Rachael in the Rain

We had a good summer storm on Saturday. It cooled things down here in the valley and helped to put out the fire up above Bridal Veil Falls. Rachael had a good time playing in the rain. (We didn't think the rain would last long, so yes, the sprinklers are still on) As you watch the video sing "Singing in the Rain, Just singing in the rain, what a glorious feeling . . . "

Family Home Evening with Hyrum and his Family

We spent Family Home Evening last night with Hyrum and his family. We had a GREAT time eating Kentucky Fried Chicken and watermelon. A visit from the ice cream truck added fun for all. We played soccer and two hand touch football. It was great to see how tall Kyle has gotten. We enjoyed playing "Princess" with KaLeah. Hyrum played the guitar and violin for us. How lucky we are to get to see Hyrum every year. He is a wonderful boy. We are so blessed that he has a wonderful family, that is willing to continue to share their son with us. Thank you Shem and Char for being such great parents.

Beth and Ryan get ENGAGED

Beth and Ryan have decided to get married. The date is September 25th. We are so happy for the two of you.

Grandma and Grandpa adopt a new "Baby"

Grandma and Grandpa Anderson have added a new member to their family. On Saturday they adopted a Cocker Spaniel named Ozzie. Ozzie seems to be fitting right in, he is a beautiful dog. He is house trained and enjoys going for walks. He likes to play fetch and loves to have his tummy rubbed. Welcome to the Family, Ozzie

Riding the Motorcycle is FUN!!

Richard has had a motorcycle for about four or five years now. Up until this summer I have spent only about 15 minutes on the back of it with him. For what ever reason the motorcycle scared me. Rachael loves riding on the back of the motorcycle with Richard, and rides every chance she gets. I got really brave this summer and rode with Richard to see the Parade of Homes houses last month. A couple of weeks ago we took a ride to the top of the Alpine Loop. On the 4th of July we rode it to the Provo Freedom Festival Parade. Today we again headed up the Alpine Loop, to the top and then down to Cascade Springs. We walked around the Springs for a few minutes before returning home. It was my longest ride yet, about 50 miles. I had a great time. Maybe someday I'll even learn to drive it myself.


Come for a ride with us.

Rachael gets to be a part of the FIELD SHOW!

Rachael has been "promoted" into the field show with the Colorguard. They normally don't have 8th graders do the field show. Rachael is doing so well that they moved her up. She will get to travel with the band and colorguard to all of their competitions. Most importantly she will go with them to the GRAND NATIONALS Competition in Indianopolis in November. She is really excited to be a part of it.

She just completed two full days of field show practice. She's a little sunburnt, a little sore, and a lot better flag flipper. We are looking forward to watching her all season long.

WAY TO GO RACHAEL!!

STADIUM OF FIRE

Grandma Anderson won tickets to Stadium of Fire, since she was going to be out of town she gave them to us. Richard and I, Rachael and her friend Natalie went to the show. We did all of the pre-show games in the parking lot first. We had hamburgers at the burger place near the stadium and headed into the stadium about 7:00. We found our seats, on row 5 at about the 40 yard line opposite the big repay board. GREAT SEATS! We all had to have some Cougar Creamery Ice Cream before the show.


This nice man sat behind us. It took us a while to figure out who it was, but what a friendly man ALAN OSMOND was. We had a nice conservation with him before the show started. He came in on his "jazzy" and about went over the curb. The rest of the Osmond clan is in the row you can see just behind him on the next level.






The stadium was full and lots of excitement in the
air as the night began. First came the skydivers.


















Next came the dancers. They danced, along with athletes who represented every sport done at the Summer Olympics. It was pretty cool.

The BLUE MAN GROUP then came out on the stage. What a fun thing to watch and listen to, we were all enjoying them. We are agreed that we would go see them
perform again. The music they create with their "instruments" was really cool. The next performer was Miley Cyrus. Rachael and Natalie knew most of the songs and enjoyed getting up and singing to them.





The best part of the show was the fireworks. They just kept going and going. Every time we thought they were over, thing started up again. It was a great show. THANK YOU GRANDMA ANDERSON for a great evening.

Breaking Dawn

AMERICAN FORK HIGH SCHOOL COLORGUARD

In the Spring Rachael tried out for a position on the American Fork High School Colorguard Team. The 8th graders are a part of the team during the parade season. Rachael made the team. She brought home here practice flag and has worked really hard learning the parade routine. She has tried to teach Dad and I how to "Throw" the flag. She's had her share of blisters, and sore feet as she has practiced with the colorguard and the band preparing for her first parade.

The band appeared in the Freedom Festival Parade on the 4th of July in Provo. Richard and I rode the motorcycle down to Provo so that we could watch Rachael in the parade. We were at the start of the parade, then scooted down a couple of blocks and watched and took more pictures. We got back on the motorcycle, taking a back street, going a few more blocks and watching again. Rachael did a GREAT job. We are so proud of her.


Here she is before the parade
















Parade Pictures













































Next is a short movie

CHIEF HARRY

There is a new "Sherriff" in town. Harry Lam who has had his motorcycle officials license for about 4 years has now gotten a motorcycle. He rode down to show us his new "ride". He and Richard went for a ride, enjoying the great outdoors. I look forward to having the new "Sherriff" on my crew sometime soon. WAY TO GO HARRY!!

DOGS

We are once again watching Steven's dogs, Sugar a black lab, and Chubbs, a beagle. Both dogs get along with Lightning and Chloe. They all behave pretty good except when in the front yard and the neighbors dogs are also out. As soon as we let the dogs out of the backyard they head to the fence between us and the Covingtons and this is what happens.








This is what happens to the dogs when we have had enough of the noise. They get a TIME OUT













Lightning, or as she is now being called at our house "The Queen" doesn't participate in all of the noise making, she just lays in the flower beds. In the cool, shade, smashing my flowers.

RACHAEL TURNS 13

Rachael is now 13 years old. Yes, that makes her a teenager. It is hard to believe that she is 13 already. It seems just yesterday that we were bringing her home from the hospital, not even weighing 5 pounds yet. We spent Rachael's birthday in Durango, Colorado. She opened her presents in the hotel room first thing in the morning.



She wanted to go to the "Mall" in Durango and look for ways to spend the money that she got. We ended up in one of her favorite places, anything with smelly lotions



She picked the place for dinner, Steamworks. All the peanuts you can eat while you wait for your dinner. She ended the evening with Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream.


Saturday was the Iron Horse Bike Race. 2500 riders start in Durango and race to Silverton. About 1500 of them start with the train and try to beat it up the canyon. But the race was cancelled due to 12 inches of new snow on the road. We ended up going to see the new Indiana Jones movie.

That evening all of the Officials had dinner with the Zink's (the family that started the race). We took a birthday cake and everyone sang to Rachael. She definately had a great birthday.