the fourth! and things

I remember when I was younger that our neighborhood put on an annual fourth of July parade. Us kids would deck ourselves out in the patriotic red, white, and blues and ride our bikes on a predetermined route through our familiar streets. One year TheKeeper even ran into a mailbox using his head as a battering ram. We're still not sure why.

But then we moved away and grew up and forgot about our small community parade filled roots. We weren't in another parade until this year - TheMechanic marched in the big parade with the young marines. Basically because he's made of awesome. But he's related to me, so I mean, really.

And also I had to make up for last year's awkwardly horrible fourth of July "celebration" that didn't exist. I was with PC and I had to watch the fireworks by myself from his parking lot because he refused to turn off his video game and come outside with me. But such was our relationship, video games often came first and foremost in his life.

This year, however, this year was way better. We started off the night with dry ice bombs, which are simply put, the most awesome things ever. Especially when put inside a santa clause melon and blown to smithereens

Shortly thereafter we transitioned into our small fireworks display in front of the house. It consisted of a plethora of ground hogs because they are mom's favorite. They spin around on the ground like crazed tansmanian devils. We like to light off multiples at a time and watch them duel in the street. And we intersperse them with twinkly fireworks that make you go "oooooh" and "aaaah" as is tradition.

At ten o'clock on the dot the fireworks display booms loudly just beyond the tree line and down by the lake. Sitting on the back porch we have the best view, plus we're not fighting the massive crowds for standing room only observations. It was quite a night, actually. For just around fifteen minutes our backyard sounded like a war zone, but only the fun kind with pretty lights and no dying. It was quite possibly one of the best fourth of July celebrations I've ever been part of. May next year be even more fun!   

My Dad

This is my dad. He pretty much rules. He's also a pretty big ski bum and he loves him some spicy food.

My dad is amazing. Wanna know why? He's a total man of God and him and my momma worked hard to bring us up right. Also? He stared cancer in the face and beat it to a bloody pulp. (He is super man, I tell you.)

Guess what else? He has a totally rad car.

Tell me that you do not love that car. You can't do it can you? That's because it's beautiful!! We have never had a car this fancy ever and every time I sit in it I grin like an idiot. Can't help it, you know? There's just something about a convertible that wins over a girl's heart. 

Plus, this picture is my dad's FB profile picture:

Proving that I am, in fact, his favorite child. pphhhbbbttt!

Happy father's day, Dad. ♥ I love you a lot. 

The Easter Bunny and Easter Eggs and Jesus

Let's talk about Easter. There's a fun side to Easter, a commercial side to Easter, and a religious side to Easter. It's a pretty complicated holiday, to be sure.

I mean, we have the Easter bunny - which I've heard that the bunny was a fertility sign from a pagan holiday that merged with the celebration of the resurrection of Christ when Constantine up and got Christian all over the Roman Empire. But when you're little you have no idea about that stuff - the Easter Bunny brings you everybody's favorite Easter baskets! Candy! Toys! Fake green paper strips to imitate grass and get all over the house and in corners you didn't even know existed! And candy!

And I mean people, let's not forget the famed Easter egg hunts! I remember that was the thing I used to be the most excited about when I was little - I mean yeah, okay, church in the morning in a highly uncomfortable dress and tights! (Tights I tell you! Oh the horror! How my legs loathed being encased by suffocating white thin socks that went all the way up to my waist! It was torture.) But even though we heard the message about the wonderful thing that Jesus did for us, I was still super stoked about those plastic eggs filled with sweets waiting to be found in our house. Coloring the hard boiled eggs was almost just as fun.

I remember being so disappointed when my parents decided to quit hiding the eggs for us to find. I was mad at them for taking away all the fun. I felt like they were just being too lazy to hide the Easter eggs, and to an extent that was true. I mean, they'd been doing it for a long time when they finally decided to stop, but I still felt like it was unfair. I felt like The DP and The Mechanic got shafted because when I was their age I still got Easter egg hunts.

The Keeper and I took it upon ourselves to hide the Easter eggs for the little kids. That didn't last very long, but it made me feel better. And then my aunt and uncle moved across the state line from us, about a half hour away, and they held grand Easter egg hunts. Not only were there eggs filled with candy, but also with coins. And I just couldn't get over that. Those crazy kids also hid a "Golden Egg" filled with a 20 dollar bill - and you can guess that's what the real competition was about. We each wanted it equally as bad as the others and every year we set out on a mission to find that silly egg and claim the prize for our wallets!

But now that I'm older, egg hunts are a little below me. I still miss them, but I don't feel like I'm missing out something fierce just because I don't participate in one. However, I feel like for me it's more about celebrating Jesus. And eating candy.

I mean, this holiday I feel like should be bigger than Christmas. Yes, Christmas is all fine and good and shouldn't be overlooked because it is a truly great thing to celebrate the birth of our Savior, but Easter! People, Easter is when we celebrate the reason that He was sent to us! His death on the cross and resurrection from the tomb three days later to save us from our sins! I feel like that message is somewhat lost.

The pastor today gave a good message about sinning and missing the mark but we are forgiven! And we are loved no matter what the circumstance, no matter how bad we mess up, or how low we think we've sunk, Jesus' love will always find us. But I feel like he just didn't really drive his message home, he would talk right up to the point and then stop short. I kept waiting for him to say "But He is RISEN! And we are FORGIVEN! Hallelujah! What a HAPPY DAY!" But he just never got that excited about it. I didn't feel like he really celebrated that awesome wonderful news.

Don't worry though, I got excited myself. Today was about celebration, and I celebrated by eating tootsie rolls and Reese's peanut butter eggs and treating myself to dinner tonight.

I'm not perfect, I don't try to be perfect, but I am forgiven and I am loved and my Savior has conquered the grave to live again! And what better news could you ask for?

Half A Century

I spent most of my spring break in Arizona visiting my mom's side of the family for the joyous celebration of my maternal grandparent's 50th Wedding Anniversary Extravaganza. 

There were lots of people there I had never met before, so I hid behind the lens of a camera, documenting the momentous occasion instead of mingling with my relatives. I did a lot of mingling too, don't get me wrong, but there's only so much small talk I can take before this introvert needs some quality alone time. 

 

It seemed like it was a go-go-go-never stop vacation that you need a vacation from right after it's over to recuperate from. It would have been nice to end the trip with a whole day of blissful nothingness, but I tell you, school just has to ruin everything. I flew back Sunday morning, and departed again Sunday afternoon so I could come back to Moscow for school today.

So my day of nothingness was spent in an airport, on a plane and in a car. I fell asleep somewhere around 10 o'clock because I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer. I think that's the earliest I've gone to bed in a long time, but I was totally exhausted. (A good kind of exhausted!)

Besides the fact there were many people in attendance whom I had never seen before in my life, there were quite a few family members I was happy to have the chance to hug again. I spent a lot of time with my aunt and uncles and my little cousin Princess M. We spent a whole evening making up Haiku poems because M loves to write poems and put words together - she's actually really good at it. She even memorized a poem to recite for the Anniversary Celebration.

Besides the anniversary party, I also attended my first major league baseball game (The Mariners and The Royals) (you can guess who won), but we also had a barbecue, and after the afternoon anniversary get together, we partied into the night (meaning, until about 9) with more family and more food.

The weather was beautiful, and the DP and I even commandeered some time out of our busy schedules to lounge around in the back yard in our swimsuits to soak up some sunshine. We read our books, listened to some music, played with the dog, and attempted to color our skin (we're still pasty white Idaho girls though).

And then, Saturday afternoon we prepped and primped and put on our smokin' hot dresses to wow the world. I think just about all of my relatives confused me and DP, and kept complimenting my mother on her beautiful girls.

Also, I think it literally shocked everyone when they asked me how old I was/what grade I was in. It took a few tries to get people to believe that I was a junior at a university, not a high school. That was pretty fun for me, to be honest.

Mom, DP and me. We are looking pretty snazzy! 

Grandma was just beside herself with joy I think the entire time. She was just right in her element, surrounded by all her family and friends. 

I'm pretty sure that everyone who came had a complete blast. I know my aunt worked really hard to pull a lot of things together, and once Mom, DP and I arrived we all worked hard setting everything up. I think it turned out beautiful, and even though I came home completely exhausted, I'd do it all again in a heartbeat.

Happy 50th Gramma and Grandpa!