What a busy week! Last Saturday is the last truly peaceful day we’ve enjoyed, but it’s been a ton-o-fun. Saturday we had a “hobby day”—we did some laundry at mom and dad Melin’s while Rich worked on our log bed and I set up a scrap-booking table in their basement. We also took Addie to swim in the “big pool” at the park. She wore her floaty swimsuit and she was so brave! After a little warming up, she was jumping off the side to us. She is a funny kid—very intense, but very sweet, and much braver than me!
Both last Sunday and this Sunday I taught two lessons at church—the 16-17 year-old Sunday School class (where we study the New Testament—this is an official teaching calling) and the YW lesson (this is temporary until we call a teacher). It was a little stressful getting everything ready, but I think the lessons turned out pretty good. I like teaching, but I hope I can get better at it. I want to be more effective, especially teaching teen-agers, you know?
Last week I completed my goal to finish our family’s 2002 scrapbook by July 1st. I made it, but not without neglecting Addie a little bit—pobre cita! She had to watch a bunch of videos down in Grandma’s basement while I worked on the book on Monday and Tuesday, but we did it. Now we can work on 2003 and hopefully stay pretty caught up.
Last week we also spent our family night (Monday) with the Carter family in our Ward. It was the dad’s 50th birthday and we went and enjoyed a Dutch oven dinner cooked in their beautiful yard. We really enjoyed their company and I am so glad they are in our ward. Their daughters add a lot to our Young Women.
Wednesday (July 2) was the day all the patriotic fervor broke out in Livingston (well, they had a downtown hoe down last Saturday, but we missed that). The Livingston Roundup began that night, and the festivities kicked off with a parade in the afternoon. If you think they’re serious about rodeo in Tucson, you aint seen nothin’. Everything—even the banks—closed at 2pm for the parade at 3pm. Rich went early to stake out a spot on 2nd street (behind our house) at the beginning of the parade route. Then mom and dad Melin and Dad Melin’s brother Mick and his wife Cheryl joined us with little Danny and we had a ball. Addie and Danny enjoyed the sights and sounds (and the Popsicles and the candy thrown to them from the floats).
After the parade we helped mom Melin put together a delicious barbecue dinner at her house for all the company. As we were sitting down to dinner I remembered that I was supposed to be at a Young Women’s activity (at 7:22pm), but then figured they’d be all right without me (they were—oops!). There were beautiful fireworks that night at the end of the rodeo. The grounds are just down the road, so we watched them laying on the futon in Addie’s room (she fell asleep there, but managed to wake up and give a few oo’s and ahh’s).
Thursday I worked hard to get all my Sunday stuff ready (lessons) and clean this house so we’d be ready to camp our on Friday to celebrate Independence Day. Friday morning, we went to our ward’s pancake breakfast (how did that get to be a tradition, I wonder?—it’s a fun one, but makes me go “hmmm”). Then we left for West Yellowstone where we would camp. We followed mom, dad, Angie (Rich’s sister), Davey (her husband), and Danny (their son) in our own car with the tent trailer. We camped at Rainbow Point on Hebgen Lake about 5 miles north of West Yellowstone. We set up camp then went into Yellowstone Park to picnic and watch Old Faithful erupt. We took walks, explored the old lodge, had ice cream, and then headed back to camp to make dinner.
We set up the trailer and our other big tent (you gotta love a tent you can stand up in!) while mom got the coals going to cook us a fabulous chicken and rice Dutch oven dinner. Camp was comfy and dinner was delicious! At dark, we went back into West Yellowstone to watch their great fireworks show and it was well worth the 100-mile drive!
Mom and Dad and Angie’s family slept in the trailer while we stretched out in the tent—Addie and I snuggled up in one bed, Rich was in another (we even set up a night stand and enjoyed a little bedtime reading). We got up around 8am; mom and dad were already cooking breakfast. We got dressed, played some horseshoes, and ate breakfast (eggs, bacon, little smokies, melons, grapes, cinnamon rolls baked in the dutch oven, juice, and milk). We broke camp and headed home at about 10:30am. We were home in time to get all our regular Saturday chores done, plus do my Sunday prep, clean up our camping stuff, and take a short nap. What a wonderful weekend together!
So that’s the run down. Oh, yeah—we came home to the JOYFUL news that my brother Will and his wife Audrey are expecting a baby in February! Hooray! We went about 5 years straight where there was always a pregnant sister in my family, but there has been nobody pregnant since Dana had Leanne in January! (Of course Rich’s brother Mark’s daughter was born June 18th, but none on my side for a while). This news made me hopeful that our pregnancy tests will come out positive in a few weeks—twin cousins rock! J
More later; Happy Independence Day!
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