part un -aka- let the onslaught of pictures begin

I'd say we started our vacation off with a bang. Memorial Day morning, we put out our flag and headed downtown to see the parade. Small town parades are simply so great. We were advised to bring bags for the kids to carry the loot they would collect. We seriously underestimated this council. By the time we headed back the cars, cousin Ashton, Gracie and Grant had stuffed animals, necklaces and pockets full of candy. Arianne, below holding Gracie's hand, is married to a military man (who was sadly not on the trip with us). My favorite part of the whole parade was watching her and Grace wave and shout big thank you's to all the vetrans as they passed by.



After the parade we met up with the W* family from our ward. They generously spent their holiday with us so that we could play on their jet skis. We packed a huge picnic and drove out to Lowell park. The Rock River runs clam and wide along side the park and made for some fun jet skiing. The weather wasn't particularly cooperative. It was rainy and cold. But it did not deter us from an excellent BBQ and some time in the water.

W* brothers. Nelson, on the left, went into the MTC two days after this. He didn't spend much time jet skiing- a wise choice that we all admired.

It started raining as we were trying to get our coals hot. It took about 10 of us 30 minutes to get things cooking.

I heart jet skis. Cori always makes comments about buying things like boats, jet skis and snow mobiles. After this little outing, I told him in all seriousness that we could get jet skis.