PIONEER DAY

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In these parts, the 24th of July is almost as big as the 4th. In Utah, and the surrounding areas, the entrance of Brigham Young and the first Mormon pioneers into the Salt Lake Valley, over one hundred fifty years ago, is celebrated with parades, rodeos, and firework displays.
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(That was your history lesson for the day)
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We kicked off our own festivities with a visit to a new restaurant in town we've been wanting to try.
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Basically, they serve pizza toppings in a...

...warm...

...golden...

...soft...

...flaky...

...delectable goodness.

This may be over the top, but they really were heavenly.
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Stuffing my face.

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We even went back to get a dessert Bambino. We split a raspberry and cream cheese one with the same warm...

...soft...

...golden...

...flaky...

...delectible goodness.

*sigh*

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Anyway, we took our food to the park across the street to enjoy... .

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before taking the highway 15 minutes to the northeast...

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....to a town even smaller than Rexburg.

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But we wouldn't want to miss us a hog killin' time...

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...With the Wrangler wearin', sunburn sportin', RockStar energy drinkin' locals.

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Does that look tempting to anyone else?

I was referring to the wallet, by the way.

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Cow-a-bunga!

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Yee-haw!!
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Waiting for the next buckin' bronco.

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The roping and riding was great fun. Too bad it was too dark for pictures by the time the bull riding took place. Ironically, the only injury was a female barrel racer who got pinned between the fence and her horse.

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It looked horrible...the ambulance had to remove her from the arena...and as far as I know, a broken arm and leg were involved.

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Speaking of irony...Andrew chose the boring, uneventful barrel racing as the best time to get a snack at the concessions. He wasn't off the bleachers more than 15 seconds when the accident occurred. He missed the entire thing.

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As the sun sank lower in the sky, I couldn't get enough of those cowboy silhouettes.

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Romantic, Picturesque, and Dreamy...
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Illusory, Idealistic, and Quixotic...
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We love the rodeo.

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Later Mater,

Rachel

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LOOK WHAT I MADE!!

I have spent a few weeks as a substitute teacher in a partial care classroom for toddlers. All I have to say is: 25 third graders are amazingly easier than seven toddlers age 4 and under. But I have enjoyed myself. I enjoyed the challenge of keeping all of them fed, hydrated, dry, and happy all while keeping the place clean, organized, and stocked. I even found that I was kind of good at it.


Here are a few random bits of information from my experiences these last few weeks:

1. I may have come home from work anxious to show Andrew my artwork, but working with little ones is not getting paid to play.


Unless you think play means mediating constant quarrels, wiping behinds, dealing with spoiled, whiny three-year-olds, ruining your clothes, and trying to get resistant nap takers to shut up and lay down already!



2. Always, always have young children use the bathroom before outside playtime, naps, or errands. Otherwise, there WILL be accidents.



3. All toddlers spend about ten minutes singing at the top of their lungs while sitting on the potty. You have to plan for it when making a schedule.




4. Toddlers are amazingly more capable than I ever thought. My two-year-old can set the table, clear his place, clean up his toys, put puzzles together, and pretend to read books aloud to himself for almost an hour.




5. I am acquainted with a four-year-old who knows every single word of The Eye of the Tiger.




6. Things get incredibly easier when there is more than one child at a time. They play with each other. This provides me the freedom to wipe tables, take out trashes, change diapers, sweep floors, and prepare meals. Whenever I had one at a time, they were completely reliant on me for entertainment.




7. Any child in the world will inevitably ask me why I have so much fur on my arms.




8. My favorite time of day is right after naps when they are all sweet, snuggly, and sleepy eyed. Nothing warms the heart like cuddly toddler.




9. A favorite four-year-old quote after sliding into a mini inflatable pool: "WHooeee! The water is freaking cold in that bath tub!"




10. If you blow bubbles for too long as an adult, it can put you in danger of passing out.




11. If you don't make a big deal about a toddler falling down or bonking his head...either will he. Just smile and say WOW! and they will follow suit. If you look concerned they will cry.




12. Prepare for your clothes to get unbelievably dirty if caring for a group of toddlers. Don't even try to stay clean....it's physically impossible.




13. Kind firmness works leaps and bounds better than anger with a disobedient two-year-old.




14. There is no use getting upset over spills and messes. It will only happen again in the very near future.




15. Strangely, I would still like to have a large handful of kids of my own to herd around one day.
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GREETING CARDS

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I have saved shoe boxes full of greeting cards. I've received some fun ones over the years, and it seems a shame to keep them hidden away where they will never be seen again. I scanned a couple of favorites to share with the world...before they get shoved onto the top shelf of the closet again.
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A card we received at our wedding that I thought was cute.
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FRONT
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My mother has a part-time job at Hallmark. As a result, I receive many, many cards in the mail. Not that I'm complaining. Who doesn't like Hallmark cards?
FRONT
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Andrew's Easter card our first year of marriage
FRONT
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An anniversary card from Dad. The eyes are the googly kind. Is it weird to say that this card totally remind me of Andrew and me?
FRONT
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I loved the colors and and mood of this one.
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Dad sends a Christmas card out every year that he made. He drew this old Christmas village using pen and ink.
FRONT The front of the card is too long to fit into our scanner. So, here's the other half.
INSIDE
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Christmas card I just thought was cute.
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A card from Andrew that just describes him so well. ( The funny part...not the druggie part)
FRONT INSIDE
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A bee...wearing that birthday hat...singing that tune...Why is it so adorable to me?
FRONT INSIDE

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And the most unique card award goes to this one:
What it looks like straight out of the envelope...

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What it looks like after it pops up...

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The actual card part is the candles that you pull out of the top of the "cake"...
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THE LAST LITTLE WHILE

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1)

About a week ago, this is what it looked like from our front stoop at about 4:30 in the afternoon. The sun was bright red, the sky was a sinister black, and the light peeking through our windows from outside was an eerie orangy glow. It looked like the end of the world.

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I found the next two pictures on the Internet (I am still kicking myself for not thinking to go up the hill to take these pictures of the temple myself). The wind was blasting upwards 50mph, and if you didn't know any better, you'd think their was the storm of the century blowing in.

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A wildfire had started not too far from here, before the high winds quickly set it burning out of of control. The blaze spread to 109,000 acres before everything was said. In the meantime, Rexburg enjoyed some incredible skies and potent campfire smells.

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2.) At about 9pm on Friday night, Andrew and I were anxious to go on a date. But what is there to do in Rexburg, with limited funds, at such a late hour? We walked to Wal-Mart to look at stuff. It was a long walk, but the evening was an enjoyable one.

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That is until I wandered into this aisle and saw the BACK TO SCHOOL sale set up. It can't be that time already!

Please, NOOOOO!!

I can't remember if I shouted this internally with my entire being or out loud at the top of my lungs. Hmmm. I'm guessing I haven't fully recovered from the previous school year yet.

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3.)

We took our boat out to Ririe Reservoir. It was a whopping 93 degrees on a Saturday, so the place was packed with other boats.

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We forgot about the five dollar parking fee until we had already arrived. We frantically foraged around the truck and miraculously, found EXACTLY five dollars in quarters. We figured such a miraculous moment was worth documenting.

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.Our little boat was rather zippy with just the two of us. We probably would have lost a race with any other boat on the lake that day...but zippy all the same.

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We traveled along through the canyon, until we came to a nice grassy knoll on which to eat out lunch.

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Aww...Look at out our little boat just sitting there on the beach! SO precious.

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.We relaxed on our grassy knoll for several hours: watching boats speed past, eating sandwiches, and reading in the shade.
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Then, we went back out on the boat and found ourselves a private, floating dock. We swam back and forth between the dock and the nearby rocky cliffs just enjoying the perfect summer afternoon.

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Blinding sun, hot breeze, sparkling water, sunscreen, farmer's tans, refreshing swim, slippery rocks, goosebumps, sunburn, choppy waves, circling osprey, and bobbing boat.

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