40 Years Ago Today

My parents were married in Idaho Falls, Idaho, July 26th, 1969.

This is my favorite family photo from years ago (1983 or 1984?). It was taken in Virginia City, Montana, a preserved old west gold mining town near Yellowstone National Park. The story goes that we were all supposed to do serious faces (no smiling) to be authentic. But I've been told that I was acting pretty grumpy at this point in the day, so my lack of smiling is not an act. I'm the little blond girl on the left. The only thing I remember about the day is eating gingerbread men and riding a train.

Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad. We love you and wish we could be with you all today!

Make a Wish

After visiting the farmer's market yesterday, the girls and I stopped by a decorative water fountain in a park. After seeing another child throw a coin in the fountain a few weeks ago, I had explained to Anwyn that sometimes people like to throw coins and make a wish. So this week she wanted to try it out. She threw in her penny, and this was her wish:

"I wish the water would go all the way to the sky and get me a cloud for my pillow."

As we were leaving she found a penny on the ground, so she threw it in and made another wish:

"I wish that the water would move over to the plants to give the plants water."

I thought they were both very nice wishes.

Here are a few recent photos of the girls.

Anwyn with the temple we built out of blocks on a Sunday afternoon.
The destruction after Hurricane Lily.
Dress-up time.
Look closely. In between the toes is a great place to store your crackers!Exploring Manatee Springs State Park.
A cute family of turtles. The one on the left must be a teenager - it wants to do stuff on its own instead of be with the family.

Swim Lessons Year 2

Anwyn recently finished a two-week session of swimming lessons. She did really well! Here she is in action.
The best part was probably getting to see her best friend Leah every day for two weeks.

She worked hard and is much improved. Way to go, Anwyn!Thanks for the great pictures, Janene.

A Fun-filled Fourth!

In the morning we went to Palm Point Park, which is just east of Gainesville. The park is fairly small (the "hike" only took a few minutes) but the surroundings are beautiful. We made sure to wear a lot of insect repellent. We saw quite a few birds and some other neat sights, including an alligator. It was certainly a humid day but the heat and humidity were quite bearable in the shade. I'm still amazed at how green everything is here even though we've been here for 3 years. I guess it takes a while to wash some of that desert dust off.



We celebrated the day with a lot of red, white, and blue.


Jared's nails remained their natural nail color but the girls all had their nails colored.


Strawberries, blueberries, and marshmallows. Lily just ate the marshmallows. How do kids know and prefer what is processed sugar?


Chocolate cupcakes with vanilla frosting and blue and red M&Ms.


Lily's hair.


Anwyn's hair.

For dinner we had a nice barbecue with a couple families in our ward. We had good food and a great time, including time playing Rock Band and lighting fireworks.



Here are a couple videos from the day.


Hiking in the morning. Notice how loud it is. The insects and other animals all combined into an almost-deafening sound. It reminded me of my father's stories about the jungles of Panama.


Fireworks and families.

Happy Canada Day

Since I was born and raised in Canada, we get to celebrate two holidays this week. Here are our patriotic decorations.

Here are a couple of my favorite video clips about Canada. Just ignore the fact that they are beer commercials!





And here is "Everything You Wanted to Know About Canada But Were Afraid to Ask!"