Activities, Sunburns and Politics

I haven't written an update lately so I thought
I would let everyone know what we've been up to.

Last Saturday the kids had a primary activity
at the park and the ward did a corn feed.
The activities were really cute. They did a
"Missionary Training" where they split the
kids into 3 groups with activities. The first
one is a race around the fence and then to
be the first one to pick out the gummy bear
from a pile of whip cream without using hands.
This video shows little Treven. :)

Then they had a race with suitcases. They had
to pack the clothes into a suitcase, run down around
the tree, come back and unpack the suitcase so the
next person could go. There were 4 kids in each team.
Treven is pulling the suitcase back to unpack. He was
a fast little guy.

The third activity was to ride their bikes down to a
lady in our ward, get off the bike and introduce themselves
while shaking her hand and then ride back.
The kids had a lot of fun.

We had to leave early because Jez had to work,
but the ward did a pot-luck dinner where they
boiled a bunch of corn on the cob
and everyone brought something to share.
They had some of the leftover corn the next day
at the linger longer, so we still got to try some. :)

Treven gave his first Primary talk last Sunday too.
He was so excited and he did really good. I love his
bright twinkly eyes and smile.

Yesterday Jez's dad and brother came and we went
to the Minnesota State Fair. We got there early so the
first couple of hours were great, but the later it got
it was more and more crowded, not to mention hot.
Most of us ended up with sunburns of some sort.

Jez's dad and Talden looking at the map.

The kids hanging out with their uncle and cousin.
(The girl in the brown shirt is Jez's youngest
brother's daughter not the brother that was there).
Her and Jacie had so much fun together.

Jez is eating a cashew nut roll on a stick dipped in chocoate...
If you've ever wanted something deep fried, or on a
stick, or both... the state fair is the place to be.
(And check out the guy's corn in the blue shirt!)

What a good brother. :)
He was begging to carry her all day.

Jacie and Talden are in the red one and
uncle and cousin are behind them in the yellow.

Rides, rides, and more rides...

Treven is in the back of the orange plane.
If you look really fast you can see him
waving to us.


They also went on a ferris wheel, but I don't
have a good picture.

Then today, Talden gave his first primary talk.
He always does a great job and is so grown up.
Our church was full today because we had all
the republican delegates here visiting for the
convention this week. Our area authority was
here and his family who were all visiting from SLC.

There are a lot of people in town for the RNC
but it is crazy too because the state has so many
democrats. There have been a lot of riots and
arrests because of it. Even at the fair there was
contention around all the political booths. Jez's
family votes democratic too so we even had the
political debate in our own front room. :]
I try to avoid talking politics with Jez whenever
possible. It is just one of those things that he
is a little too passionate about. :)

Then Jez had to work tonight. He was excited though
because there is a CivicFest convention at the
Minneapolis Convention Center with vendor
booths and his store was the one selected to provide
the booth for Verizon and his boss chose Jez to be the
one to go with him to represent the company. Jez
was glad to get the experience and also to spend the
time with his boss. It gives him the chance to get to
know him better and to talk about some of the things
at work that he has questions about. He called me
around 5 and said it was going really well. Their booth is
right by the entrance so they see everyone as they come in.
He was able to hand out a lot of business cards, which is always
a good thing when you are in sales. He called because they
had evacuated the building to do a security sweep and
they were prepping it for the republican VIPs that were
supposed to be there. He said security was really tight
and there were government officials everywhere. The kids
decided they wanted one of the carpet blowers Jez told
us about (that they had to make the carpet look nice)
because then they wouldn't have to vacuum anymore. :)
Anyway, they were anticipating all of
the delegates as well as President Bush and his wife,
and VP Cheney. However, with all the cancellations
to the convention because of Gustav, I don't know if
anyone will be there. It has caused quite an uproar here.
I haven't ever been a huge politician so I don't pay too
much attention until I see all the buzz. :)

The convention center is in downtown Minneapolis so it
will probably be late when he gets home. I can imagine
that the traffic will be a nightmare.

Because of my love for architecture and design I wanted
to post pictures of the center. I thought the building was
pretty amazing.

How would you like to cater at this place???

Anyway, the kids are excited to start school this week.
They got to meet their teachers and a couple of kids
that will be in their classes so they can't wait. Both of
their teachers look like they will be really great.

I think this post is long enough...
So, we hope you are doing well. We miss you all. :)