July 2023

Saturday 7/1

Time to get out some decorations !

Memories of Linda's mom who made these for us

We forgot about this new decoration that Linda made at a Relief Society Super Saturday activity earlier this year.

It finally made it to our front door on the 12th of July . . . oops!

 Monday - Tuesday
July 3rd & 4th

On Monday Jen's "Smith" family came to our house to begin decorating a trailer for the Star 4th of July Parade

They left the trailer at our house overnight and picked it up bright and early Tuesday morning to get in the parade line and finish decorating.

The parade lines up on the street coming into our subdivision and it was L O N G this year. Our street is 1/2 mile from the highway and it was way beyond that.

We walked down towards the Highway until we found "our" float. The family was all dressed up, mostly in clown attire. Once on the parade route, they will dance in the street all around the float and throw candy to the spectators.

Their theme was "Faith, Family, Freedom"

They came back to our house after the parade and undecorated the float. We had some Otter Pops left over from our reunion so we handed them out.

Some of the other floats were fun to see too . . . .

Jeremy's Pumpkins (a local "Halloween" business)

I guess somewhere in Star, there are still farmers . . . YaY !

Greyloch just built a huge new building out on Highway 44

After the Parade and before the fireworks . . . 

we played a little Cornhole and then had hot dogs for dinner and ice cream sundaes for dessert

Linda even played some patriotic songs on the piano.

The City fireworks officially started at 10:15

However, the neighborhoods in Star began much MUCH earlier,

Our typically quiet town sounded like a war zone!

We are able to view the fireworks from our house. We pulled out some chairs and when we began taking a few pictures we realized our flag would be in most of the pictures and that was okay with us, it made our fireworks pictures a little bit more patriotic!

Here are just a few we chose to share (5 out of 60+)

We had a nice day celebrating our country!

Thursday 7/6

Today Debbi is leaving for another fun "adventure"

She is headed to London, England, where she will attend the Wimbledon tennis tournament!

It is a "last minute" trip  and she could not get tickets, sooo,

 she is camping in the queue park, along with hundred's of other tennis fans. We are excited to hear all about her adventure when she returns home to the U.S.A. She said she has already made friends with all her "tent neighbors" and is having a great time!

(and yes, she got her tent, sleeping bag and pad, camp chair, rain gear, clothes, etc. etc. all in one carry on roller bag and a backpack)

Her first day she was # 535 in the queue line, just missing center court by 35, but grabbing a ticket for the covered, court 1 (out of 18), which turned out to be a good thing since it has been raining!

Court 1 X 2 days, Court 2 X 1 day and Centre Court on Day 4!

Here is a picture of her in the Center Court crowd

What! you can't see her? lol, neither can we!

Saturday 7/8

Doing some yardwork today 

The hostas plants that were on either side of the fountain were getting too big and they were getting sunburned . We dug them up  and . . . .

moved them to the back yard, under the large maple tree where there is more room and more shade

they should do well in their new homes and their light green color will stand out against the dark fence.

we went to a nursery we'd never been to before and bought these Phlox Laura plants to go on either side of the fountain. 

they are the same plant, but look totally different. These were the only two they had and the nursery person said they would even out and eventually would look the same. They are perennials and flower all summer long. 

Monday 7/10

A week ago, Linda found a 1/2 off coupon for Shutterfly. It was only good for 2 days so she got busy and put together a 2023 Reunion memory book. 

It arrived in the mail today! The deal was for a hardbound, 6 x 6, 20 page book. The quality of the book is great, as always, but we are disappointed in how small it is... we kind of wish we'd spent more and gone with the 8 x 8 book... oh well, too late now.

This is an example of the inside of the book. Even though the pictures are small, it is still fun to look at!

Thursday 7/13

This yellow Monarch butterfly seems to be . . . . 

enjoying our new, bright pink, Phlox Laura flowers

Saturday 7/15

Star is growing by leaps and bounds both in population and with new local businesses.

Tonight we had dinner at the newest restaurant in town . . . Café Rio!  It just opened this weekend and we love having something besides Hamburgers & Pizza as a local fast food option.

Friday 7/21

Today  we had appointments at Costco Hearing

A couple of weeks ago we ordered hearing aids

Today we had our fittings. They made some "fine tuning" adjustment and instructed us on how to wear them and care for them. They are going to take some getting used to, but... so far... so good! They even added a special music program to Linda's.

Saturday 7/22

Last night our A/C went out again so we called Mike... The same guy that came out during our reunion....

This time he took it apart and went through it all, cleaned it up and checked for leaks but couldn't find any. There must be one because he had to put another pound of Freon in it. He will come back the first of the week with tools to check for leaks.

Monday 7/24 - Pioneer Day!

2016

Steve & Linda's 1st summer in Nauvoo as "pioneer" missionaries

To celebrate the occasion, our ward had a social in the park. It was all good until the sprinklers came on and everyone scattered . . . ahhh, making memories !

July has come to an end. It has been a fun month celebrating country, family and our pioneer ancestors. Tomorrow is a new month and we are ready to start celebrating the August anniversaries and birthdays!