parade time

I've been neglecting the blog despite having a lot to blog about, so now I have to play catch up. First up: the South Ogden Days parade. This was the first parade we attended as Americans last year so it felt a little poignant to be attending it a year later. I don't think we can say we 'just moved' here anymore.  

I've seen a few different parades now and I think the South Ogden parade is probably my favorite. It's small scale and more local businesses, but it's not very crowded, candy is thrown in abundance (worst is the Ogden Pioneer Day parade - we brought bags for nothing!) and, because it's the earliest of the summer parades, it's not too hot. Later that day we went to the fair and watched the fireworks just like last year. This time Max was old enough to stay up and join us on rides, which made his year.

Next up: Elliot and Max had a Birthday!

disgustingly happy

Look, I don't mean to make you horrendously jealous but it is now 9:45am and I am sat on my front porch, in the warm sun, with my laptop on -surprise!- my lap. Max and Elliot have each mounted one of our many plastic, wheeled contraptions and are happily scooting around our cul-de-sac as I listen to their delighted squeals and the various birds singing my welcome to this day.

Life, as it turns out, is good!

I try to be wary of portraying our lives as a constant flow of smiles and rainbows because it's just not like that. Right now though, I am in the lucky position to be able to tell you that that is honestly how it is for us. Sure we have some worries and things that force us back into a more balanced thought of 'oh yeah, the world wasn't created with the sole purpose to bring the Koots happiness.' I mean, our basement got flooded the day after we put in new carpet. The guys who are placing a fence around our yard to keep our kiddies safe basically murdered our sprinkler system in 4 different places, costing us a significant extra amount of moulah. Our old health insurance company is trying to fine us for thousands of Euros because supposedly we weren't insured for a couple of months, while we have shown them over and over again that we were at that time completely insured here in the US. And on top of that we still really, really miss our beloved Holland and the wonderful people we left behind along with it. So I suppose there is plenty for us to worry about and feel stress over. I'm not sure whether it's the peace of knowing we are on the right track in life, or the beauty of our current surroundings, or the slowed pace of summer vacation. Most likely it's all of those elements combined that have been working towards us being possibly the happiest we have ever been. So again, sorry if this post is making you feel like puking, or perhaps like slowly and methodically torturing me until I'm a little less freakin' happy... but this is just how it is and I can't keep it to myself! Pictures are of some of the scenery found in our back yard. You know the one. That yard that is the most intimidating part of this house for me. That one that broke two lawn mowers since we moved in and took a full week of work to get into somewhat reasonable shape. Yeah, I guess it's also kind of pretty.