Fourth of July Weekend

We had a great, and fun 4th of July (long) weekend.

Friday, Bethany and her boyfriend Josh came down to Portland on the train.

They loved it and said the train is the way to go!

Especially on holiday weekends so you don't have to deal with traffic!

Portland Union Station is a really neat "old" train station.

Bethany and Josh were going to see the Lion King downtown, but we double dated with them for dinner at our favorite sushi spot, Blue Fin.

Yummy!!

For the Fourth, after morning meeting, we had a BBQ at our house with some of our friends.

Of course, Brian and I were too busy hosting and forgot to take pictures.

That evening, we headed out to Molalla, Oregon, for the Molallo Buckaroo Rodeo.

Brian's (2nd) cousin Whitney barrel races and she was going to be there!

Her usual horse had slipped in the previous rodeo a couple of days before,

so she was racing on her friend's horse.

She had a great race and ended up with one of the fastest times of the night which scored her some money!

I posted the video below, sorry, I got a little excited/distracted at the end!

As you can hear, Whitney had quite the cheering section!

I hadn't been to a rodeo since high school,

so it was great to spend the 4th at a small town rodeo!

Bethany (being the bull) and Josh

The Molalla Buckaroo stadium - it was a beautiful night for a rodeo!

FIREWORKS!

Jeff (Whitney's dad) and Tet, Whitney's horse, under the fireworks.