Happy Independence Day

In honor of our Independence Day, we did a few things.

My guys helped set up flags this morning in all the neighbors' yards. Crafty, Fajita, and Bossy marched in two parades this morning and then Crafty did another one this afternoon. We had a family baseball game before attending Crafty's parade. Bossy and Gamer cooked dinner for all of us and Teach and Twiz bought the fireworks.

My poor sweetie was stuck working on the floors most of the day although he did join us for dinner and fireworks.

Even with all 3 parades and her school work (she is taking two summer classes), Crafty still managed to write this beautiful poem she wanted me to share with you.

Happy 4th of July!

The Shot Heard Around the World

Marching in a line,

Perfectly synchronized.

The salt of sweat

And the heat of our blisters

Remind us

That danger is near,

But it seems so far away

Oh so far away.

The first pop

Fills the air.

The wind is

Silent

Everything

Changes.

He goes down,

Down,

Never to

Rise again.

The shot

Echoes in the

Silence

Of day.

It has begun

A Double Birthday Party

While we were back east, we had several birthdays happen in the family. Beauty had hers on the 21st, but we celebrated that one with a fun waffles breakfast before we left. The other two were Prima Donna and Sport.

New water jug for football

Sport turned 13 and we let him have the birthday party with his friends before we left, but he never got a chance to eat cake and ice cream with the family. Prima Donna turned 18 last Sunday and as we all know, that's a big one. She is finally an adult! We even started moving her into her new apartment near Weber State, but that's a post for another day.

Prima Donna loves "Hamilton"

Today we had a double birthday party for both of them. You know, in all my years of having all these kids (and several of them have birthdays that are really close together!) I have never done a combined party. It actually goes completely against my nature. My brother has a birthday on January 22 and mine is January 25. We were routinely combined as children and I hated it.

But today was truly a necessity. My kitchen and living room areas are completely torn up because of the hardwood project, so we had to plan a BBQ. Pretty much everything had to be prepared outside and with disposable stuff. I can't do dishes or anything in the kitchen, so every utensil is a problem.

Still newly-weds

I even ordered a cake yesterday from Sam's Club. It was a half sheet cake with a line down the middle that had Sport on one side and Prima Donna on the other. It's been about 15 years since we have had a store-bought cake for a birthday.

More newly-weds

Fortunately, everything went off without a hitch. My sweetie grilled burgers and we cut watermelon and served baked beans, chips, and potato salad. The kids enjoyed the cake (maybe a little too much) and we ate in the yard under the canopy.

I hope you have big plans for the 4th of July. We are having another family BBQ, but at Bossy's house this time.

Watching the Parade

Crafty in the blond braid

Last night we went to the parade in Riverton. Crafty has been playing her clarinet in the SLCC Spirit Band and we wanted to support her. We have not typically gone to this particular parade because it is always so close to the 4th, but this year we thought it would be fun.

There were so many people!!

The kids loved the tiny fire engine!

We had a difficult time even finding a place to sit. One group of people sent us away from their area even though there was plenty of space. We eventually located Bean Dip and his mom and they made room for us. Fajita was quite anxious to see him.

Skylar and Fajita

I don't think I told you that we have had some major family drama here. Fajita went missing on June 16 and she was finally located and brought home on Thursday, July 1.

If you live in our area, or spend time on Facebook, you may have seen the missing person flier that was up all over our city. When she finally came home, she brought a guy with her. His name is Skylar, but we will probably have to give him a more descriptive blog name since it looks like he may be with us for quite a while. Both are 17 now and in an official relationship.

It's crazy how life just keeps on changing.

Team Party

Yesterday, after we got back from Tuacahn, Sport has his baseball team party. It was typical pot luck picnic fare with awards, but most importantly, the kids got to swim!

Baby Doll was especially excited to try out all the equipment. I don't think she had ever seen fins before, because she didn't have a clue how to put them on. Also, her suit was still wet from Tuacahn so she wore one of her older sister's suits which was way too big for her, but she was adorable anyway.

Curly and Sport are in the background of most of these pictures, but they were having way too much fun with the other guys to pose for me. The pool had a slide that the kids were all enjoying and then someone got the brilliant idea to throw all the floaties and pool noodles on it and slide through them on the way down.

Sport was absolutely ridiculous when he did it!

It was hard to drag them out of the pool at 8:00, but I finally managed, since today was the last day of school for Scout and Curly. Year-round school is so crazy! Their summer started today and they go back on July 26; not even a month long. And we are trying to cram everything possible into those few short weeks. My sweetie is sanding down the wood floors and will be pouring all new surfaces next week. That means we are doing an awful lot of picnicking over the next few days.

Good thing I love hot dogs.