"Hawaiian Santa goes around the isle And does the hula with a great big smile He waves aloha with a Christmas cheer Mele Kalikimaka and Happy New Year" -the Brothers Cazimero
"Looking outward to the blackness of space, sprinkled with the glory of a universe of lights, I saw majesty - but no welcome. Below was a welcoming planet. There, contained in the thin, moving, incredibly fragile shell of the biosphere is everything that is dear to you, all the human drama and comedy. That's where life is; that's were all the good stuff is." - Loren Acton, USA
"I celebrated Thanksgiving in an old-fashioned way. I invited everyone in my neighborhood to my house, we had an enormous feast, and then I killed them and took their land." --Jon Stewart
"What's this? What's this? There's color everywhere! What's this? There's white things in the air! What's this? I can't believe my eyes, I must be dreaming; wake up, Jack, this isn't fair! What's this?" --Jack Skellington in The Nightmare Before Christmas
"There was an idea to bring together a group of remarkable people, so when we needed them, they could fight the battles that we never could... I still believe in heroes." -Nick Fury in The Avengers
Mr. Clean gets rid of dirt and grime and grease in just a minute, Mr. Clean will clean your whole house and everything that's in it. Mr. Clean Mr. Clean. Mr. Clean.
"The sun'll come out Tomorrow, so you gotta hang on till tomorrow. Come what may. Tomorrow, Tomorrow, I love ya, Tomorrow. You're only a day away." -Annie
Yes Rain, your old man is talking to an empty chair.
"I just
thought this was great. Everybody is trying, Oprah was crying. I was
even crying...
All right. I started, you finish it. Go ahead. Make my
day!"
“His drill...is really quite simple- make a habit of doing things others weren't willing to do.” -Michael Phelps, No Limits: The Will to Succeed Disclaimer: Photo may not actually be Michael Phelps.
Last week Rain had the opportunity to attend a multicultural event at Brigham Young University (BYU). From BYU's website: "SOAR, or Summer of Academic Refinement, is a five-day college preparation program which prepares and informs students of the educational benefits and expectations at Brigham Young University." The program is for high school students who have finished their Junior year, as a way to encourage and prepare them for college and the college application process. The week wraps up with the students taking the ACT on Friday morning, a banquet with parents Friday evening, followed by a dance Friday night (after the parents leave).
As we left the banquet we drove through the dorm parking lot where Rain and his new friends were staying. We could see the light on in his room as the guys were preparing for the dance. I called Rain's cell phone as Dale hopped out of the car:
I hope we get to wave at the BYU dorms in August 2013. And Rain still likes us well enough to wave back. Rain's senior year is about to begin...
It was a busy "holiday" week for us. I intended to post this on July 5th, after we were done with our Independence Day celebrating, but we ended up spending that morning at the Emergency Room with Rikki. Maybe she will write a post for us about her close encounter with a spider and her sprained ankle and fractured wrist. She is doing much better now, hobbling around, but she appears to be healing well. We'll just leave it at that. So, a week later, you can hear about our holiday...
We began our 4th with... you guessed it, another parade! Provo, Utah hosts the annual Freedom
Festival this week. You can check out a news story on it here. The Grand Parade
is an event that attracts over a quarter million spectators along the
two mile parade route. I rode my bike to the parade and watched and
waited for the American Fork HS Marching Band. Because I hadn't "camped
out" and staked my area out hours ahead of time, I had a fairly impaired
view of things. I did have the bicycle advantage, however, and was able
to jump around a few blocks and watch the band pass from a few different
locations. Here's a video I put together with some of those clips (thanks to a fellow band mom for the higher quality first portion of it, my cell phone camera just wasn't cutting it).
Rain is in the front row, easy to spot.
After riding my bike home from Provo our family went swimming at the local pool (er, no photos). Then Ryatt and Dale decorated our "Flag Cake." It was a hit!
"Looking outward to the blackness of space, sprinkled with the glory of a universe of lights, I saw majesty - but no welcome. Below was a welcoming planet. There, contained in the thin, moving, incredibly fragile shell of the biosphere is everything that is dear to you, all the human drama and comedy. That's where life is; that's were all the good stuff is."
"There was an idea to bring together a group of remarkable people, so when we needed them, they could fight the battles that we never could... 
“His drill...is really quite simple- make a habit of doing things others weren't willing to do.”
