July 24th- Monroe style...

Monroe, Utah doesn't have much going for it. On the main street of my hometown there are two stores, two restaurants, a library, and a movie store. There isn't even a stop light. However, this is definitely the place to be for a rockin' 24th of July celebration!

After a filling breakfast, the festivities start with a parade on Main Street. The parade mostly consists of tractors, new and old, old souped up cars, high school bands, the drill team, and cheerleaders; as well as the junior drill team and cheerleaders. Oh, let's not forget the local beauty queens !

Here come the cars!

Chris helping Serena and KC gather in the loot!

After lunch, we head over the mountain to Marysvale, which is literally a dip in the road. If you blink, you would miss the whole town! In Marysvale, there is a small rodeo. The highlight of the entertainment is the 'Chicken Run'. The rules consist of the kids (broken into age groups), start at one end of the arena and run to the other end to catch the chickens. If you are lucky enough to catch a chicken, your prise is a crisp $5 bill and... you can keep the chicken, if you want to! I have never felt the urge to participate in the sport but it is a hoot to watch!

The boy in the yellow shirt is proudly walking back to the stands with his prize and chicken in hand!

The night ends with a concert and fireworks. My mom insists on going early to the fireworks to buy raffle tickets. Apparently, she wins something every year. This year they had para gliders fly over the field right before the fireworks started. Although the show is small, the fireworks are so much fun! They are right in your face and after the show, you have to dust the ashes off each other!

If you squint, you can see the gliders. Please excuse my camera!

Happy 24th of July!

Tarantula Hawk Wasp

Some people that I work with at the community center are bug fanatics. One of the managers takes a yearly trip to the jungles of Mexico to collect bugs and beetles and other creepy crawlies that he proudly has on display in his office. I was telling him and another co-worker about the huge bug we saw at the theater the night before and they identified it for me. It is called a Tarantula Hawk Wasp and it has one of the most painful stings in the world! I looked it up in wikipedia and this it what I learned.

"These wasps are usually not aggressive[1], but the sting, particularly of Pepsis formosa, is among the most painful of any insect. Commenting on his own experience, one researcher described the pain as "...immediate, excruciating pain that simply shuts down one's ability to do anything, except, perhaps, scream. Mental discipline simply does not work in these situations."[2] In terms of scale, the wasp's sting is rated at the top of the Schmidt Sting Pain Index, second only to that of the bullet ant.^[2] Because of their extremely large stingers, very few animals are able to eat them"

So basically these wasps have almost no natural predators because of how painful the sting is. I linked from this explanation to the Schmidt Sting Pain Index and this is what it said:

• 1.0 Sweat bee: Light, ephemeral, almost fruity. A tiny spark has singed a single hair on your arm.
• 1.2 Fire ant: Sharp, sudden, mildly alarming. Like walking across a shag carpet & reaching for the light switch.
• 1.8 Bullhorn acacia ant: A rare, piercing, elevated sort of pain. Someone has fired a staple into your cheek.
• 2.0 Bald-faced hornet: Rich, hearty, slightly crunchy. Similar to getting your hand mashed in a revolving door.
• 2.0 Yellowjacket: Hot and smoky, almost irreverent. Imagine W. C. Fields extinguishing a cigar on your tongue.
• 2.x Honey bee and European hornet: Like a matchhead that flips off and burns on your skin.
• 3.0 Red harvester ant: Bold and unrelenting. Somebody is using a drill to excavate your ingrown toenail.
• 3.0 Paper wasp: Caustic & burning. Distinctly bitter aftertaste. Like spilling a beaker of hydrochloric acid on a paper cut.
• 4.0 Tarantula hawk: Blinding, fierce, shockingly electric. A running hair drier has been dropped into your bubble bath.
• 4.0+ Bullet ant: Pure, intense, brilliant pain. Like fire-walking over flaming charcoal with a 3-inch rusty nail in your heel.

So basically it hunts Tarantulas, stings it so its paralyzed, lays an egg in the spider, then buries it so the egg can hatch and eat the Tarantula while its still alive. But its not all scary. At least the wings are really pretty.

Do-Re-Mi...

If you ever find yourself in St. George, Utah, there is one thing that you must do; visit the Tuacahn Amphitheater. We have gone twice since we moved in May! The red rock never ceases to amaze me and so far the musical productions have been awesome! In June we saw Les Miserables. It was amazing and by far the best show ever.

Last night we ventured out there to see The Sound of Music. I was surprised at how good the production was. I even found myself humming to the music. (It’s kind of hard not to though. Admit it; the songs are a little catchy!)

Before the show started, the guy sitting on the other side of me noticed this huge fly/ant/I have no idea what it is/insect on the seat in front of me. I swear it was at least 3 inches big with beautiful orange wings. It wouldn't die either! The guy smashed it with his foot several times and it kept getting up! Finally, someone picked it up with a napkin and threw the poor bug away! (I was secretly grateful though. I think I would have been paranoid that it was crawling up my leg the entire performance if we had left it there.)

Just Another Saturday

Since moving to St. George, we realized that we now have time to actually have a 'Date Night' each weekend! Our usual dates have occurred on Saturday nights but last week we decided to switch it up a bit by going out for breakfast instead.

Our date started with a tasty breakfast at 'Bear Paw Cafe'. There was 30 minute wait, so to pass the time, we wandered over to the farmers market down the street. It was kind of disappointing with only a few booths. However, it wasn't a total bust, there was live music and samples to taste at each booth!After a scrumptious breakfast of French toast and strawberry crepes, we drove out to Santa Clara to check out the fresh produce market! It was much better compared to the farmers market with actual produce for sell! We got our weeks worth of veggies and fruit for less then half the price I pay at the super market! Overall, it was a successful date! Oh, and for all our worried friends and family, worry no more, we finally got our helmets and are safe to go!

Scooter Time!

Well, after months of researching everything about scooters that you could possibly want to know, we finally got one! The original plan was to wait a couple more weeks, but hey, why wait for a good thing! It's a ZEN 150 cc in a super cool blue color.When we bought it, there was only 1 mile on it. After two days we have put about 90 miles on it! I guess, you could say we are pretty excited about having a scooter.




We did order helmets earlier this week but we just couldn't wait! Chris is a great driver but I'm still mustering up the courage to learn! I do want to but right now I am content on sitting on the back!

Chris is so funny! Whenever we pass another person on a motorcycle or scooter, he waves. He says, "Just waving to my brothers!" He is just so cute sometimes!

We'll be posting more about our scooter adventures to come!