Yes, it's that time of year again. The Hope of America! For those of you far, far away who don't know, this is the kick off event for Provo's Freedon Festival every year that ends on the 4th of July with a parade, the Stadium of Fire (or stadium of smoke as we like to call it) and fireworks. This year they made it much more audience friendly by having the performance in two nights instead of one. So there were only about 4,000 kids and their families attending instead of 8,000 in years past. So, less traffic, and the program didn't seem as long, either. The flag is made up of about 3500 5th graders, David being one of them. I'm sure you could spot him. He's on the 4th red stripe from the bottom, six people in from the right. I think it's great that these kids have the chance to learn all of the traditional patriotic songs along with some new, hip ones.
Too cool, this is "America Rocks"

David and his friend Adam Robins.

This is the finale. After the America the Beautiful medley, the lights go out and they have "We can be a light", choreographed with flash lights.

Here's David and cousin Lindsey Conger after the show! It's fun to have cousin's the same age.

David and Adam and Matthew Conger.

The end has come to a fixture in our life. Nelson (along with help from family) built this play castle for Katie when she turned 3 years old. It was the coolest castle! Inside the turrets, there were ladders that reached the roof. The kids have loved playing on this for years but they all were really too big for it anymore. The castle needed some love(paint) and we figured someone else with little girls could do that. Within 4 hours of being online it was sold and hauled away. a lot of memories....

Ah, Mother's Day. Here I am relaxing. Love it! Thanks to my family for the great breakfast and doing the dishes all day long. They made me feel like a pampered princess! After a yummy lunch and lounging, we went for a walk and ended up at Abbott's for dinner. Tradition holds on and the men put together a fabulous dinner and cleaned up as well. It was a wonderful time. Here are all of the Abbott women, Ali, Me, Lisa, Cindi and Oranee.

And life goes on...Michael took his AP Calculus test last week and has AP Chemistry to take tomorrow. He got a job as a lifegaurd for Orem city so everyone look for him at the rec center and Scera pool. He was also voted Orem High swim captain for next year. He will be relieved I think after tomorrow and can go back to regular life. Katie went to Music in the Park ( a competition for all of the Jr. High and high school music programs in the mountain west ) on Saturday. She plays the piano for jazz band and they placed first. Footnotes choir placed first, also. Then on to Lagoon for fun. Caroline and David are home from school sick today. I hope they feel better soon. Well, we have a choir and orchestra concert this week, band next week and the elementary schools dance festival and carnival the week after. The end of the year sure can get crazy. I have girls camp to get ready for, only 3 more weeks until we go.