The 5th of July

Every year Provo throws a huge party centered around the 4th of July. One of the big things they do is the Freedom Festival parade. I have been going to this parade without fail for 20 years! Below are some of the floats that went by.

There were many stake floats that went by. The Wasatch stake did a great job on that temple!

The 4th of July just wouldn't be the same without dad. (And the rest of the family too).

I thought this float was kinda funny. It is the Republican party float.

This was the Tuachn Theatre float showcasing their upcoming Tarzan play.

This float was really cool.

This float is actually my home stake's float. They did a great job! Apparently my family spent one FHE pulling out last year's staples for 3 hours to get ready for this year.

Instead of going home to the traditional Barney nap after the parade, dad and I wandered around Colonial Days, the Freedom Festival and the car show down at the mall. I only took pictures at Colonial days, however, we had a great time all over the place.

This is a member of my home ward, Brother Scheetz. He built that lathe himself!

Of course I had to put this in. I told my dad he needs to make me one of these and one of the lap looms that we saw as well. Wouldn't it be so neat to spin the yarn, weave it, and construct something all yourself?

A tribute to those who have been killed in action this year.

This was in the printing museum. My stake spent several days "transcribing" ancient symbols onto these plates. When we did it they told us to randomly put the symbols on the page, since we did not know what the symbols meant.

This page is very important. Because...

It is the page that I did! (I don't know why Blogger uploaded it sideways, on my computer it's facing the right way). We were told that we could put our initials in the corner at the bottom of the page. This one page took my 4 hours to etch in all of the symbols!

Lesson Learned

So, my mother's birthday snuck up on me (June 12) and I HAD to make a cake. (Of course)! So I rummaged through what I already had in the house and came up with this. I am fairly embarrassed to share these pictures with you, as they are atrocious, but I wanted to share a lesson I learned.

1. The last 3-4 Betty Crocker brand cake mixes that I have made up have been extra crumbly and really hard to work with. I think I'll probably stick to Duncan Hines.(Pillsbury cake mixes also give a difficult texture to work with when icing).

2. DO NOT USE WHIPPED ICING FROM A CAN! I didn't have any powdered sugar, so I could not make my own, so I used the canned stuff. BIG MISTAKE! The texture is impossible to pipe with. It is too sticky to smooth out well, and no matter how much practice you take you will always end up with peaks on your piped letters. It just will not let go of the icing still in the bag.

Lesson learned recap: make your own icing!

Richard and Rachelle came to Provo!

We were so excited to see Richard and Rachelle and girls in the middle of June! It was so neat to see their newest Kayla, she is so pretty. We had everyone over for dinner. (Jason made some great food, of course)! While the adults were talking I dug out some of my boxed up toys. Elisa had fun with my Barbies, and James really loved my DisneyLand Mr. Potato Head.

We also had a lot of fun at the Bean Museum. James was my special buddy. I carried him throughout the museum. We had so much fun. I especially loved it when we would walk up to an animal with big teeth and James would cuddle up against me and hide his face. Here are some of the fun animals we saw:

Every time I see a hippo I am amazed at how big and scary they are.

This little creature made me think of Dolly when see is begging for a treat. (Her ears go all rigid).

This was just scary. No ifs, ands, or buts about it.

I had to put this in since I studied textiles. Angora wool is much sought after for textile products.

My friend James. I thought this picture turned out pretty good considering I had him in one arm, my purse in the other, and trying to take a picture at the same time!

The Job Search Ends

So, I didn't get the position at O'Leary Middle School. However, I did get the job at Twin Falls High School! I am so excited! I had a phone interview the week after Jason and I drove up to Twin Falls for O'Leary, and the next day I decided to call the principal at TFHS and ask if I could come up to meet him face-to-face. I guess that impressed him, because I got a call by the end of the week saying they'd like to hire me.

I had a lot of fun running up to Twin Falls again. That was my first solo road trip (Jason needed to stay home to work). I stayed at the Hoffmann's (my aunt Karen's house) in Hagerman which is about 30 minutes from Twin Falls. (Thanks again guys)!

I will be teaching Teen Living, Adult Roles, Foods and Nutrition 1, and Food Management Skills (which means I will be in charge of supervising the student-run before school cafe). I am a bit nervous for that, but otherwise I am totally excited!

This picture is from when Jason and I went up for the first job at the middle school.

Soccer Cakes with Karissa

My sister-in-law Karissa Garr asked if i would come over and help her decorate soccer cakes for her husband's work. (He works at Heritage School and manages a group of teenage girls who were in a soccer tourney). She needed to make 2 cakes to feed the whole team, so we each decorated one. They turned out great! I need to get this pan so I can make all sorts of fun ball shaped cakes!above: my cake. below: Karissa's cake on the left, mine is on the right.

Karissa and I. We had a lot of fun doing this together! Thanks Karissa!