Oregon with the James'

We had tried to get a hold of Dave and Judy (Steve's uncle and aunt) for a few weeks to see if we could visit with them but when we finally did they were going to be out town watching their grand kids so we kind of assumed we wouldn't be able see them but when they called and invited us to their 4th of July BBQ we knew we had to go. We have been trying to build a relationship with them and get to know them over the past few years and we looked forward to seeing them again. When Steve called to see what we could bring Dave mentioned to him that Grandpa James would be there. Steve was so excited and yet so nervous. The last time he had seen his Grandpa, his grandpa had kicked him off his front porch.

So we headed up to Dundee after being at Silver Falls. It only took about 1 1/2 hours to get there but it gave all the kids time to have a nap which by this time in our trip was greatly needed. We arrived at Dave and Judy's house and they took us out back to see Grandpa. He looked great! He is 95 and though he was in a wheel chair he seemed to be doing really well. I kind of sat back and let Steve and him talk. The talked all night long.

They had invited to their party Nathan and Jenny (son and wife) and their kids, Hunter and Dillan and then Jenny's parents and then another couple they are great friends with. Actually all of them are great friends with each other and I do things together quite often it sounded like. But oh my goodness, they had so much food. I know Jenny brought a salad but I think she was the only one, the rest Judy had prepared. I was commenting on the spread of food they had and said something like this must have taken you all day to do and she said "Oh it was more than just today it was a couple of days." Seriously though everything you could ever imagine at a BBQ including 6-8 different kinds of chips. It was more food than we have at a James party and there are 11 kids to provide for that. I don't know if that's how their parties normally are or if they put this all on because of us. I really do hope it wasn't just because of us but if it was we were very grateful. Then she brought out the dessert. Cupcakes and a couple of pies. They were gorgeous and delicious all together.

But the best part was just visiting. All the guys seemed to congregate together and all the girls as well. The kids got along great with Hunter and Dillan who are the same ages so we didn't have to really worry about them interrupting or bugging they just played and played in their immaculately beautiful yard.

Steve and Grandpa seemed to talk about anything and everything. We weren't sure he would know who Steve was (Dave had said he had some dementia) but he introduced Steve to one of the guys as his Grandson, which meant the world to both of us. He even asked about Momma and how she was doing. They talked about Alaska, fishing, and all sorts of things but Steve found it interesting that Grandpa kept sneaking peaks of him and would even reach out to touch Steve when he wasn't looking. Steve thought that Grandpa must have thought he looked a lot like his Dad, Stan and that's why he kept looking or glancing at him. He also really took to Kenna. See Grandpas name is Ken and one of the reasons we named her that was after him but he seemed to know that and would try reaching for her all night long and she would give him her ornery look and run away or give him a laugh as he tried to tickle her, it was really cute to watch.

Here are the kids eating their cupcakes

Here's Dillan he was taking pictures of me so I was taking them of him. He's Nathan's 7 year old

Here's a picture of all the guys. Grandpa, Steve, Seth, Nathan, friend

Kenna and her cupcake

Grandpa, Steve and Seth

Nathan, Dave, Steve, Seth, Dillan and Grandpa

Nathan, Dave, Damen, Hunter, Seth, Steve, Dillan and Grandpa

Steve and Grandpa

Damen and Hunter hanging out on the lawn chairs.

We ended up going out front for some fireworks that night and the kids had a blast doing them or at least watching them while they did their snaps

Jenny, Nathan, Hunter, Seth

Damen and Seth watching the fireworks.

It really was a wonderful night. We are so glad we took the time to drive up and be with them. As we were getting ready to leave (10:30 pm) Grandpa told Steve that he had a wonderful family (he told me the same thing) and then told him that he loved him to which Steve replied that he loved him too. And we do. Even if the relationship hasn't really been there Steve's whole life we got to see a good side while we were there and who knows if we will see him again on this side of the veil. If not it was a wonderful memory until we see him again. We owe a lot to Dave and Judy for bringing us together and helping make the night happen.

The WEEKEND of the 4th

What a weekend. We headed down to Richfield Friday afternoon and didn't come back till early Tuesday morning. We had a great time with lots and lots of memories made. Mom and Dad have been trying to get us down there for the 4th for many years now but Steves family always does their big swim party over the 4th but we skipped out and made other plans, since we were told the reunion was going to take the place of the pool party (though it didn't).

Saturday morning I woke up and went for a run along the canal path (very peaceful) then after breakfast we were off to Home Depot. Steve and the boys went and made their little projects and Dad and I went and picked out boards for the shadow boxes for the girls blessing dresses. Dad and I came home and got busy while Steve took the boys golfing.

here's working on the boxes

after lunch we decided to take a run through the sprinklers and fill up lots and lots of water balloons. No picture of the balloons cause I was the one filling.

Once again I forgot Railey's swim suit so we made do. She was so mad at me and throwing such a fit that Mom went and found some fabric and we wrapped her up and tied a few knots and she thought she had the most gorgeous suit on. I thought it was pretty cute myself.

see that tan line, she could have gone without a suit and everyone would have still thought she had one on. After dinner that night Steve and Dad took the boys over to play horse shoes while I took the girls for a walk to calm them down before bed. We were literally going all day long and had a blast doing it.

Sundays church didn't go too well for Railey she was so exhausted finally half way through sacrament meeting Steve took off to go put her down for a nap. But it was all good because there were so many visitors there probably wouldn't have been room in nursery for her or primary for the boys. Darc was saying that there were 21 regular primary kids and 36 visitors. Relief Society was the same. I have never seen so many visitors in a ward before. It was kind of cool. But it wasn't till going to church that I finally started seeing what a big deal the 4th is down there. Everyone comes back into town for it. Suddenly I was really looking forward to the next day and all the festivities. Here was a picture of the girls in their 4th dresses.

After dinner on Sunday we headed over to the park to play and run off some of the yummy dinner grandma made for us.

While we played on the slides and got pushed in the swings the boys played a round or two of boccie.

On Monday we woke up and had a great breakfast then headed off to the parade that we had heard so much about. Here we were waiting for it to start.

Now this parade is no Provo parade it's definitely a small town parade with all the businesses and lots and lots of cheer leaders and dance groups and even more tractors and such there are even a few 4 wheelers.

This was Steves favorite. he called it the plumbers float. Sad thing is this guy was more so monitoring the street and making sure people stayed back so we saw him quite a bit and nothing ever changed well maybe the pants got a little lower as time went on.

I don't know if it was being at the beginning of the parade route or what but the kids came home with quite the haul. So much candy is given out. Every one is throwing candy, ping pong balls, Frisbees. The kids came home and dumped their bags into a brown lunch sack and lets just say it filled each of their bags about 1/2 to 3/4 full. Isn't that nuts but I think it will be the only parade that I would ever get Steve back to. He had just as much fun chasing candy for Railey as the boys had. He actually quite enjoyed himself.

Here's the boys waiting for more candy.

Railey would not get off Grandmas lap, not even for candy unless Steve was holding her. See right at the beginning when the fire trucks and police went by to start things off they had their sirens going and it FREAKED her out and she was just content to sit there. I was kind of glad that I didn't have to worry about her at all.

Those that came along spraying mist were a welcome sight!

After the parade we headed over to the park to see all the booths and one was a dunking machine Seth wanted to be dunked and Damen wanted to do the dunking. I will try to post the little video of it at the end it was quite fun!

Here the kids fished and won a balloon that they filled up for you. Yeah it was free but they had fun doing it!

Someone ladies walked by and saw Hadlie and Kenna and said "Oh look at the twins, wait those aren't twins. But look at the legs on that little one Wow those are some legs." Yes they are and we are proud of them, might not be when she's 16 and still has them but right now we are!

So they have a fish grab. It's where they fill up these three pools with water and then dump fish (like they are doing above) into the water and then let kids go and try to grab the fish. The ponds are small maybe 20'x20' and for the 50-60 fish in each one there were about 150-200 kids per age group in each one. It was quite the sight (what we could see of it). Steve and Damen had a tee time so they were gone golfing but Steve made sure to tell Seth to bring him home a fish before he left. I didn't know how Seth would do. I thought he would be nervous to touch the fish and once he had it I didn't think he would know what to do with it so I told him to run straight for Jared and let him take care of it since I wasn't about to touch it. Well by the time I finally found Seth in all the kaos this is what he had.

Oh he was so proud! He told me he didn't need Jared he could kill it but I will tell you no fish has ever been kissed or loved or put up against a boys cheek so much as this one was. We headed home and had it for dinner but Seth was pretty upset that he couldn't have it as a toy, or stuffed animal and that he had to eat it. The disappointment all went away though when he learned that he got to cut it open and gut it. I guess that made up for not being able to keep it. All boy!!!!

Railey had stayed up for the fireworks the night before and we put her to bed but here is Seth and Kenna watching them. The thing about Richfield is they put their fireworks off on top of the hill so everyone can pretty much see them from their front lawn. Which is what we did. But the other thing about Richfield is that everyone buys illegal fireworks so starting about 9:15 and going till midnight you can see fireworks and pretty impressive fireworks. I guess the cops just don't really care. My kind of town. So we sat out and watched all night. It was so much fun!

Here's Jared helping the boys do some sparklers

Here's Damen ( I was working with my camera trying to figure things out so got a black and white to see if it would show up better than the other but it didn't)

Seth with his sparklers

Well after such a fun weekend it looks like the James Family has some serious competition now when it comes to the 4th. We had such a great time and didn't even miss swimming. When we asked the boys they said well we go swimming in warm water all the time at the pool. We asked if they missed their cousins and all they said was we were with cousins. So who knows we may just be in Richfield again next year!