4th of July Festivities

We had a wonderful day celebrating our nation's independence, enjoying great company, and beautiful weather. I love summer days! The weather is great & it stays light outside so late. If only there was a way to be able to enjoy summer weather all the time yet still be able to experience the four seasons.

Here's a photo recap of our patriotic day:

Getting our daughter's bike ready for a ride to the park for our ward/neighborhood picnic
The little man ready for a walk
The daughter playing games with her new BFF at the picnic
Although this picture is way out of focus (hard to shoot with a little helper. Note to self: must get better at that!), it captures the joy these two little girls were having tossing water balloons. They actually won the contest but tended to get closer & closer to each other instead of moving apart. It was too cute!
Having a blast watching the big kids play & eating pancakes (BTW, wagons work great as outdoor play pens : ) )
Randy looking so thrilled to be there (he really did have a good time...it's hard making new friends though)
After play all morning we came home for naps and Hawaiian chicken kabobs. I forgot to take a picture until there was only one left. Oops!
They were so yummy that I didn't even have any leftovers!
With everything going on, I forgot about a festive desert. No worries, we made s'mores.
They were so yummy too!
When it finally got dark (oh, 10:30!) we did the traditional fireworks. All of our neighbors were out and were were able to enjoy quite the show. I can't believe the amount of aerials that were going off around us! I thought for sure something was going to go wrong. I have a horrible fear of fire and spent most of the night praying that we (& no one else) will be harmed.


And for our finale...a creepy clown! after being first lit this is what it did...
It then progressed through different chambers that where pretty cool but that creepy clown face came back every once in awhile .
Overall we had a great day visiting, celebrating and even made some new friends. No one was hurt, no fires in our area (I am sure fires did happen somewhere in all the craziness but I am just not very informed), and things quieted down pretty fast around us. We are so thankful to be USA citizens and live in such a beautiful country! HAPPY 4th of JULY EVERYONE!!!


[To add to my day, I finished the first twilight book! I will admit that Bella irritated me at times (stupid girl!) but I still really enjoyed it & am already engrossed in the next book.]

A peaceful moment

While out and about we made an impromptu stop at the temple. We had been talking about temples thanks to the Friend. We have driven by it many times recently but have never taken the time to actually stop. It was a much needed escape from the chaos and gave me a chance to refocus on what is important. Hopefully it was touching to them too!

Thank you my sweet daughter for prompting us to stop and reflect for a few moments despite the blazing heat & bright sun (which we are still very much loving) on top of the fact that we are still not feeling totally better. Sometimes you really surprise me with how in touch you are!

Visiting teaching blessings

I have developed such a great testimony of visiting teaching and the great importance of it. Through our visiting teaching groups I have made so many great friendships and had many great opportunities to serve the sisters & families around me. My VT sisters have been a huge blessing in my life & I am SO amazed at how well they know me.

Being served: Isn't this cake cool? I was in quite a funk when all of the sudden Jerica knocks on my door with this cake. A gal in our ward was teaching cake decorating classes a couple weeks ago & this is what she made (it's been a few weeks, I am slow to post).

Serving: This is Jerica's adorable little boy. They are moving this week (so sad!) and I was able to help out by watching him. It was so fun watching the boys play together & getting lots for hugs from them.

We will miss all of our friends as we move on to the next phases of our lives. I have learned so much from all of wonderful ladies that I have had the opportunity to get to know. I hope that they know how special they each are & I hope that we stay in contact with each other.