Maybe our busiest ever July!

July is only 10 days old and already we've done more in one week than I think we have done for a year. July 4^th started off with the annual flag raising ceremony that Steve was able to participate in. He loves to be a part of that and never tires of honoring his country and the men and women who have fought to protect our freedoms.




Doesn't he look handsome in his uniform?

We followed up the flag raising ceremony with a fun trip to the Willamette Mission Stake Park to watch a Civil War Reenactment. We couldn't have anticipated our chance meeting of MyLiege and Sean on the freeway if we had planned it. Everyone was running a late and as it turned out we were all running on the same time. Sierra and Shonee arrived at the park within a few minutes of us. We remembered ear plugs this year and it made watching the reenactment all the better. After a nice picnic lunch and wandering around the camp sites for a while, (we ran into Ed Turpin at one of the tents), we headed to Sierra and Shonee's for a nice bar-b-que and fun afternoon. The kids, Shonee and Sean even braved the swimming pool although it was very cold. (Sorry, no pictures.)

Three days later we headed off to Youth Conference. MyLiege and Sean were also involved in their ward's youth conference and we were supposed to baby-sit their kids. Thankfully Sierra stepped in to save the day so Steve and I could do our part at our conference. We taught our youth about Temples and had them construct three temples. The first one was the Tabernacle in the wilderness.

The second temple was the Kirtland Temple.

The third temple was the Nauvoo Temple.

We also made cool handouts for the kids as a memento. This is one we made for us on a tile. We did the kids on blocks of wood with the strip down the side of the wood. They looked very cool.

We finished out the week with a very special event. Our little Madison Kendyl turned 8 on July 1^st and was officially baptized into the Church on July 9^th by her father. She was the only child being baptized so our family got to do the whole program. Uncle Shonee played the piano and Grandma Wilcox led the music. Auntie Sierra gave the opening prayer and Grandpa Wilcox gave the closing prayer. Antie MyLiege gave a beautiful talk on baptism and Uncle Douhet gave an awesome talk on the Gift of the Holy Ghost. Great Grandpa Nielsen and Grandpa Wilcox were the witnesses. And all the cousins sang some songs.

Madison, of course, was the Princess for her special day.