Happy 4th of July everyone

I'm grateful to live in a country where we can still enjoy our freedom; I'm grateful to live in Centerville, too.  It's a nice, clean area with a lot of wonderful people.  We have so many blessings--especially those of Church and Family.
Happy 4th everyone!

What a week!
We started out our 4th of July celebration a little early (Monday) in Logan with a lot of the family.  Crista threw quite a party!  We had pork sandwiches, melons, cookies, and salads.  After dinner several of us followed Caitlyn and her date to get Aggie ice cream.  Roy picked up the tab so that Caitlyn's date wouldn't feel too weird that we all came along.  Matt gave us a fabulous fireworks show starting at 9:30.
Matt's boss buys a lot of fireworks and sells them to his employees at cost. 
Tuesday, I was able to enjoy a fun afternoon with Christine.  Caitlyn and Amelia went out to lunch with us, then they went home and Christine and I made a visit to a fabric store.  They had a sale going on.  We had fun catching up and being together.
That evening, after Roy and I enjoyed the movie about Han Solo (Roy's choice), we came out to phone messages that Adrienne was on her way to the hospital once again, this time with AJ.  They had been playing baseball in the yard.  Adrienne had just headed into the house with Gunnar, Finn and Ila to get them ready for bed.  AJ had stayed outside with Ollie to throw him just a few more balls.  After a minute or two, he said, "Okay, it's time to pick up."  As he bent over to pick up the balls, Ollie called out, "Dad, look at this."  AJ didn't even have time to look up before he was hit by a wooden bat, right above his eye.  Inside, Adrienne was notified there was a problem when she saw Mark jump up and rush outside.  AJ looked pretty scary with blood all over his face.
Ollie felt horrible.  I guess it was all Mark and Lisa could do to get him settled down after Adrienne and Alec took AJ to the emergency room.  Gunnar kindly told him "It was just an accident, you didn't mean to do it."
Later, when asked what happened, Ollie said, "My brain told me to let go of the bat."

He was hit above his right eye,
but as he was on his side,
the blood traveled over the rest of his face.

4th of July
Happy Birthday Grandpa Verl!
We had all planned to go down to Payson to celebrate grandpa's 89th birthday.  Roy had made a huge pasta salad, Dan had prepared pretzel jello, and Adrienne had prepared birthday cakes (even with the trauma of the previous day).
Roy and I went over to an art and quilt display at Centerville Elementary.  When we got back to the car, I noticed a message on my phone from Nan T.  "Call, we can't have party, call."  When I called her she explained that her family were all trying to save Tara and Luke's herd of cows.  There were fires in the area where they had recently taken them.  They are not out of the woods yet, as yesterday we were notified that the fires were headed to White River where the cows had been moved for safety.  Nan sent us some amazing pictures that show how widespread the fires are.  Luke and Tara have over a hundred cows and are depending on them for some of their income.

n lieu of Grandpa's birthday party, we had our family come over to celebrate the fourth--after all, we had a lot of food prepared.  Sorry grandpa, we know it was disappointing not to have all your family around.
Nick and Sara had other plans, but everyone else came for an impromptu barbeque.  Matt brought a few fireworks, which the kids loved!  Gunnar and Hyeji got out the snowcone machine and had a ball making snowcones for everyone.  We got lots of pictures!

Doyeon

Hyeji

Gunnar and Hyeji

Finn

Ruby and Dojin

Still loves baseball

Gunnar

Finn

AJ and Ila (AJ wasn't feeling quite up to par
after being hit in the head with a wooden bat and having
6 stitches.

Ila.

Beverly--Elise and her kids had their own 4th of July celebration
with the extended Jackson family in Myrtle Beach.
Andy was studying and couldn't go.

Max and Mav and Bev--grandchildren #'s 3, 4, and 5 on the
Jackson side.

Saturday we took the boat to Willard Bay.  It was a little on the crowded side for parking.  There were lots of boats (the lake is large enough to handle them) and it was slightly windy, so the water wasn't perfect, but we still had a great time.  It was a hot day.  That makes it nice because everyone wants to get in the water.  Last week at the Gorge it was such a cool day and the water was so cold that only Caitlyn would venture in.  Matt never had much experience with boating and water until he married into our family.  He had such a ball yesterday doing flips off the boat, riding the tube, and being a sea monster while playing with the kids.  Crista had a ball watching Matt have a ball in the water.  Nick and Ori and Effie came with us, too.  Effie LOVED it! Nick was glad he brought her, even if she makes more work for him.

Typical pose for Roy

Pretty typical pose for Catharine as well.

Ruby, Cait, Effie and Ori

Ori

When we pulled the boat off the lake, Ruby looked at me and said, "I want to go boatin'"  She wasn't happy the fun was ending.  Crista took these pictures of her girls on the way home.  They were exhausted.  When  Ruby woke up she was super disappointed that Roy and I weren't at her house.  

 My 40th high school reunion is coming up next month and I had to do a then/now picture.  I had one taken for the now.  I wish I didn't look so much like it's been 40 years--but they've been wonderful years spent with people I love.

This last is a quote from Phil's journal:
"Last week Christine forwarded a portion of the war journal of a man who was in Asia when my mother’s first husband Gene Bird died. He described the plane crash and that Gene survived the crash but was in terrible pain and died on the way to the hospital. He had a Book of Mormon in his pocket. I don’t know if my mother knew that he suffered, but I hope she didn’t. I hate the thought of that thought coming to her throughout her life. And thank heaven we live in the United States of America. That is a blessing that we should never take for granted."
I had to quote Phil as I haven't had a chance to look through the journal entries that Christine sent.