Happy 4th of July!!

What a day! I hope you had a chance to celebrate the birth of our country with some of your family and friends. Sport and Bean Dip had 3 parades today. I got them up at 6:30 AM for the first one and dropped them off in Murray, then picked them up again at noon after the second one.

Parade Time

We kept things pretty quiet during the day and it wasn't until about 4:00 that I decided to run somewhere for fireworks. The boys had to be at the Sandy parade at 5:00, so we took a bunch of the kids too and got a nice parking spot close to the parade route.

Bossy and Gamer joined us there as did Teach and Twiz. The kids got a bunch of candy and they really enjoyed the otter pops. We came home to find that my sweetie and Drama Queen had finished dinner and they were just waiting for us to show up. Beauty and The Beast walked in just before we started.

We all enjoyed sweet pork burritos and then Drama Queen made deep fried Twinkies for dessert. We finished up the evening lighting fireworks in the backyard. It was an awesome day. Prima Donna even stopped by for a few minutes with her friends from camp. They were all given a half day off.

My favorite part of the day was when Teach went with Bossy and her kids to take some pictures in the park. I'm excited to show you what they did.

It's true!! Bossy and Gamer are expecting a little one on December 19. She is 16 weeks and all appears to be well. How's that for fireworks?!

A Free Sucker

My sweetie has been complaining about his foot for a few days, but it has not slowed him down. Today he painted all the ceilings in the basement of Drama Queen's new house. But when he came home tonight we noticed all the bruising around his toes. I convinced him it would be a good idea to go see a doctor.

The things my sweetie will do for a free sucker...

So after we dropped Sport off for the Riverton parade, we ran down to the Urgent Care. We were not really surprised when they told us he had a broken bone, but it turns out that he broke it a couple of weeks ago, probably at Lagoon. And rather than the break being down by the toes like we expected, it was actually halfway up the front of his foot.

It's a fashion statement.

They put him in a shoe with a flat sole for a couple of weeks. After that they will evaluate and see if it needs further attention. Not exactly sure what that might mean and honestly, I was a bit afraid to ask. In the meantime, he is going to have to learn how to take life just a bit easier.

Taylorsville Dayzz

Crafty is taking the music class at SLCC and she has to see 5 concerts this summer, so when Taylorsville Dayzz announced they were doing the Utah Symphony with cannons and the Beatles Imagine group, we were all over it. My sweetie was hard at work at Drama Queen's house, so Grandpa and I just took all the younger kids.

The concert started shortly after we got there, but by the time the cannons were fired, there were tons more people filling up the grass. We had a shady spot under a tree and we would have been comfortable except that the kids kept crowding me. A whole expanse of lawn and at 3 blankets and they all want to sit right on top of me!

I enjoyed the concert more than they did, and I had to keep shushing them during my favorite Beatles songs. When the concert was finally over just before 9:00, they did the craziest thing... fireworks while it was still light outside!

I have never seen fireworks against a light blue sky, but it sort of worked. The strangest part was the falling debris. We were fairly close to where they were shooting them off and there were hundreds of small pieces of cardboard landing all around us. At first we thought they were ash and that worried us until the kids took a closer look. Some were about an inch square and others were much smaller.

We had thought to stay for the movie in the park, but the kids had not really dressed for it to get cooler, so after they practiced their High School Musical jump, we headed for the car. A quick stop for ice cream finished up our fun evening in style
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Ready for Nashville

Remember back in the spring when Crafty went to state with her STAR Events competition for FCCLA? Well, she qualified for Nationals and she flies out for Nashville tomorrow. She is pretty nervous, but excited too.

Grinding wheat to make biscuits (not our favorite recipe, but a work in progress...)

Ever since school got out she has been working on her project. Some days were better than others, but for a good couple of weeks we were all on her healthy living plan. Honestly, I was feeling better than I have in a long time.

Making a beautiful salad.

Each night before bed, she and I would go over the recipes in her binder and choose each meal and snack for the entire family. She would post it on the fridge and on the front door so everyone was aware of what they could and could not eat.

Dancing is great exercise!

Some of the kids were a bit rebellious at first, but they really do all want to learn to live healthy and feel and look better. Baby Doll especially loved helping prepare healthy salads and other dishes. Drama Queen was often our cook and we all learned to try a few new things. I even ate a piece of honeydew (other than watermelon, melons and I don't get along very well).

I hope when Crafty gets home she will get us back on a healthier track again. Good luck at Nationals, beautiful girl. I'm sure you will be awesome!

Chicken wraps in wheat tortillas