Memorial Day

On Monday we drove up to the farm to celebrate Memorial Day with the family.  We visited the cemetery where many of my family is buried and left flowers. Afterwards we had a nice lunch and enjoyed visiting and hanging out together.  Exciting happenings included, Kaitlin being grateful that she didn't fly into the barbed wire, Uncle Mark's 4 wheeler getting driven into the canal, and a debate on whether veggi sticks are tasty or gross.   I took a bunch of pictures but now I can not find them and have to assume they were deleted from the camera.  Just imagine in your mind's eye a picture of the children reverently standing beside a grave, flowers in hand, listening attentively as grandma tells them of their great ancestors, an American flag waves gently in the breeze in the background. Yeah, that's what happened all right!


Take Me Out to the Ball game -or- My Best Friend Orrin

On Friday we drove into the city to see the Bees play, a minor league baseball team.  Our tickets were courtesy of our good friend Orrin Hatch, and included a seat in the outfield and food vouchers for hotdogs and drinks.  None of us really like baseball, but we decided to go for the experience since we've never been.  We ended up having a great time.  The Bees won and we even got to chat with Senator Hatch and get our family's picture taken with him (picture to come).   In addition to the occasional moments of excitement that the game provided, we also enjoyed rapping about cinnamon almonds, throwing paper airplanes and going to treats at Winco after the game.



Working on the Float

 On Saturday, Chuck took the kids to the ribbon cutting of our new section of highway that was just finished.  It was a big deal with a fun run and booths and free stuff.  The kids came home with tales of free snow cones and cotton candy, free frisbees, water bottles and backpacks.

Kaitlin glued her hand together.

 Meanwhile, I started the screening of the rocking chair on our Days of 47 float.  In the afternoon Chuck and Kaitlin came to join me.  It's an interesting process.  You wrap aluminum screen over a metal frame, and then glue and shape it to fit exactly.  Once sticky and gluey you mold and stretch the screen so it's tight like a skin.  The glue (95$ a gallon) is like rubber cement on steroids and sticks to your hands, and tools and everything. 

Chuck used his spacial skills to cut the pieces.

If you get it on your arms you can just kiss the hair goodbye.  And working with the aluminum is like working with a thousand little needles and then those little needles get glued to your skin... anyway, you get the picture.   It was certainly an adventure and we kept a good attitude and had a fun time doing it.  We got the chair about half done.  The next step is to paint it.

You can follow the progress of the float at my float blog HERE.