4th of July Fun

My sister, who lives in Missouri, came out for the 4th of July. Since this is a rare occurrence we had to pack every second with fun. First up, a kids parade. We had the sweetest ride in town. This is the Cadillac of little red wagons complete with bucket seats, seat belts (so wiggly babies can't jump out), and an added umbrella for shade (courtesy of Emma my niece - how thoughtful). We then pimped our ride with streamers, sparklers, and a giant poster so there would be no mistaking who we were. The kids were stoked.

There was of course the Legion Hall breakfast, the renowned parade, and regular park festivities which are all Beckstrand 4th of July traditions and are not to be missed. Unfortunately, I was having far to much fun to waste time taking pictures. Sorry. Use your imaginations. I am sure what you will come up with will be sufficient.

Then of course there are fireworks, which is where Fillmore spends 98% of the annual budget. We have a firework show that rivals Times Square and is enjoyed by about 1,500 people. Our pre-firework show had an even smaller audience, but was enjoyed just as much.

On to the main event. We had staked our claim with multiple blankets, consumed our donuts, and settled in for the show. Everything was going swimmingly when we began to feel that the illusion of each fireworks flaming remnants falling down on top of our heads was no longer an illusion. We were under fire. We dodged canisters and miscellaneous bits of smoldering ash as we took shelter under the safety of our blankets, and with eyes peering out continued to watch the show. What goes great with fire? Why rain of course, which is what began to fall from the sky next. (I didn't know James Taylor had been to one of Fillmore's firework spectaculars. Make that 1,501 people) Luckily we were already under our blankets so no harm done. However, after all this it was the finale that was the real kicker. There was a problem with the last firework of the night. The problem being that it exploded on the ground rather than in the sky, shooting a terrifying but quite brilliant ring of fire out in all directions. The closest of which landed about 15 feet from our battle torn blanket. Thankfully, we didn't hear of anyone being hurt from the debacle, and all we can say is we look forward to next year!

During the rest of the week, we also managed to fit in a trip to Cherry Hill, where Alex promptly fell asleep upon arrival and remained that way for and hour and half, (thank goodness for mom's who like to sit and watch over sleeping babies) a trip to see my cousin Brianne's darling new baby, where I realized that mine no longer could be classified in that category, and the Ute Stampede.

I know, we sure know how to have a good time.

(I put this one in because my brother is so cute - he was very proud of himself for beating Emma in tetherball)

there is a big house in centerville

Yeah, it's probably not the biggest house you've ever seen, but something about where it is located and how deep it goes back just blew my mind for some reason. Also I wanted to try out the video feature on my new iphone 3gs.

"Did you just say 3gs?"

I did indeed. Suck it world.

Lance's post. No words just pictures.

figure it out yourself.

Memorial Day

Yes, this is a post about our Memorial Day adventures. I am aware this is a bit tardy, but I do have my reasons which I will elaborate a bit later. Until then, enjoy the rest of my useless information. I'll let you know when it is time.

We, of course went down to Fillmore for the holiday. This is the grave of my Grandparents, on my father's side, masterfully decorated by my brother Corbin who exclaimed proudly upon it's completion, "You see, you have your whites in the back, the reds on the sides, and your blues in the front." Brilliant. Simple and true.

This is the grave of my Great grandparents, again on my father's side. This time the real master decorator, Lance, took charge and when he was finished I seem to remember angels singing.

The excitement of Memorial Day can be too much for some people, but the fun just keeps coming with a trip out to the Farm.

This is a ditch

Mr Ed?

Fillmore horses can be tricky, and have more in common with the wild mustang, which coincidentially is our Middle School mascot (Go Mustangs!), than the tame Mares you would normally prefer. This is how we catch horses in Fillmore.

(movie coming soon - there was some problem with the import)

It is normally done much more efficiently on 4-wheelers, but we Fillmorians are also good at improvising.

Once caught they are really quite tame, especially when they are full of oats, brushed clean, and are beginning to realize that we just wanted to say hello and there is no real threat of them having to work today.

Okay, get ready. This is the part. The reason for my tardiness is because I am just beginning to be able to look at these pictures without feeling ill. What is wrong with them? Well, nothing, but what happened after was a disaster.

A cute baby and an old rusty John Deere tractor, a photo op dream. Yes, I agree the pictures are quite charming, but did you know that tractors are also dangerous? I was standing within arms reach, although you can't see it from the pictures, and she was sitting quite nicely on the seat, touching the knobs and gears within her reach. With so many new distractions she didn't have much need to move elsewhere. Lured into a false sense of security, I took my hand and eyes off of her for a split second to remove a nagging sticker from my shoe and looked up to see my baby's feet in the air as she began to fall off the opposite side of the tractor, head first toward the ground. It was like one of those bad dreams where you can't seem to move fast enough, but when I finally got to the other side of the tractor she was laying on her back in a small patch of weeds.

I still can't figure out how she missed all of the gears and shifters and fell through the 8 inch opening where the footrest used to be, the only opening on the entire tractor, and landed on her back instead of her head. I think that the angels from the cemetery must have followed us to the farm. But seriously, I am surely grateful for blessings given even when we don't deserve them.

Oh yeah, we went swimming too.

True Loves First Kiss

Alex loves that baby in the mirror and like all worthwhile or interesting objects, they simply must end up in your mouth. Her reflection was no exception.

Gymnastics

(this is only one small corner of the whole gym)

Hidden way back in what seems to be an empty lot, behind a local car garage and teaming sports bar lies a place where future Olympians train in pursuit of their gold medal dreams. We were lucky enough as a Young Women's group to get the opportunity to play on some of their equipment after classes were over for the day in exchange for some of our help in cleaning up the place. Apparently, they must get this offer a lot because the place was spotless, having just been cleaned the day before by another group of jungle gym junkies looking for some free entertainment. It also doesn't hurt when you conveniently forget all of your cleaning supplies back at the church. So the kind inn keepers forgave our debt and allowed us to go straight for the equipment.

Nothing is so thrilling than to feel like a kid again as you bounce effortlessly down a padded run way. However, nothing is quite so humbling as when you reach the end of that run way and suddenly realize as you jump that you have no training as to what to do with your body once it is airborne. You contemplate as you soar awkwardly through the air that maybe you didn't think this through while the ground draws steadily nearer until you land abruptly in a heap.

Should you decide to pick yourself up and attempt similar acrobatics on other pieces of equipment, you may well be surprised to find that the end results share a similar theme. Turns out gymnastics is hard. Balance beams are high, especially when you are 6'3". Pomell horses are impossible. Trying to overcome gravity on the uneven bars was simply not achievable, and I didn't even try the rings. I did, however, win a hand stand contest on the mat, which turned out to be a much safer place for me to experiment.

If all this isn't enough fun for you there is always the giant pit of foam. Do not be fooled by it's common place appearance. This pit is five feet deep and swallows it captives whole.

For some this is a place for dreams, for me it was a place where I realized my own inadequacies after being bested by nearly every thing in the place. Nevertheless, it is still a giant jungle gym filled with adult sized toys and I still left feeling younger with a smile on my face and a bounce in my step. (it is hard to stop after stepping off of those springy floors) A slightly more bruised self, with one additional blister than I had before, but still delighted.

Here are some pictures of our girls and their efforts at the gym. Although they appear to be in dire straights, they do in fact land quite safely on the other side.

My hat goes off to all gymnasts. Go for the gold!!

Hogle Zoo

There is a magical place where for the exchange of money they will let you view exotic animals.  We had a great time at the zoo with fellow zoo attendees Rob, Maren, and Emery.  Here are some of the animals we saw.

Monkeys  (Monkies?? How do you pluralize monkeyz?  Moose.  Meese?)

More monkeys.

  

A peacock who seemed to have earned the freedom to wander freely around the zoo as it made its appearance in multiple other exhibits throughout the day.  (He must have paid the admission fee too)

Elephants

This is a close up of what is actually going on behind Alex in the above picture.  Does this not seem cruel to place the sweet elephants food way up high so that we get to gasp at how long and dexterous their trunks are as they reach for every bite?  It was pretty cool though. 

A shot of an elephant who has been severely neglecting her moisturizing regimen.  

An elephant without a trunk.

An equal opportunity horse.

A horse with osteoporosis and mange.

The cutest animal in the park.  (I wanted to run through a grassy green meadow with this little fella)

Lance's favorite monkey.

The Missing Link.

Giraffes.  Our kindred spirits of the animal world.  Quiet, unassuming, gentle giants.  

Slightly less cruel than the elephants, these giraffes are also required to reach for their food.

This one took a shine to Lance and made her intentions known in the following video.  I put a quick stop to that.  (harlot)

The excitement of the day was too much for Alex, but we all had a great time.