Joel's B-Day!

This birthday may just rank as Joel's favorite birthday ever. Many of you know that Joel and I struck up a little "deal" this time last year. The deal was that if Joel lost 40 pounds by his birthday this year, I would buy him a dirtbike. At first, I wasn't sure if he was really going to go all-out working towards this goal. And lets face it, I'm not the greatest encouragement with my candy intake :)

BUT-sometime in June he started to get really motivated. He started riding his bicycle to and from work (about 25 miles per day), joined a soccer league and watched what he ate. While Joel hasn't quite reached his goal yet.....we decided to get the bike anyway. We compromised on a used 2007 Yamaha YZ450F. I wanted to reward his efforts and encourage him to stay active. As I have had to debate with many people...I figure the risk of him being unhealthy due to inactivity outweighted the risk of him getting injured on a dirtbike. Hopefully I will not eat those words. Start sending up those prayers :)

Other than the main event, Joel opened some great presents from our family and friends-THANK YOU to everyone! We also ate Flying Pie and a homemade cake (enjoy the video!). We sure love celebrating this awesome guy! Happy 3-6 Hubs.

Choppin' Locks

Gone Daddy, gone, the hair is gone. I chopped off 14" of hair this week to donate to Locks of Love. I'm in a little bit of shock, but love the new hairdo. Change is always refreshing for me in this capacity. Joel is still adjusting to it as he is one of those "long haired lovin' fellows" but he's being supportive.

Burley Fair

It's almost been a month since we've had a Gandara family post-eek! I figured you were all overdue for an update. We have had a lot of family time in the last month starting with the Burley Fair! Many of you know that for the past 22 years the Barnes family has set up shop on the corner of 11th and Elba selling cotton candy. And for 22 years now it has been $1 a bag! My brother and I used earn our money for school clothes by helping out during fair week and now it's fun to bring our kids back to Burley for the Fair experience. I've never had so much fun as I had watching my little girl try to make her first pig noises! And even after all these years Granny and Grand-dad still paid us some of those $1 bills in exchange for our company. Because let's face it...at this point, bringing grandchildren along is more of a distraction than a help. A welcomed distraction I'm sure, but still-a distraction :)