So Far...

We haven't been to the motherland since Christmas, so we decided to come home to Utah for a bit. When I say a bit I mean 7 weeks. I've mentioned before that we are kind of babies when it comes to being away from our families for too long, but come on, anyone would want to come home if they knew they were to be getting free babysitting, luxurious housing, attention (mostly Avery), the best activities planned, beautiful scenery... oh and of course seeing loved ones. Its been about three weeks already since we have been here and its been fun, exhausting, adventurous, stressful, humorous, gluttonous, laid back, serious, beautiful, etc. It all started with...

It's Time!

Hey there, Travis here. I wanted to make a quick post to announce that the time has finally come to make the jump to a private blog. This has been a long time coming as we have toyed with the idea for months, but it finally took a mean-spirited comment that was left for us to ignite the fire of CHANGE (say that word with a crazy emotional voting season voice for greater effect). When my wife, who by the way hardly has a prideful or malicious bone in her body, showed me what was written, I was reminded that there are a lot of lunatics out there who love nothing more than to spew ignorance on-line. I have heard that there are only so many friends who can be invited, so if you would like to continue to visit us here, please send us your email.

To "me" (kind of a narcicistic name, if you ask "me"), next time you feel inclined to chip in, instead of making a cowardly anonymous hate speech message, I encourage you to simply drop by so we can talk about your insecurities at length. Hopefully, however, this will be the last post you see on our blog, so the issue will rest here.

BOOM!!!

Before I start the real meaning of this post, I have to pose a question. Why do fireworks attract a lot of "less than affluent" people? We will call them WT for short. The city we live in contains a lot of WT and a lot of fireworks stands. This whole week the WT have been out lighting fireworks, doesn't matter what time of day, noon, ten pm, there have been constant booms. If you didn't have a lot of money, wouldn't it be wiser to spend your money on other things, you know, like food? Maybe they just love America and want to show their appreciation?

Okay, now the real reason for posting. The best day of the year. The fourth of July! People think its weird that this is my favorite holiday. But this is why:

8:30 am-10:30 am- Breakfast in Parkville with friends. Everyone was so festive.

10:30 am-noon- Parkville parade... there honestly wasn't one float, just a bunch of cars, dogs, politicians and advertisements, but I still loved it.

noon-1:30 pm- naps all around

1:30 pm-2:30 pm- Tennis with the Kanooths and Hendricks

2:30 pm- 4:30 pm- Kim and I went on an awesome bike ride. I just bought my first pair of spandex bike shorts... I'm one of those people now.

6:00 pm -8:00 pm- Block BBQ and some fireworks (like I said the WT start before its even dark.)

8:00 pm -10:30 pm- Fireworks galore. It felt like we were in a war. The rules here are not quite as strict as in Utah.

I don't think she likes the fourth of July as much as I do. She was terrified. We had to take her inside for the whole show. Somehow she managed to go to sleep with all the noise outside. Poor little girl!

10:30 pm- midnight- Watching the movie "Independence Day" at the Hendricks. I forgot how much I loved that movie. Remember the speech by the president? I promise I would vote for him to be the real president (him and president Palmer).

In conclusion, the day was great. Our country is great. Our soldiers are great. We will be in Utah for the 24Th (that is Utah's birthday)! That is probably the second best day of the year. Can't wait!!!

Grace

This is Avery's middle name, but she didn't inherit it from her Dad.

The Harmon's, our neighbors, moved. Before they moved we had a huge neighborhood olympics in honor of them. You might be thinking, how cute, those little kids would have a blast. Little kids weren't invited. This was strictly for adults. Each couple had to bring an olympic game. It could be anything from wit, talent, strength, speed, etc. Some events were paper football (you know the flicking it in the goal post game from middle school), feeding your partner from chop sticks, an blind folded eating contest, a water balloon launching contest, and other really weird ones.

Trav and I ended up winning the whole olympics (pending the urine test results). Looks like we are going to have to defend the title for next year. The Harmon's gave prizes (or junk that they didn't want to pack). Third place was the Kanooths, they went home with a "candom," don't ask. Second place was the Shawcrofts, Krista may have broken her tail bone in the leap frog competition, but that didn't stand in their way of bringing home the beloved punching bag. And the champion Charles family got to take home a really sweet picnic basket.

We will miss the Harmon's! They brought lots of traditions to the Riverside town homes that will last for a long time. Good luck in Denver!

PS I realize that I haven't done an Avery post in a long time, but that is her fault. The other day, during her nap, I uploaded like 20 pictures and wrote some really witty stuff. She woke up from her nap, I sat her down, and went to go and heat up some milk. The little ninny crawled to the computer and totally deleted the whole post. The girl likes her privacy. Sorry, I will do what I can to post really soon!