Happy 4th!

I did it!

For years I've been wanting to have a neighborhood 4th of July parade.

This year I finally did it!

I've been working on my Personal Progress since I got back into Young Women's at church (similar to the boys working on Eagle Scout, but for girls) and I set the goal for my Integrity project to finally carry out a neighborhood parade.

For the first time ever doing this, I think it turned out pretty good - I had some support and help from good friends/neighbors and several people offered to help next year. I hope this will become a new tradition for our neighborhood!

Everybody lining up - it was a HOT day!

A group shot at the sign in table.

What a cute patriotic girl! (o:

Natalie loved her pinwheels. She was very relieved to find out that this event was not a race. Neville* told me that on the way over Natalie confided in him that she was very nervous. Apparently, she was intimidated by all the big kids and said she wasn't sure if she could "race" them. Too cute. She had a great time not racing.

My competitive Sarah saw the giant pixie stick prizes for the winners and was very concerned about winning. I think she decided that just being in the parade was fun, but was thrilled our family won the award for "most creative". (o:

My cute friends and neighbors Rebecca, Randie and Kim were a big help playing the judges. They were so fun!

Fireworks Spectacular

After our lovely neighborhood bike parade, we had our annual Costco fireworks pack firework show. It was the warmest 4th of July evening I can remember in our nine 4th of July's out here. Usually we wear jackets or have a blanket to cuddle under.

I love the picture above. I believe this was a tradition that began when we used to do fireworks with Jeff and Kelli. It is officially called the firework "stack" and it raises our viewing pleasure and the danger factor up a bit - just to make it more exciting. The neighbor boys across the street loved helping Mac* with the "stack".
Angela preferred the "poppers" to all other sparklers and fireworks. She did NOT like the sparklers and was pretty nervous about the bigger fireworks.

Sarah was doing all sorts of lovely moves and formations. She is a crack up.

This is how I feel about sparklers too. Natalie is cautiously enjoying them. (o:

I call this the "airplane" sparkler formation. Sarah was doing all sorts of crazy poses for the camera.

Ohhhh Ahhhh - the grand finale - four fireworks at a time. It's hard to tell, but there are 4 going at the same time - one on top of the stack two on the sides and one in the front center. Amazing!

We had a fun time with our neighbors the Wangemanns. Shortly after I took this one, the Merkels joined us with their kids and brought some of their own fireworks. We had a great time visiting and enjoying the fireworks together!

Just an interesting sidenote - about 3 or 4 days after the 4th, I was in the front yard with the girls. It smelled really good outside like someone was having a BBQ in the middle of the day. Later, when Mac* went to get the mail he noticed something strange and came to get me. We had smoke, just a little, coming out of our barkdust in our frontyard. It smelled really good - that BBQ smell I noticed earlier. We dug around a bit and never really noticed anything that caused it. Our guess is that a piece of firework or sparkler dropped down in the barkdust and had been smoldering all that time! Kind of scary.

The Best Day Ever Cont.

Who's that guy in line at Baja Fresh? I can't see the menu over his hair.

This is a funny story,

Mr. Ed* had a "good" day (it's all relative these days) at work and felt a big burden lifted off his shoulders. He wanted to celebrate by cutting his hair into a Mohawk! Wow - work has made him a little loony - but he was so excited and funny about it, I couldn't squash his dream to walk around with a spiky Mohawk for a day (oh please - just a day ???) I helped achieve the height - yes, I was an accomplice. Even though, as we stood in Baja Fresh I was so embarrassed. I need to loosen up, it was pretty funny.

Everything is WAY more fun when Mr. Ed* is around! We love him so! (o:

We had a FABULOUS day! Lunch together, Slip n Slide (see previous post), a spaghetti dinner picnic and we ended the day with a sleepover in our new tent in the backyard! We can't wait to take it camping soon!!

Our tent "castle"

The Best Day Ever

SpongeBob sings a song on one of his episodes that we sing sometimes and this day fit well with the words, "It's the best day eveeeerrr!" The girls are so cute - simple pleasures. They seriously thought this was the best day ever and so did I. The weather was HOT and nothing sounded better to them then getting soaked on the slip and slide. The other thing that made this the best day ever was that daddy got to come home early in the day!! A RARE treat! It was supposedly a holiday for Intel workers (July 3), but we know better than to get our hopes up for days off these days. So when daddy walked in the door at 10:30 a.m. we all shouted for joy! (o: Here's some fun pics from our swim party!

Right behind Sarah and Angela is the spot where we tore out some huge shrubs that were looking terrible. I forgot to get a picture of that big project!

Feast on the Word

I got to visit my girls at girls' camp this week!

It was so fun to get out in the "wilderness" away from the world for an evening. (o: Okay, so it was only for a little bit, but it was still nice.

As you can see by the picture above, the theme this year was "Feast on the Word" (or the scriptures) It was such a cute theme. Each of the girls got their own set of silverware for one of their souvenirs.

I just love my girls - when Lisa and I finally arrived, we were attacked by several of the girls with hugs and greetings and lots of funny stories about what happened during the week. It was such a great welcome! We got to go on a tour of the cabins, ate dinner in the lodge all together and enjoyed flag ceremony, a dessert with just our ward and a testimony meeting with the stake.

I love girls camp and couldn't but help think back on the days when I went to girls' camp and all the wonderful memories I made long ago.

I also thought about my girls getting to go someday - they are already excited.

Girls camp is awesome!

As you can see - things get a little nutty at girls' camp - that's one of the best parts!!

No Kaitlyn, feast on the "word" not on the tree! (o:

Awww, aren't we cute?

Here's some fun pictures from an earlier activity in June - our end of school pool party.

Some synchronized swimming fun!

I love Young Women's - we laugh a LOT together and the girls make me feel several years younger. They are so sweet and such good girls. I am so lucky to work with them!

7 Kids at the Zoo

I know some people might think I'm crazy (especially Ned*), but I've always admired and envied people with big families. I don't know how well I would handle it, I'm so scatter brained that it's probably a good thing I don't always have 7 people to keep track of. (o:

Last week I got to see what it would be like to take 7 kids to the zoo. I really wanted to help Kim out while she packed and have one more memory with Allie, Luke and Kate before they left. I decided that it would be a good idea to enlist the help of Hannah (the wonderful helper at Natalie's birthday party) who is GREAT with little kids (she is actually from a big family of almost 7). She was so awesome and helped make our field trip enjoyable and safer! (o: (More eyes to count and keep track of everyone.)

I was really excited for a fun day, but my first priority was to keep everyone safe. Kim laughed when she saw all of the kids tattooed with my cell phone number and ingrained with what to do if anyone got lost. Hannah stayed toward the back and helped me continually count to six. (o:

We had a fabulous day together! Lots of laughs and tons of pictures. Every now and then I'd hear Allie and Sarah talking about Texas or saying it was their "last time together". Sniff, sniff. We made the most of the day and have so many fun memories that will hopefully last all year. I made a plan with Allie and Sarah that we would set up a blog just for them and that made them feel better.

Kate and Hannah were fast friends. Hannah carried little Kate about half the time at the zoo - she's such a trooper. Not only did she not complain about anything, she really enjoyed herself too and she loved Kate!

Yikes!

I think this was Hannah's idea for these funny pictures. They turned out so funny. (o:

I will miss little Kater Potater - she will change the most in this next year. )o: What a sweetie.

Once again, I didn't get a picture with Kim - which I meant to when she met us to pick up the kids. We had a tearful goodbye in the zoo parking lot. I am so grateful to have such a wonderful friend and I am grateful to know that no matter how many miles apart we are, we will be friends for a long long time. She's one of those friends I can see myself going with on a trip to Hawaii when we're 73 for a girls' outing. (o: Seriously, it's on my calendar for 2047, Kim. Hopefully we'll get to do lots of fun stuff together in the mean time.