Fabulous banana splits

This past weekend I told Nate to get stuff for banana splits because I had invited my friend Shari and her boyfriend over to hangout and play games. We had tons of fun with them playing wiffle ball in the park and playing our Pirates of the Caribbean DVD Treasure Hunt game. After we played, we had banana splits and then they headed home. Well now that we have stuff for banana splits, we've had one every day since. Not so good for our butts and bellies, but oh so good for our tastebuds! Nate went crazy on this one yesterday and we had to take a picture of it. Yum!



This is a picture of the baby bird that happened to be right outside our front door two nights ago. We were watching a movie on TV, kind of a suspenseful one, and I heard strange noises coming from outside. It was like a plop and a high pitched screech. I told Nate the mute the TV and we opened the door and found the little thing just sitting there, almost looking dead. We also saw a cat just about to pounce. Nate scared it away for while so we watched the bird just hop around (it couldn't fly yet). It was so sad! We had seen a nest of baby birds in the tree close by so we figured it was from that. I guess it got kicked out or something. Well anyways, we decided to let it be and went back to our movie, but I kept peeking out the window at it. We saw the cat come back again and I, yes I, decided to let nature take its course. We totally saw the whole thing and watched the cat carry the baby bird away in its mouth screeching for help. It was sad, but oh so cool to watch - yes I know it's bit morbid. Too bad we didn't get a picture of that.



The last things I'll share that we did this weekend was the Patriotic Service at the Marriott Center at BYU tonight. It's part of the events of the Freedom Festival in Provo. It was amazing! Glenn Beck was the keynote speaker and Michael Ballum sang. There was also a brass band that was awesome that was made up of mostly BYU faculty. Seriously, it made me realize that there is something we can do as a people to make America strong and to fix the problems we are seeing. Glenn Beck used the words of the hymn "Come, Come Ye Saints" to parallel our journey, and at times fight, to keep the wonderful freedoms and blessings we have. They were words of hope. America isn't a failure yet and there is so much we can do to make sure that doesn't happen. Right now my brother is part of that in a specific way. He's over in Kuwait or somewhere close serving as a dentist for the army. He'll be there for a while. His little contribution, when combined with the little contributions of others, makes one big, unbeatable contribution. That is why we must keep contributing. Vote for those things and people we know to be right and good. It is our right and blessing to do so. Help out, speak out in our communities. Be a part of celebrating freedom. I love it! We are so blessed! And we can keep it that way if we humble ourselves, remember that God is our Father and leader, and adhere to the gospel principles and family values that we know to be true. God bless America, my home sweet home!