Rodeo

If you've never been to a country town rodeo before, you're missing out. 

I almost did this year, until my best friend Jana decided that she hadn't had enough of the Independence Day celebrations and planned a girls night out Friday night to attend the final performance. 

Best idea ever.  

Besides watching everyone remove their hats and stand with their hand over their heart as the American flag is carried by a US Marine to start off the 4th of July giant street parade in our hometown, nothing brings out my patriotism like the Molalla Buckeroo. The whole start of the show honors every branch of the military, every single veteran in attendance, the POWs and MIAs, and the flag. It's very moving and gosh darn if it doesn't bring tears to my eyes every time!

But besides all of that, it's fun and exciting to watch, plus, there are elephant ears!

I feel deeply, deeply sorry for those in the southern and eastern states who have never heard of such a treat. In fact, I'll eat one in your honor. 

 Jana, Amy & I.

Amy is my fellow carnival food lover and we decided during the rodeo that we are each other's preferred dining date for anything involving dessert. Forget our weirdo non-sugar-loving husbands, we have each other.

Me and our friend Kristie.

I'll tell you something about Kristie, this girl knows her music. Every. Single. Song that started (and there are a LOT of songs played during a rodeo), she would name the artist and then start singing the lyrics when they began. Pretty impressive. Also, plain ol' pretty!

We had such a blast. I highly recommend girls nights out. And rodeos. Although next year it should work out for our whole family to go together again, which is what we normally do, and I'd have to say I'm already looking forward to it :)

InstaFriday

Oh happy Friday! The weather is gorgeous, I'm in my workout clothes ready to go walking outside, and I plan to use my extra calories earned when I go to the rodeo tonight! I am sooo looking forward to that elephant ear :)

Here's what the cell phone camera has seen this week:

What's funner than pretending to be a mannequin in Old Navy? 

(Obviously Blake didn't get the memo on blending in...)

Cooper's last baseball game of the season was July 3rd - a beautiful evening - and we won!

 Free balloon toys made by the clowns who passed us walking home after the 4th of July parade in our hometown.

 After all the fun of the Fourth we came home and made comfy beds on the trampoline to watch the Buckeroo rodeo fireworks display.

 Playing around waiting for the show to start.

 My new swimsuit arrived in the mail yesterday! The stripes may look red but they are actually orange and I love it. I ordered it from LimeRicki.

  

I decided to join my blog friend Megan in logging 40 miles of walking/running in the month of July - tracking our progress on Instagram. (We're copying what we saw a bunch of other people do in June.)

Another solid example of procrastinators uniting... only a month late to the party :)

Now I'm off to log some more miles! 

Have a great weekend, everyone :)

Happy 4th!

From Russ and I, 

 Cooper, Kendall & Blake,

And the dog (who's feeling especially patriotic today).

Adventuring

{friend Aaron, Cooper, and Blake}

 

Boys are awesome. They like to dress up just as much as girls do... just in different kinds of dress-up clothes. And then they go adventuring into the woods... and take their little brothers with them, making the staying back at home to hold down the fort even more calm and peaceful for this mama. 

I'm getting my nail polish on! 

Ahhhh, summer. 

(Check out that cutie on the right. He'll charm your socks off in 2 seconds flat, that one!)

Some Monday musings...

When the weather stays in the 60's/low 70's and it drizzly rains most of the weekend, the best thing to do is read a good book and watch a bunch of movies. Like maybe 4 or 5 :)

(This is assuming you have no extra spending money. Otherwise, of course shopping would be the best thing to do.)

Watching movies without eating the coconut m&ms your sister brought you from Vegas is very difficult... nigh impossible. Thus the treadmill must be used again, even though you hurt your hip on your HIGHLY STRENUOUS 4 mph half mile run. Thank you, Lord, for Friends. 

Trix krispie treats may sound like a neat idea to do with your kids, but there is a lesson to be learned: if you heartily dislike Trix, the krispie treats will still taste gross no matter how pretty they look. Don't worry, your kids will still love them though.

Raising boys in the country has it's downfalls. Like going to Costco and leaving your 9-year-old son in the car with his almost 11-year-old sister while you run in really quick, only to come out and find out that the 9-year-old needed to relieve himself so just went in the bushes. IN THE PARKING LOT. You know, because that's just the same as going out in the Christmas tree field on your property. *Shakes head in dismay*

Watching the women's gymnastic US team trials is just as exciting as watching the Olympics itself and is made even more fun with an enthralled daughter to watch along with you. Did anyone else pick their favorites and cheer out loud when they made the team? So excited for two weeks from now!

Sidenote: I remember from the earliest age being mesmerized by the Olympic games on TV and watching for hours on end. I haven't changed and I fully plan on encouraging the same enthusiasm and patriotism in my own children. Go team USA, and Go team NZ!