July 4, 2007
I am not a pessimistic person, but I will admit that I wasn't expecting my day today to go as well as it did!  I had a great time with Cory and Renee as we spent the Fourth of July together.  We left first thing in the morning to drive down to the Wichita Mountains, about an hour and a half south of Oklahoma City.  Right from the start, Cory set the tone for the day as light hearted and easy going, and that made the whole day go smoothly.  

We had great conversation in the car, and once we got to the base of Elk Mountain, we were ready to get hiking.  We all worked up a sweat and enjoyed the sunny skies after so many days of rain in Oklahoma.  


We took lots of pictures along the way, many of which I took just of Cory and Renee, to give them scenic shots to help decorate their new home.

  

  

Overall it was a great day full of friendship and easy fellowship.  We even spotted a pretty cool lizard several times along the trail and I enjoyed taking pictures of it.  
     
Check out the leaping lizard!    ~ caught in motion

We loved catching a cool breeze every once in a while from the top!

Once we finished our hike, we drove to a nearbye restaurant that had been recommended to the Sams.  It is in a tiny town called Meers, and apparently is home to the "World Famous Meers Burger".  The place was packed, considering it is in the middle of NO WHERE.  

Cory and I shared the Meers Supersonic Hamburger, which was humongous.  But we each wanted a picture in front of the plate to show how huge the burger was.  
       
I really enjoyed it, by the way.  
The inside of Meers was rustic, with varied unique decorations.

On the way home, Cory and Renee listened to sermons on Cory's iPod, and I worked on some reading I've been trying to complete.

We all got freshened up, had some coffee, and played Settlers of Katan.

We played until it was time to head off to watch the new Transformers movie.  I personally give it one thumb down, but if you're about 16 years old or younger, I think you might really enjoy it.  It has a very weak storyline, with a heavy theme of "adults are lame and dumb, and kids can save the universe."  I think the new movie,
Live Free or Die Hard, is WAY cooler, funnier, and a much better overall film.

Happy 4th of July! I hope yours went as well as mine did!

 

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July 27, 2007
Today I am hanging out with the Gifford family. I have been traveling around Iowa and am half way through my "Farewell Tour" around the state. This has been such a wonderful time of visiting with different relatives and making memories together. I have several more days to go, but tonight I had such fun taking pictures with my cousins that we thought I should post some online to share. Here we are, flying through the sky, with a little help from Photoshop.

Here is the source of our flying strength:

I got to see the Amazing Walking Malachi - only 4 months old!
          

.... and I was privilaged with my own private autograph signing after the show....

I stayed several days on the farm with Grandma Mary in her beautiful log home.  

We had a GREAT time together - doing our "chores" and getting many surprise visits from Jacob and Tanner.  We picked some sweet corn at Uncle Gary's house, and played Imagineiff with Ryan's family.
     

I love getting quality time with my family and am looking forward to more days of the same before I have to say "goodbye" for a LONG time.  Stay tuned for more soon!