Smokin' Firebrands and Sprinklers

So much has been going on the last month! Work has been busy and stressful for Brent, as the summer 'boom' didn't happen and work is surprisingly hard to find. Too many framers and not enough people buying houses. However, we are still blessed and are doing fine. Our big May/June happenings were my trip to Boston and Brent's finishing the 14 month long sprinkler installation for our yard!

I went home to Boston for Memorial Weekend and the following week, to celebrate my home ward's 50th reunion. There was a picnic, tons of food, the famous Foxboro Ward Variety Show, and an unbelievable sabbath with former bishops speaking, and people that I have loved and grown up with all around me. It was fulfilling and truly wonderful to see all the people I have grown up calling family. The best part was the Variety Show, for Foxboro is well known for having crazy and talented musicians, and we've been putting on shows for more years than I've been alive. The famous band is called The Smokin' Firebrands (out of the Bible), and they're a mix of incredible (some professional!) musicians- drums, lead guitar, keyboard, bass, and rhythm guitar (my dad!). The fun part was that myself and my two best friends Anna and Maria were the singers for the band, and we put on a fantastic show! We sang Journey, Dixie Chicks, Old Time Rock and Roll, The Water is Wide, Black Horse & A Cherry Tree, finished it off with James Taylor's "Steamroller." It was crazy and insane, but singing with my two best friends (call us VXI) is better than almost anything in this entire world. It had been too many years since we had performed together, and we just rocked it! My other favorite act was my dad's best friend Scott singing (who totally cannot sing) "Jeremiah was a bullfrog!" And gets all dressed up in this Elvis costume with a 5 foot tall afro wig on and cracks us all up. Before he sang this time, he dedicated the song to me, since I had told him I wouldn't come home unless he did the Jeremiah!

Another wonderful thing that happened was that my father's long lost brother came to the show, and I was able to meet him for the first time. Seeing him stirred something so profound within me, as I witnessed first hand the miracle of finding family amid controversy and adversity. They are brothers in every sense of the word, and I am so grateful to have met him.

The rest of the week home was just that: home. My parents, my best friends, the beach, the history of Boston, good food, and loved ones. It was a most needed vacation. I missed Brent terribly, but they recorded the variety show and are putting it on a DVD so he will be able to see me perform anyway!

The other miracle that happened this month was that our backyard sod finally got laid! It has been a long year of dirt, dust, weeds, and pure ugliness. Brent stayed up late for many nights bob-catting the yard, raking, pulling weeds, evening out the ground and prepping. And that was even before the sod was delivered! So, with help from our neighbors and brent's brother vaughn, we finally have grass in the backyard. Why not the front, you say? Well, the guys figured out we have a huge problem with the city side stop and waste- and they dug up a ton of muck and blech and the front yard looks worse than ever. However, I am grateful for what I do have- which is, finally- a back yard. I love you, Brent!