Sunday, July 27, 2014

Quotes of the Week

"Optimism is a happiness magnet. If you stay positive, good things and good people will be drawn to you." 
 -- Mary Lou Retton

"Don't lower your standards. Instead, wait for people to rise up to your expectations." 
 -- Susan Gale 

"Keep people in your life who truly love you, motivate you, encourage you, inspire you, enhance you, and make you happy. If you have people who do none of the above, let them go."  
-- Unknown 

"If you follow the crowd, you will go no further than the crowd. But if you walk alone, and find your own way, you will likely find yourself in places no one has ever been before."  
-- Albert Einstein 

Thursday, July 24, 2014

Pioneer Day Float and Parade

Our stake was assigned to make a float for the Bountiful Handcart Days Parade. The stake assigned our ward to be in charge of the float. Specifically, Bruno Kossin was put in charge of the float.

He got a committee together to come up with the idea.
From that these styrofoam seagulls were born.



In the Kentucky Fried Chicken-looking bucket is Kolob Fried Crickets.
Strings of firecrackers.
My part of helping with the float was gluing the letters and stars on both sides of the blue banner.

The morning of the parade I went to Bruno's to take some pictures of the float. It still needed the green flooring and the seagull feet and the firecrackers put into place. But at least I got to see the banner assembled.


The parade is always held at 6 p.m. the night before Pioneer Day. That seems like an awfully hot time of the day for a parade. And an awfully hard time for working people to get home, collect their families and find their spot on the parade route.

Fortunately for me, the Golden family had found a spot in a mostly shaded area and I joined them. Glen was in Minnesota and missed the whole thing.
The children were given small American flags to wave during the parade and they loved them. They also loved getting the candy that was thrown their way. They had to be a little more patient not being on the front row since that's where the majority of the candy was being thrown. But, when they finally got some of the candy, they were extra happy.
 Look at what a good grandma I was getting Madison to sleep halfway through the parade.
There were the usual school marching bands, clowns, old cars, floats, horses, etc. that you see in a typical parade. But this was the first time I saw a stars-and-stripes horse sporting golden hooves.
The moment we were waiting for finally arrived...our float! There's our friend Bruno with Colleen in the passenger seat.

 
Rebecca declared our float the best. Here are most of the other floats so you can judge for yourself.








Do we even consider this decorated boat trailer a float??!!??

Sunday, July 20, 2014

Quotes of the Week

"Don't let negative and toxic people rent space in your head. Raise the rent and kick them out." 
 -- Robert Tew 

"When you learn, teach, when you get, give." 
 -- Maya Angelou 

"Talent is a gift that brings with it an obligation to serve the world, and not ourselves, for it is not of our making." 
-- Jose Marti 

"I've come to believe that each of us has a personal calling that's as unique as a fingerprint and that the best way to succeed is to discover what you love and then find a way to offer it to others in the form of service, working hard, and also allowing the energy of the universe lead you."  
-- Oprah Winfrey 

Friday, July 18, 2014

More 4th of July Holiday Fun - Part 2

Klarissa considers Sarah the hair braiding queen and enlisted her help with her hair one morning.

Glen was the grill master and cooked us up some great meals.



The kids played Blockus.
Brooke could hardly wait for everyone to be done so she could use the game for an art project. She is REALLY into My Little Pony these days. Look at those four ponies she made standing there under the sun.
We held babies and tried to keep all the children happy.



 Taking the children to the rec center to swim was a definite way to keep them all happy.



 Ben even joined in the fun sitting in the baby pool with Sarah and Klarissa and the rest of the bunch.
We celebrated two birthdays. Klarissa's brother Morgen had a birthday earlier in the month and Ben was having a birthday the following week.
Great time for all who joined in the Thomas family 4th of July holiday fun. Same time, same place next year everybody!!

Thursday, July 17, 2014

Fun 4th of July Festivities

Abe, Klarissa and Newland decided to come for a visit over the 4th of July weekend.
The little San Franciscan city boy enjoyed playing in the grass and the dirt.



Sarah recruited family members to join with her in running a 5K race one morning.

They got some cute shirts from the race. Too bad Jeff and Sarah were the only ones who went home with a shirt. Ben has yet to find the shirt he got from the race. Jeff, Sarah, have either one of you seen a third shirt lying around that doesn't belong to you???
Sarah is showing how cute her race shirt looks on her when she wore it another day to "run the loop"--her favorite route she used to run all the time when she was living here. The thumbs up is that she made it back up the hill.
She was pretty exhausted and had to take a moment's breather to cool down before she went back into the house.
Breakfast always tastes better on the 4th of July when you are wearing patriotic pajamas and t-shirts.

And look at this little doll baby wearing her "Made in the U.S.A." outfit.

It's always fun to go watch the fireworks up at the golf course above our house. The guys are good to go up early and get all the chairs and blankets laid out for us and stake our claim to our favorite spot.


 

Brooke and Caroline made good use of the glow sticks and made sure Madison had her own glow stick crown as well.






This was Klarissa's (and Newland's for that matter) first time to experience our city's fireworks. Fun family 4th of July festivities.