4th of July

We had a great time with my mom and step-dad. They arrived on the 2nd and stayed until the 6th. It was nice to have them here for Grady's birthday as well as the 4th.

We spent some time just hanging around the house, of course went to the 4th of July picnic and took them out for a little sightseeing.

4th of July was a busy day for us. The church hosted the pancake breakfast at the fishing derby that morning. We had a great turnout and plan to do it again next year. My mom even helped a little bit, mostly with clean-up.

Becca was in the parade with the Middle School cheerleaders. She isn't on the cheer squad but they invited the younger girls and those MS girls who weren't on the squad to join them for a dance routine in the parade.

Then we went to the picnic and my mom and the boys panned for gold. My mom didn't think she had any in her pan and then when they cleaned it up for her, she saw how much there really was. The mine spikes the dirt so you're pretty much guaranteed to a least get some flakes. They put in some small nuggets and leafs (I call them big flakes:) as well.

After we ate and found Becca we went home for a while. Becca thought we left so she walked home, then when we weren't home she walked back. Scary for her, and mom. She may be 11 but she's still my baby. And it may be a small town, but there are lot of people in town on the 4th.

That night we had some poeple from the church over and had ice cream sundaes and watched the fireworks. The town puts on a pretty big show and you have a great view from the church.

Saturday we went for a drive. Spencer decided he didn't want to go so stayed home, and got really bored. I told him he would. We drove through a little town called Silver Peak, pretty run down, even more in the boonies than us. There is a Borax plant there, they mine the salt in the area. Then we drove over Coyote Pass, very steep, very fast climb, but spectacular view from the top, and down the other side. We came upon a hot pond area where the state has built a "hot tub" and woulnd't you know it, a bathroom in the middle of the desert!

From there we drove through another small town called Dyer, then Fish Lake Valley (a very green patch of desert!) and Lida. We got back on the highway and went to the old ghost town of Ryholite. The old train station is there and a lot of old buildings as well as a bottle house.

We ate dinner in Beatty and then headed home. On the way home we drove through Goldfield, another old town but still has people living in it. All in all we probably put about 400 miles on the Yukon. But it was fun. Butch and I love to go out and find old Ghost towns and my mom and stepdad love the history of the area.

On Sunday Grady turned 15. I find that hard to believe. In 3 years he will graduate and then off to college. Just yesterday he started Kindergaten. I guess I better get busy and get his album scrapped. And we better get to finding all those grants for college. He wants to go to school for Computer Game Design. We did the research and it will cost about $80,000 just for tuition, books and lab fees for a three year program. Ouch.

We are waiting on Grady's braces until after taxes next year, unless we come into a windfall between now and then. Ha Ha

Becca is also not going to Washington, DC this time around with the Junior Leadership. I just am not ready to send my baby across the country and put her into the hands of people I don't know. I am sure she will have other opportunities to go and this will give us time to start putting some money away for that opportunity. We know how much it will cost so that will make planning for it a little easier.

Tomorrow is Becca's swim meet. She is pretty excited. We are praying that the Thunderstorms stay away since the meet is at an outdoor pool.

As usual, pictures will come later. Maybe tonight if I get everything done for Sunday:)