O Canada

Andrew stopped by Moudy's (our little store of everything-you-could-ever-want-for-your-house on Road 9) to get a game for my birthday. While he was there, he noticed they had sparklers and mentioned that we should get some for the 4th of July.

I scoffed at him. Seriously? Sometimes!

Canada Day is before the 4th of July. Thinking of celebrating the 4th of July before celebrating Canada Day is like thinking of celebrating Thanksgiving before Hallowe'en.

Oh, wait. We do celebrate Thanksgiving before Hallowe'en. And again after. I need a new analogy.

It's like celebrating St. Patrick's Day before Valentine's Day. It's blasphemous.

I haven't actually celebrated all that many 4th of Julys in my life, at least not while present in the States. I've been in the States for...maybe 4 that I remember....We definitely have celebrated the 4th of July the years we've been in the States together as a married couple, which is altogether fitting and proper. However, we're not in the States and so I don't think it's fair that we should play up the 4th while playing down the 1st.

I am Canadian, hear me roar!

We didn't ever go back to Moudy's to get the sparklers, but we did have fun. Rachel and I spent the whole day at the pool, but somehow still found the time to make a cake. It was our friend Joseph's birthday yesterday and he didn't do anything to celebrate so we promised him cake. Rachel was talking about "Joseph's Cake" all day today and was so excited to help make it.

I iced it in white icing and then decided I'd draw a maple leaf on it out of jam. But it's so hot that the jam just ran all over the place instead of turning into a maple leaf. Bummer. So instead I spread it all over the top of the icing and sprinkled coconut on top. It was still red and white--giving it a subdued hint of nationalism--which was fair because half the reason for the cake was Joseph's birthday and he's not Canadian and I don't even know if he likes red.

After cake we put Rachel to bed since it was late and since she had been at the pool all day and was still a little emotional about the whole duck thing. Then we played games.

I would just like to mention that, while playing Fluxx, we got to use the "Today's Special" card twice. Why? Because today's special. It's a holiday (Andrew!) and don't you forget it (Andrew)!

So, Happy 142nd Birthday, Canada! And Happy 26th Birthday, Joseph!

And since this post has already mentioned so many random things like stores and holidays and games that have nothing to do with each other, I thought it would be a good time to mention that Andrew and I both have a set of great-grandparents who spoke German in the home. His great-grandparents are directly from Germany. My great-grandparents, Art and Ida Conrad, moved from Provo, Utah, to Taber, Alberta, Canada in 1917. They're part of the reason I'm Canadian.

Anyway, Ida spoke German in the home. Her parents, Nicholes and Anna (Wintsch) Muhlestein were both born in Switzerland (in Bern and Zurich, respectively) and so she grew up speaking German.

Art's family is of German-speaking descent as well, but they immigrated far earlier than the Muhlesteins (like in the 1700s vs. the 1800s, which is a whole century, basically). The Conrads hail from Wiese, Germany, and spent quite a bit of time in Pennsylvania, where, I believe, they also spoke German for a few generations.

How unfortunate that neither Andrew or I speak German. We really should, but we don't. I guess we should just be happy, though, that our families ran into each other in Orem, Utah, despite our ancestors' wanderlust* from Europe to America to Canada and all the world over.

If you can't tell I'm kind of on a genealogy kick. My family has been sharing stories and memories on blogs and facebook and I'm just eating it up. Keep it coming, keep it coming!

*That's a German word. Are you proud of me? I'm improving already!