4th of July

The 4th of July weekend was a big one!  We had lots of family here and lots of exhausting fun!  Grammy, Aunt Mallo, baby Ashton, and Steffan's girlfriend, Lindsey, came up to visit.  On Friday night we drove up to Worthen Meadows and roasted hot dogs and Starbursts with everyone.  The warm, gooey Starbursts were the best!  Brighton cast his fishing line in for about 30 seconds and caught a small fish, but we turned him loose since he was too small.  Then we had to get back to town because poor baby Ashton wasn't feeling well.  Aunt Mallo and Grammy ended up taking him to the ER because he had a bad fever and was acting so yucky.  Turned out that his allergies had been so bad that he had an ear infection!  The next day was much better for him with some antibiotics on board!

My goofy siblings...love them!

The cousins had a fun time in the pool in the backyard!

Grammy with her 3 grandkiddos!

Then Saturday night we went to the Bills' fireworks show.  We had parked the truck along the highway in the ditch earlier in the day so we could just sit in the back of it. About 30 minutes or so after we got there all three kids were asleep in the back of the truck.  So, the adults just watched the show.  It is a really huge and amazing fireworks display, but I don't think we will go again now for a few more years. (This is only the 2nd time we have been in the 6 years we have lived here.)  We just are not night owls, or too into fireworks...it was a really late night and we had 9am church the next morning.  We like sleep too much!

Sunday was a great day at church, even though we were all tired.  We usually have about 130 people in our ward, but on that Sunday we had 405!!  I've never seen the chapel so full! They had to put people in the Relief Society room because it was overflowing.

Then on Monday, the actual 4th, we went to the parade.  Our friends, the Fowlers, invited us to watch from their chalet.  They have garden hoses that they hook up and they let their grand kids squirt the people on floats that try to get the crowd wet with squirt guns or water balloons. I thought that was great!  Ashton had a good time dancing to the bands and other music. Brighton got some sympathy candy with his sling on and waving at people with his good arm.  At the end of the parade, the firetrucks SOAKED everyone but me, B, and Ashton. We hid under the tarp lean-to that the Fowlers made for shade.  We were lucky not to get soaked!

Monday night we let the kids do a few of their own fireworks out at Grandma and Grandpa Bird's.  Grandpa Larson and Steffan & Lindsey came out too.  We had a yummy BBQ with all of us and the missionaries, played some corn hole and Frisbee, and then did the fireworks.  Then it was off to bed, which is always interesting on the 4th in this town. It is truly like WW3 with all the noise.  I wouldn't be sad if they outlawed the crazy firework mayhem.  (Please no one send me hate mail!) I'm just not that into it!  It took a full week to recover from our weekend of too many late nights, but it made for some good memories.