A FUN, AMAZING AND WONDERFUL JULY.....

I SEE THAT YOU CAME TO VISIT MY GRANDMA.
Come on in, I know that she will love your visit!

We have had a ton of rain...and rainbow's...God is good to
us. I took this off my front porch after a big storm.

I have been spending some time with some
of our little grands. I love to go to the D.I.,
a big thrift store that belongs to our church.
They always have the best things, I bought
a toy for the little grands there, Sophia loves
her Cookie Monster!

Caleb really loves his Superman! I was so lucky
to get my hands on this first and then as it sat
in my basket, everyone was eying it and asked
where I got it! Caleb loves to put his cloths on it
and loves his Superman!

I spent a day at our daughter Lindsey's home along with
Tiffany and their children. It was so much fun for all of us.

Sophia had just got a trampoline, which she calls her
"tampaleen"...the kids sure do love it. A few days later
Tiffany's kids got one too, how fun!

They had fun playing in Sophia's sand box too, it's amazing
to me how much kids love sandboxes!

I loved the "tampoleen" too! It was so much
fun to jump on it with my grands.

Baby Claire is very serious about her love for
watermelon too...

She tries her very best to eat/suck it off the
rind...that was so fun to watch!

THE DAYS OF 47 CELEBRATION

In Utah we love to celebrate our pioneer ancestors and we do
that every July 24th...With the "Days of 47 Parade and Rodeo".
That was the year, 1847 that the Mormon pioneers came into
the Salt Lake Valley and settled this desert of a place.

They hold a big parade in Salt Lake City, and it is a great
parade with lots of awesome floats and bands and horses.
Families camp out over night on the streets to make sure
they have a good place to watch the parade! It becomes
a big tradition for some families that do this.

The whole community is in it too, every church and
organization gets into the fun of it all.

My great great grandfather, Charles A. Harper came with that very
first group, he was the wheelwright for the company of pioneers
and their wagons. I am so proud of him and so grateful that
I could live my life here in this beautiful state of Utah.

We love our ancestors for enduring so many hardships
and for their courage when they were driven from their
homes...they sought the Lord and He brought them here
to Utah for a refuge and a safe place. It was nothing but
a barren desert then but it has bloomed as a rose!

These many rain storms has also brought us gorgeous
sunsets, I took this off my front porch too.

My brother in law and his wife have a donkey that had a
baby. It is the cutest/ugly little thing ever!

What a sweet event birth is whenever and where ever it
happens!

Caleb is in Heaven...he found some frogs
in their window wells! What perfect toys
for a boy! He is taking very good care of
them too.

I remember catching and playing with frogs when I was a
little girl...no better way for a kid to spend a summer!

Grandma Julie and Sophia...we love
Sophia's "Tampoleen"!

Beautiful baby Claire...she is 11 months old today and she
is so enjoying life. We sure love this brown eyed
beauty!

Ella is growing up too...she has herself all
potty trained, and she doesn't want that
old binky anymore...she is a little lady now!

This past week something sad happened.
Our friends and neighbors had a shocking thing
happen in their family.

This young man was fishing when a huge storm
came up...he was struck by lightning and he and
his dog were killed.

He and his beautiful, sweet wife Maddy had been
married just one year. She was back at their camp
with some others while he went to fish for a bit.
When he had been gone a bit too long, she went to
check on him. She said that as she walked around
the lake, she felt this great peace come upon her as
she looked at the lake and the beauty there. Then
she found her Jesse, he and his dog were laying there,
he looked so peaceful, she thought he was asleep, but
he was gone.

It has been a time of love here in our town...love and help
being given to this family. Their amazing faith holding
them up. God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost, bringing
great peace and healing to them. The great peace comes
in KNOWING that they will be together again one fine day,
and that all their dreams will still come true. Families truly
are a forever thing. Jesse had on a full rubber fishing suit,
he should have been fine, sometimes God has another plan,
much bigger than we can imagine. We will continue to give
support and love for this wonderful family and God will take
care of each one of them and carry them on, blessing them
all the way through their lives.

Life is short...handle with prayer and be ready always to
follow God's ways. His ways are always the best way.


LOVE TO ALL