the "baby" hangers and took them to a lady in my neighborhood who is having twins and she also had 2 other little children. She will need them.......and more! Guess how many I had???? over 50!

On Monday I got what I have been missing!

They both are something sweet!

They both can be a little nutty!

They both are Washington originals!

Colby is home for the summer!

The Mountain Bars are something that we miss from Washington also!

Mom isn't retiring!

This past week my dad retired. As of Thursday he was done! What is great is that he is still healthy and strong. He did not have to retire early due to a health reason and for that we are so grateful. He has projects lined up and trips planned for this whole summer. What a great example he has always set to me by never being an idle person, always the first one up and always busy. In his working career he also served in a bishopric and has been the bishop twice. (That in itself can be a full time job!) We have used our family blog and each child has taken a day to write about memories of our dad working and our memories of him. It has been great to read what everyone has had to say.....alot of memories spread over alot of years. But this has gotten me thinking about my sweet mother.....


My mom has always worked and had her own stash of money but rarely worked out of the home--a real blessing indeed. My mom over the years has always had the white shirt and dinner ready and never a harsh word or thought for that matter. She always put herself last. She has the incredible way to keep the menus fresh even after all the years. We joke about it but she can go out to eat, poke at a meal with her fork and say I can make this and she can! She can clean better than anyone and garden like she is half her age. Why do I say all this? .......because she can't retire from her job like my dad did. She can't be done! She has worked all the years my dad has and yet she can't retire! I have been thinking about this as I posted my comments to my dad and read the others posts. The advantage I see is that there is no time table anymore, no rushing out the door and if they want to eat only 2 meals a day they can! (They always threaten this!)

They are on their way to my house next week. They are driving in with my sister from Texas and her family and we are hanging out while my sweet niece attends EFY. We will see how relaxed a retired man is and we will eat only 2 times a day.....kidding!

Found it! Rewarded Myself!

Kelsi took the brand new mummy bag to girls camp last week. It was cold where she was and she was so grateful to have it. She took the mummy bag, her pillow and an extra blanket in a huge, green, garbage bag. When she got home on Friday she left her things in the garage to air out and I was mowing the lawn. I spied the garbage bag and thought "lets use it so it gets double use." I shook out the sleeping bag, blanket and pillow and filled it with grass clippings. (If you put the clippings in a bag at first then when the garbage man comes and turns the can over it all comes out.)
Funny story....while school was still on I walked the kids out to the bus and saw that the garbage man had not banged the can into his truck and it still had 2/3 clippings in it so I grabbed the can and walked/ran around the corner, caught up with him and asked him to redump it and bang it hard. He did and I walked the can home!

When I mowed on Friday I also did some weeding and filled the can! About 2 days later when packing up the brand new mummy bag I discovered the storage bag for it was missing. I tried to blame Kelsi for not bringing it home. She insisted she did. Kim said it was ok. Then I said I could make a new bag for it even with a drawstring. So that was the plan for about a day. Then he had the nerve to say can it be nylon? and blah blah blah. I could tell he wanted the original one. I said I could dig for it and he said no but I could tell the no was a yes. On Tuesday I dug for it and boy oh boy did it stink! Like a cow exhibit at a fair!

As I was heading out I said I get reward if I find it. The kids have all had a shake at this place in Pleasant Grove called the Purple Turtle. Kelsi suggested that I could have one of those. There is the bag airing out on a chair on my porch. I had to wash it twice. But I found it!

There I am at the famous Purple Turtle. We did not get there until 9 45 at night and I was pretty much done with the day but I had the best Kiddie Size Chocolate Shake and man oh man did I deserve it! (I am all about the reward.....never mind that I ran 3 and a half miles that morning.....I broke even on the calorie count for the day and that is why I never get thin!)

wow! how did that happen?

This is our new trampoline we got for Logan's birthday just 6 weeks ago. No, it is buried in our front yard. Oh no, see legs in front of it.... see net in driveway...... a horrible windstorm came up today and blew our trampoline out of our yard, over the fence and upside down in the neighbors garden. I ran down the hall to tell Kim who works from home as Logan and the 2 friends he had over ran up to tell us. We all ran next door and the boy who lives there had 2 friends over who are also Logan's age so with the help of 6 --8 th graders, Jake and Kim, they up righted it and took it apart and carried it home. Sadly now it is in the garage.
As with anything that goes wrong there is always shoulda woulda coulda. How we wish we would have pushed it up against the house like the other times it gets windy here.
We watched my sisters dogs this week and 2 days ago one of them bit the boy who lives in this house and when I told Kim that our trampoline was in their garden his face turned white and he said "Oh no, now they will really hate us." They may secretly place a House for Sale sign in front of our house.

Run In

Shopping yesterday at our town Walmart with Kim

He went to electronics and I was in chip section

Faith saw him in electronic section and said where is Michelle?

She runs in to chip section and we hug.

We just start talking and laughing. She grabs my cart and pushes it all around.

Kyle and Kim meet up with us.

Faith and Kyle are done shopping but she pushes my cart as we all finish

We walk out together, go our separate ways

I think about all the hours in a day and the chance we ran into each other

I am so glad she moved to Utah and we are together!