4th of July Fun

Nothing beats the 4th of July in our little town. A whole week of fun, food, and festivities! Thought you might enjoy a few pictures and a video of Todd playing in the summer marching band. He's the snare drum player closest to the camera. He looks so little with all those big high school kids!

Happy 4th!

Just a little video of the kids singing at the town's Patriotic Program last night.

Aren't we blessed to live in this great nation? I am so thankful to the founding fathers and mothers who gave everything that we might have the lives we have. I pray that we will have the strength and courage to preserve that gift for our posterity.

Happy Independence Day!

4th of July

Brad and I were asked to be on our stake's 4th of July float for the Rupert parade last Saturday. He was George Washington and I was Amelia Earhart. We had a great time. My friend Amber was Betsy Ross and we also had Elvis and three Iwo Jima soldiers on board. The theme was "Only in America", so each of the American icons was meant to represent something remarkable that happened because of the wonderful freedoms we enjoy. We won the prize for the "Best Use of the Theme." It turned out pretty cute. :)

4th of July Parade

Did you notice the kids are wearing matching shirts? One night while we were enjoying entertainment on the square we noticed the 4th of July committee was selling "I Love Rupert" t-shirts. So as a show of solidarity (and because we really do love Rupert) we bought a few. The kids proceeded to wear them for the next 3 days straight. Apparently they love Rupert a lot!!

I should have taken more pictures of the kids during the 4th of July Parade, but I just got so enthralled with watching them that I forgot! For a tiny town like Rupert they sure do know how to put on a great celebration. The kids were absolutely thrilled with the parade. Many different floats gave out candy, otter pops, buttons, stuffed animals, fans, water bottles, etc. so the kids came home with a bag full of goodies. The parade always begins with a flyover from some type of army aircraft. This year was a low and slow flyby by a large C-4 aircraft. As you can imagine, Jack was completely captivated and squealed with delight, "ane, Mom, ane!" (that's "plane, Mom, plane" for those of you who don't speak Jackanese). Our stake entered a float which won "Best Use of Theme" (Hooray for the Red, White, and Blue). It was a scene of the signing of the Declaration of Independence complete with actors portraying several of our founding fathers. It was pretty impressive! The parade route is just two blocks from our house, so our friends, the Bairs, let us set up chairs on their curb and watch the parade in the shade. What a fun day - further evidence that small town life is the life for me.

Rupert 4th of July Festivities

As many of you know, Rupert has a full week of fun 4th of July festivities to enjoy. Beginning this Monday and continuing through the end of the week, the town square will be awash with entertainment and food booths galore. Each night there are free concerts and Monday is the big fireworks extravaganza. There is also PBA Bullriding and a carnival at the fairgrounds. Monday night's concert will be The Parrotheads (a Jimmy Buffet cover band), Wednesday night is some country singer that was on the Nashville circuit last year, and Thursday night is the big Patriotic Program. You may have noticed that I left out Tuesday night. That's because that night is reserved for local talent. This year our family has been asked to provide a 1/2 hour of entertainment from 8:00-8:30 pm. We're working hard to get a program together that will be entertaining (fingers crossed). The kids are going to sing some of the music they're preparing for music camp (Kate will sing "Everybody Wants To Be A Cat" and "Zipadeedoodah", Todd will sing "I Won't Grow Up" (with backups from Kate), and "It's Possible" (from Seussical), then they will sing "Fifty Nifty United States", "Solla Sollew" with me, and the family will sing "America", I will be singing a few on my own including "Someone Like You" (from Jekyll and Hyde), "Popular" (from Wicked), "Over the Rainbow", and "I'm Afraid This Must Be Love" (with Brad). We're still kicking around a few other ideas, so if anyone has a great suggestion I'm all ears. Anyway, if you're over Rupert-way next week you better stop by and enjoy a little slice of Americana. This week is one of my favorite parts of living in Rupert. It feels like stepping onto the set of Pleasantville.