24th Pioneer Celebration

Our Friend's tank pulling a covered wagon--ha ha :)
Natalie riding with the Art City Royalty
Jake and Natalie are a members of the city's youth council and I am one of the adult advisors of this group. I chose not to walk in the parade. :)

Every July 24th our little city has a pioneer day celebration. It starts with the fire trucks and police cars driving around at 6:30 am with their sirens on to wake up the city. There is a flag ceremony, fun run, pancake breakfast, parade, old fashion carnival, bike give away, free concert and fireworks. Suz and her kids joined us for the festivities and her kids even rode on Mike's church ward's float. In the evening we sat on the lawn and listen to Ryan Shupe and the Rubber Band. It was a great concert and Suz's Timothy danced for 2 hours straight!!! The fireworks were incredible! I love the Small-Town America activities and feel of this day.

Bear Lake with Oma and Opa

Last week I took the kids on an impromptu trip up to visit Oma and Opa at Bear Lake. Mike and his family were there also. On Monday we had a perfect day at the lake. Mike drove the boat and pulled kids on the tube. The rest of the adults just hung out on the beach. The highlight of the trip for my kids was the "sniper shooting" instruction Opa gave as they shot at soda cans 200 yards away. They all hit the targets. Bear Lake is so peaceful and was a great break--we head back there in a few weeks for John's family reunion.

Junior Miss

Cousins and friends
Oma and Opa came to cheer her on. (John in background is not crying--he got something stuck in his eye--haha)
Natalie in her interview suit in front of her poster board.

Natalie participated in the Junior Miss program last Saturday night. It is a scholarship program for juniors in high school. They are judged on their scholastic (high school transcript, ACT), talent, interview skills, athletic, and self expression. Natalie went to workshops with the other girls a month before to learn the aerobic routine and opening number. This is something she has never done before and she felt like she learned a lot from the experience. She preformed a monologue from Shakespeare's play Much Ado about Nothing for her talent.

She did wonderfully and really shined on stage. She "sparkled" as she preformed the opening dance number, her aerobic routine, and monologue. She also was very confident and poised with the self expression question. We could not have been prouder!!! She was not one of the overall winners, but she won the 200 dollar Be Your Best Self scholarship award and $1700 scholarship to some random Alabama schools. Yeah Natalie!!!