The 24th of July was pretty low-key for us, but still fun. Ashley is not enjoying the heat, at least in part because she is 8 months pregnant. Despite this VERY hard pregnancy, she has been a trooper. We went to our city parade and then were lucky enough to have her family join us and watch our city fireworks. Jonah loves fireworks and refers to them as “pop pops.” It is fun to celebrate our state and all that it has to offer.
Every year since I was 6, my Dad has taken the entire family to the rodeo. I have always said that my Dad is an “in the closet cowboy.” He has always been a business man and hardly knows what casual clothes even look like. He is not even in to action movies…unless it is a John Wayne movie. Despite all of this, he loves riding horses, westerns, rodeos, etc. Going to this yearly rodeo is something that he loves to do as a family, and it has become a really neat family tradition that we all look forward to. We had a great time again this year.
We have had a great time this entire week being with family. My brother has been in town with his family and we have been able to spend time with Ashley’s family as well. We went to our ward breakfast for the 4th of July. Because the city mayor lives in our ward, we often get to have the police escort a little parade around the block and even sometimes get the fire department to hose everyone down with the giant water cannon mounted on the top of their truck. Later in the day, we spent time together before everyone went to the park to watch the fireworks. The boy cousins played a pick up game of football, and the girl cousins just hung out while we were waiting for them to start. We have been able to go bowling and do several other activities this week with family as well. It has been a lot of fun. How grateful we are for the freedom that we enjoy in this country. While the country is far from perfect, it truly is the best system that man has devised to this point. I am grateful for the liberties that we are able to enjoy and pray that none of us ever take them for granted.
Today our Jonah Bear turned 2! Ashley decorated the house with all sorts of Thomas the Train paraphernalia. She even made him a special Thomas cake and had pictures of him all over the table. We had an amazing breakfast before going boating with my brother and his family who are visiting from Wisconsin. We came home in the evening to eat cake and ice cream with Grandma and Grandpa Haberle and open presents. Jonah was spoiled with several wooden train sets.
While at the lake, with the largest sandbox a kid could hope for, Jonah could not take his attention off of a tractor working in the distance to repair some of the facilities. Finally, I decided to drive him closer to get a better look. We were standing there watching them work when the tractor operator asked if he wanted to help drive the tractor. As the pictures show, Jonah grabbed those controls and felt that he was a master tractor operator within seconds. He was excited, but very concentrated as well. It was priceless. We had a great day at the lake and Ashley made it a very special birthday for our Jonah.
