pioneer day

Normally there are parades and fireworks to celebrate the 24th of July. Well, they don't have that in Omaha. Even though this area is what it is largely because of hard working Latter-Day Saints. Instead we had "The Pancake Man." Our stake had an awesome breakfast at the Kanesville tabernacle that consisted of sausage links, diluted Sunny-D, and professionally produced pancakes (with margarine and syrup). While budget was certainly a factor, the pancakes were something to blog about. This guy had about a six foot griddle that had a rolling pancake batter dispenser that dropped four at a time. Then when they were cooked he would proceed to flip them in the air, behind his back, and in some cases over peoples heads to get you your plate full. It was really fun. When we got home from the breakfast we had planned to run errands and work on our "to do" list. Instead we accepted an invitation from our friends to go to Lake Manawa. While we were pretty skeptical that there could be a fun beach in our land locked area, it was actually really nice, and a whole lot of fun! Aimee couldn't get enough of the water. A couple of times the waves took her out and she ended up with a face full of water. Once she had her feet under her she would just charge right back out again! It is entertaining, and often scary, just how adventurous she is! Porter on the other hand found an entirely different way to keep me on my toes. Our friends had built a little baby pool of sorts that the waves only crested into. This produced a lot of foam in just the right amount of water to come just above Porters belly button. He sat in his private pool and attempted to eat as much sand and foam as he could get in his mouth. We had a sandy PB&J picnic and everyone but Porter (who I actually remembered to put sunscreen on about an hour before we left) got sunburned. With all of the sun those two kiddos see they fared pretty well. Aimee was only slightly pink and was completely unaware of anything being amiss. Chad and I are still recovering.

To end the day we attended the Baptism of our wards most recent convert, Brother John Summers. There were several pictures of baptism in Aimee's last issue of the Friend, and it was a great way to show her what it was, and talk about what it meant. I think the water idea got through. I'm not so sure about the promises/covenants part. It was a great day!