Balloon Love
Oh, yes–we’ve done this up-by-the-crack-of-dawn, 4th of July, balloon festival thing since the caveman days. I can prove it too–check HERE and HERE…and…oh, that’s enough. Just trust me.
But THIS time the “crack of dawn” meant 5:45am instead of our usual 6:30am wake-up call.
We were determined to get there BEFORE all the balloons were in the air.
Please be amazed at all these adorable smiling faces–so very, very early in the morning!
Of course our beloved fruit pizza breakfast could have something to do with it! We are, I’m afraid–hopeless traditionalists and once something is in our celebration routine–it ain’t never coming out. :}
We had a bit more of a wait for the balloons to fill because the skies were so cloudy that the officials were nervous about lightning and wind.
We were forced to content ourselves with whatever means were available to us.
Such good sports on this silly, chilly morning.
At last, at last–a few brave souls began torching up their balloons…
all around us.
Oooooh–ooooOOh. Haven’t seen THIS guy before. Spoooky!
We spotted some of our dear friends in the crowd too–what a lovely surprise!
Who knew that there were so many crazy early-bird people in the world?
There’s just something about a field of gigantic balloons that make you feel very small and peaceful…even in a crowd.
That is, of course, until the wind kicks up and they all start deflating…
and blowing over on everyone! It was actually kinda funny–everyone running and yelling as the big things were flapping down on us. Sorry–no pictures. Too busy running!
In a matter of minutes the entire park was emptied of any sign of balloons. Gone. Just like that.
I have a feeling that this event, for us anyway, doesn’t have as much to do with the balloons as you might think. Seriously–you know our motto…
Any. Excuse. To. Play.
Heh.
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Kid History Party
If you are a YouTube fan–it’s quite likely that you’ve seen the “Kid History” series of mini films–and laughed your guts out like we have. When the 5th episode came out, the guys from the show held a premier right here in our hometown–because it’s their hometown too. You know us…”any excuse for a party,” so–of course, we were there!
They showed all four episodes and talked about how they made them–then we got to see the newest one. Then everyone came up to the stage and met them all.
Even many of the kids were there signing shirts and having their pictures taken. I was content to stand waaaay far back and take pictures.
Brett Roberts–one of the main stars came out to the line and talked to us. He was really nice.
Of course, I was way to shy–hahaha–to go down on the stage, but the rest of the family went and that was good enough for me. Randy even recognized April from high school. Pretty fun stuff.
Finally they signed a shirt for me…
If you aren’t sure what I’m even talking about–I’ll show you.
We love these guys!!
PS- If you watch episode 5–we are in the crowd scene at the very end, yelling “Super Delicious!”
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Happy Birthday Amy!
{ Family }
“All of us, single or married, are eternally part of some family—someway, somewhere, somehow—and much of our joy in life comes as we correctly recognize and properly develop those family relationships. We come to this earth charged with a mission: to learn to love and serve one another. To best help us accomplish this, God has placed us in families, for he knows that is where we can best learn to overcome selfishness and pride and to sacrifice for others and to make happiness and helpfulness and humility and love the very essence of our character.”
John H. Groberg
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Our Harry Potter 7 Party
Last November, Gracious Rain gathered up a mob of friends and family and organized a huge party for the Harry Potter Deathly Hallows premiere. We bought out the whole theater–to be exact! There were amazing treats and goodie bags, wonderful costumes and fabulous giveaways for everyone.
There were even a couple of…surprises!
While in the process of organizing our next crazy event, Deathly Hallows part 2–coming in July–I thought it might be fun to show you the official photos from the previous adventure. So there’s a new tab on the Gracious Rain site. It’s right there in the middle and it says, “GR Events.” Don’t be afraid…click on it. There are links there to the party photos, the sponsors websites and prize photos, as well as pictures of all the winners with their loot.
Check it out and tell us what you think. Can we throw a party…or what?
:} To go to the GR Events page click HERE. Hope you love it.
PS–Watch for the Twilight, New Moon and Eclipse party photos coming soon.
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::Quilts For Japan:: The Connection
We promised the good folks at “Quilter’s Newsletter” that we’d send the first batch of our lovely Quilts for Japan to them this week. Feeling quite prudent about our options, April and I decided to hand deliver them, which meant of course–ROADTRIP!!
The drive from Utah to Colorado is–for the most part–a scenic, beautiful thing as long as you are wise enough to do it in the daytime.
Note to self: Driving through snowy canyons and mountain passes with ice freezing on your windshield is much more terrifying at 11:00 at night–therefore leave earlier next time.
We realized that this was the wrong time of year to judge the landscape and we had to constantly remind ourselves that in a couple of months this prairie would likely be a gorgeous shade of green…
and that this ominous “edge of the world” type drop off would be filled with blossoms and hence even more…umm…scary looking. We stayed far away from that thing–I’ll tell you!
We were chased along by several of these cloud bursts before it became way too dark to see anything. When we finally arrived in Golden, Colorado, we checked into our hotel close to midnight. I personally can’t remember much after pulling the covers up to my chin and closing my eyes.
We woke up to a nice dusting of good old, Colorado snow.
Here’s a sweet little poolside gazebo right outside our window. Alas–no time for ice swimming on this trip…ha ha.
We did our best to write and attach just the proper message to each of the quilts. This symbol is suppose to mean “Love.” At least we sincerely hope it does!
I wrote most of the English messages and April tackled the Japanese. Isn’t it lovely?
Next, we carted all those quilts back out to the car. We got some pretty strange looks from people. I wanted to say, “We always bring our own bedding…just in case,” but I wasn’t brave enough.
After following April’s IPhone GPS–we finally arrived at the Quilting Magazine headquarters…
and even found the perfect parking place.
We were warmly greeted by Senior Editor and author, Kelly Smith, and Contributing Editor Dana Jones. They seemed quite pleased with our quilts.
It was exciting to see that we were not the first to send donations for the Japan project.
Each box held a breathtaking offering of warmth for our friends in Japan, but honestly–
we felt pretty toasty inside ourselves. :}
Thank you Dana and Kelly and Quilter’s Newsletter for giving us the opportunity to serve our neighbors. You’re amazing! Second shipment coming soon.
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