Parades and Pirates

So I know that I've been SO BAD at updating our blog. Here's a little of what we've been up to lately. Last week we went up to Show Low and Snowflake so that Keith could play in the Pioneer Day Golf Tournament with our Bro-in-law Jason, and his cousin-in-law Mike. They had fun and came home with LOTS of tomatoes (since the tomato place up there was sponsoring the event). We enjoyed hanging out in the cool weather with Jason's family. It's so nice to be able to go outside and sit in the grass and enjoy a BBQ in the evening without dieing of the heat!

This is one of the coolest things that we saw in Snowflake's Pioneer Day parade. It really is cool! When we came back we had a pirate party for my parents birthday. They were born on the same day of the same year. How weird is that? So we surprised my Dad with a pirate theme. It was fun. He even had to follow a treasure map to get the treasure chest. Being back in the sweltering heat, we were glad to jump in the pool after dinner. NOTE: yes, my mom is wearing a pirate wig below.
This is the fun pirate hat cake my Mom made out of chocolate zucchini cake.

Bates Family Reunion

We had a fun 5 days in Utah last week. We went up there for Keith's Mom's family reunion. All of Keith's immediate family stayed at his sister's house. We had lots of fun swimming, shopping, and playing during the days before the reunion. We went to the Bees Minor League Baseball game for the 4th of July with the whole Bates family. The fireworks after the game were great! On Saturday morning we got to go to Hannah's (our niece) baptism. It was wonderful. That afternoon we met at a big park next to a church building with all the Bates and had fun on a giant slip 'n slide, and enjoyed crafts, food, games, and visiting.

My sister, Amber, and her husband, Michael, were up in the Salt Lake area for the 4th of July also. They live in Wyoming so we were very excited to be able to pick them up on Sunday night and drive down a little ways to Cedar Hills to visit my Uncle Mark's family. His daughter, Katherine, is getting married this weekend and so we brought them wedding presents and had a fun little visit.