July was undoubtedly the most exciting month out of the year for us. We usually pack it with events and tire ourselves out by 7:00 but somehow usually find so much to do after the kids go to bed and don't usually go to bed until midnight or 1:00 or sometime 2:00. Let's start with the first event of the month. Here is a short cut version of Dan's usual monthly newsletter he writes to his family.
It is that time once again. Our HOA has hired goats to steal American jobs and eat any undesired
weeds in the common areas. OK, truth be told, they're stealing Mexican jobs and eating all of our plants that have strayed too close to our property line. We didn't like that they ate our poppies but the kids enjoyed watching them graze down the tall grass behind our house.
We had a full day of celebration for Independence Day. We started by taking pictures of our family,
then we took pictures of cousin Dave and his family, then we went to cousin Shelly's house to eat BBQ with her family and her new little one. Then we all went to big celebration where we had colorful popcorn, music and various commercial activities capped off with fireworks
Berry picking is a tradition of ours in the summer. It starts out with strawberry, raspberry, blueberry, and then blackberry.
Dan loves eating out at the Amazon cafeteria and brags about this amazing sandwich with blackberry jam so he took us all there to eat.
Our 10 day vacation
After Reena's birthday we packed our stuff and went on a long road trip. We headed down to Utah for the Stevens family reunion. We went to Pinewoods resort, a beautiful place that feels almost like home because of all the green, though not quite as green as Eastern Washington. We saw immediate and extended families we love. We also went to Strawberry point, Cedar Breaks and Bryce Canyon, all so beautiful. We had a good time with the siblings that showed up as well as the 1st cousins, 1st cousins once removed, 2nd cousins, and etc. et al. ad infinitum. Games were played and you probably could guess what games they were. Settlers and Ark of the Covenant. Both games I managed to win somehow. After Bryce Canyon we drove to Las Vegas to be with Dan's parents and got to be in their new home. We found out that our friends Jared and Allyn Nelson live only a few miles away from Dan's parents' new house so we saw them. We also went to the strip to see the
fountains and have a bite of luxurious not-quite-ice-cream, getting home just in time to have dinner with Dan's brother Jeff and his family. After a few days, we headed up to SLC, to stay with my sister,
Thanh. Thuyen flew down to shop for her wedding dress in the wedding dress capital of the world:
Provo. After we found Dan's wallet at the fast food restaurant from the night before, we drove straight home with only one stop in Meridian, ID for more friends and dinner. We saw our friends Devin and Aubrie Spence and their family whom we haven't seen for 5 years. They were so kind and made us a delicious dinner with dessert. Reena and Debrie were good travelers. We had a great time and are happy to be back home. Thuan's friend and Kim and Dave Christenson Jones (our cousins) stayed at our house while we were on the trip and watered our plants. We have not had a drop of rain for so long.
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| Soon after arriving we discovered that Papa does not have any ice cream in his fridge we they all HAD to go get ice from the store with papa. |
When Dan wrote the newsletter he forgot to mention that we all went to the Aviary. We also rode on the ferris wheel that Charly and Sam rode in Charly. We got to meet my sister's boyfriend Alex, who hung out with Dan while we went wedding dress shopping with my sister Thuyen. We love Alex and hopes he joins our family. He has a fun loving character and that fits our family perfectly.
Our adopted grandpa Haslem was so sick and got admitted to the hospital due to his lungs collapsing. What a trooper he was to fight through that. We knew his time was not up yet and so grateful he's still with us. We love him so much.
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