Lehi Roundup Rodeo

Rodeo is in my blood, you can't grow up in Preston, Idaho without it. My hometown hosts the "Famous Preston Night Rodeo", It was the highlight of my summer every year. Then a few years later I moved to another town equally obsessed with rodeo: Lehi, Utah, home of the Lehi Roundup Rodeo. Last night Kent, Stefanie and I put on our cowboy hats and boots, and enjoyed an evening of bucking broncos, calf roping, steer wrestling, barrel racing and bull riding.

Lehi Parade

We love our town's annual summer parade! We haven't missed it since we moved to Lehi 15 years ago. Today Braden and his high school state championship soccer team got some well-deserved recognition and applause as they threw candy, squirted water guns and waved to the crowds.

A Day In the Neighborhood

We live on a quiet street most of the time...

...except during soccer season. (Spring, summer and fall.) Our home is four houses down and around the corner from the biggest and nicest soccer park in the city. Soccer parents daily come tearing around the corner going three times the limit trying to get to the game or practice on time. It is a constant topic of conversation among my neighbors--how to get these crazy soccer parents to SLOW DOWN! We've yelled, put up signs, and petitioned city officials to do something about this problem before someone gets hurt...namely the dozens of kids who live and play in this neighborhood.

Last week a soccer mom dropped off her kid at the park and came ripping around the corner. She lost control of her car, careened up over the curb and slammed into the neighbor's big tree right next to my driveway. Thank goodness there were no kids in her way, and the driver wasn't seriously injured, although the poor tree suffered some major damage, and her car was completely totalled. Within minutes the entire street was lined with police cars, a fire truck, an ambulance and a tow truck. All the neighbors gathered and the phone started ringing...neighbors several houses down wondering what on earth was goin on. When things had calmed down a bit, the firemen entertained the kids by letting them climb inside the firetruck. It was all very exciting although I'd rather do without that kind of excitement for awhile.

Strawberry Jam

Stefanie and I had such a fun weekend together. Kent and the two big kids were away at youth conference for 3 days so Stefanie and I played together the whole time. We went out to eat twice, did lots of shopping, a couple of projects, and went to a movie. (I had to see "Letters To Juliette" again!) One of our favorite projects was making 4 batches of strawberry jam. There was a great sale on strawberries at Kohlers (thanks for the heads-up Kim!) so we got there early and spent the rest of the morning and afternoon washing, stemming, mashing, measuring and mixing strawberries. We did one batch cooked, and three batches freezer, they all turned out yummy!

Letters To Juliet

Ahhh, one of the cutest movies ever!

Kent planned a date night for us, he and the big kids are leaving tomorrow morning for a 3-day youth conference at Bear Lake, so he wanted to do something fun with me before he left. Kent is so sweet to take me to a "chick flick" but he liked it too! It is truly refreshing to go to a movie free of unnecessary profanity, violence and graphic love scenes. This movie has such a sweet story, it touched my heart. I recommend it to everyone! And I can't wait to see it again.

Our Kindred Dead (no pun intended)

For Memorial Day this year we visited the grave of my paternal grandparents at the Mapleton Cemetary. We then spent the afternoon at Centennial Park in Provo. It is a gorgeous park, right at the foothills of the Wasatch Mountains. The weather was perfect...sunny and warm.

After a yummy picnic we wandered through the park and played in the pond.

We took a little walk through the jungle.

Kent and Braden played some badminton.

We explored the wetlands.

Stefanie tried to catch some tadpoles.