4th of July 2009

(It's about time, eh?)
4th of July is totally my favorite holiday. I love it!

We started off the 4th of July festivities with a bike parade with the playgroup kids from church. It was fun for most of the kids. Mine whined their way through it. I decorated Brie's scooter and Ava's stroller. When the parade was starting, Brie didn't want to ride her scooter so it stayed back. For us the parade consisted of Brie walking next to me crying to be held, Ava giving up on her stroller and me carrying it while we trailed far behind the other parading kids. At least they loved the popsicles.The actual 4th of July was definitely a fun day. We hit almost all of the celebrations that we get to every year. So fun. Of course we started off with the annual 4th of July neighborhood breakfast at the Nielsons. This is the neighborhood Scott grew up in. He's gone to this breakfast forever and it's always fun to see all of his people and have them see him and his little fam.And yet again, all the fun at the breakfast (bounce house, pony rides, face painting, fishing for toys, dunk booth, live music, cake walk, kids parade, good food) ended with a crying melt down in the grass by one Brielle Buchanan because we had to leave. It was hard to leave. What a good time.
We then go directly over to the East Millcreek (where we used to live) parade to see Brian and Rachel's float. They built the float, marched in the parade and got 3rd place! Awesome!
Then on to some delish shaved ice!After we all had a good Cafe Rio lunch and a very nice nap at home we headed to our friend's house for a pool party. We swam, we barbecued and then Scott lit fireworks for the kids. We were supposed to go over to the city's big firework show, but it was Saturday night and I still had lots to do for Primary the next day. So we gave up on the big show (which is so sad for me) and put the girls to bed. I'm pretty sure they got their fill of 4th of July fun though. We all did.

Camping in Idaho

(I'm back to the blog finally. And I have a lot of pictures and a lot of fun things to report.)

After visiting Kamber, the girls and I drove to Lava Hot Springs to camp. We met Scott there and got to camp with our friends Mark, Trisha, Laird and lots of their family. It honestly was like heaven! They already had the camp set up, it was BEAUTIFUL, they made us delicious food and we even got to swim during the day. It was perfect. I was aching to go camping and was so very happy to be falling asleep in a tent those nights.

Each family took a turn making meals and they were GOOOOOOOOOOD! I love camping food.Scott with a real man's breakfast! I was in dreamland with my "Eggs In A Frame" breakfast.And then a dessert of delicious marshmallows roasted over a fire and made into a s'more . . . can't beat it!One day was spent in Lava Hot Springs at the pool. Now, that is the way to camp. You get to feel all clean and then go back to camp.Brie and I went on a walk to a meadow of wildflowers that overlooked all of Idaho's farmlands. It was so pretty. She picked flowers to make a bouquet . . . not for daddy or Ava or Trisha, but for herself. The girls even got invited on rides on the four wheelers and they were THRILLED!Some girl talk around the camp fire. We got to use our new tent! This was also so exciting. This tent was my Christmas present and it's awesome. It is so big! Everyone called it "the chateau". Ava was able to sleep in her pack 'n play in the west wing and we were far away in the east wing. The potty was also kept in the west wing.
Playing holy board.Brie found a caterpillar friend that kept her and Ava entertained for a long time. Trisha was nice enough to make a home for him so we could take him with us. He did not last long at our house.
Thank you so much to Mark and Trisha and fam. It was a great time!

Visiting Kamber

The girls and I got to go visit Kamber and fam last weekend! It was great to have so much time together again. Kamber and I were best friends and lived together as roommates from 1994, when we met at Ricks College, until I had to leave her to marry Scott in 2003! She married Brian and moved to London. We've talked on the phone and seen each other on visits, but just haven't had a lot of "hang out" time. This was some good hang out time. It was fun to have our kids play together. And it made it much more difficult too. Next time we'll leave them home with their dads!

The girls and I drove the 6 hours to Kamber's house and all went well. Thank heaven for DVD players and snacks! We spent a few days seeing where Kam lives now and having a good ol' time.

The park. I don't know what Samantha and Brielle did, but both of their faces looked like they just rubbed them right into the dirt ground.Thankfully, they loved Kamber's big tub!
We went into the city one night for dinner and a concert. Brie of course found a little band playing drums, etc. and dragged Sammie over to dance with her. Soon they were drumming in the band.They also found a fountain and were so very tempted to run right in.Ava was told not to go in. We didn't have a change of clothes for her. As soon as I turned my back she ran right in to the middle and stood there laughing and smiling at me. Stinker!
The next day was a whole park full of fountains! Yeah!!! The girls had so much fun running through the water and eating snow cones. The coolest park ever!All the fun totally wore these girls out. They were out on the way home. And then . . . the worst, screaming, kicking, flailing herself on the floor tantrum I have seen in a long time came from one Brie Buchanan when I took her out of the car seat and into the house. Awful!
The grand finale of the trip was some delicious shave ice from Kamber and Brian's shave ice stand as we were leaving town. Wow. That dreamsicle flavor was soooooooo good!
Thank you to Kamber, Brian, Samantha and Spencer for a very fun visit! We loved it and will be back for more!