Memorial Weekend GP 2009

Being here with my family has been great. I am glad I got to see them this year :). I truly have the best family in the world. I love them so much! They make me laugh!

I haven't been taking a lot of pictures of my trip :( but here are a few of the Memorial Weekend. On Friday night we went to a park in GP that sits right on the rogue river and watched the firework display-always incredible! They had a fair going on with rides, and booths with all sorts of odd things to purchase :). I told Mike, before we really even conversed, I LOVED fairs, that they were "nostalgic" to me and that I wanted to go to a fair with him. Being at the fair made me miss him. Hopefully we can go to the one in Utah in the fall :). One must at a fair, besides riding some rides-FUNNEL CAKE!!! YUM!! I love it! Saturday we watched a two hour parade with everything from "Jesus belongs to Grants Pass" holy rollers, to hot rods. It was quite the spectacle. :) The kids got bags and bags of candy, thanks to uncle Jared (who btw you want to have with you at any and all parades) who cheered and supported everyone in the parade from the "candy girls," to "miss rooster." It is amazing how he can grab anyones attention :). That afternoon we visited Grandpa. Good ol' Grandpa, still hangin in there. God bless his heart for living this long without the love of his life. He is such an example to me! I love him so much! We then went and watched the boat nic races, which were incredibly deafening :). It is incredible the speed at which they can go in that length of time. 154 feet in 7 seconds going 144mph. INSANE! Sunday we were able to celebrate Alec and Shayna's birthday-best dinner ever (I told Shayna she needed to have her b-day every Sunday :). Jenn and Mom made slow cooked ribs, frog eye salad, deviled eggs, artichokes, asparagus with parmesan cheese, and Michelle made this yummy pretzel and butter crusted raspberry jello salad that was so good. It was such a good meal! After dinner Mike was able to be apart of the birthday singing, thanks to skype, and he entertained us for a time with Nika and with his funny faces :). WE LOVE MIKE!!! All of the kids loved seeing him, they think he is the funniest person :). Maile calls him "tootie fruity" now. :) We then played a game called "Boxers or Briefs." SO FUNNY and so much fun! I told Mike we have to get that game and play it with his family :). I laughed my head off.

Today is Monday, Memorial Day and I don't know what the plans are, but I am grateful to honor this day with my family and Mike.

How grateful we are for all of our troops serving right now and the dedication, loyalty and devotion they and their families have to making America the beautiful, free land that we are all so fortunate to call home. I am so grateful to live in this country; to celebrate all of our American traditions and to be married to such a wonderful man that is also extremely grateful for the heritage of this great country. God bless America!