4th of July - A Day Early

Since this year the 4th of July fell on a Sunday, of course all the celebrations were held on Saturday. (At least they were in Idaho, and back home in Utah) We decided to drive out to Melba to see fireworks, since they are supposed to be some of the best in the state. I have to say they didn't disappoint. They had probably the best fireworks I have seen since Hailey was 1 1/2. We had a blast hanging out on the lawn talking and eating pizza, and of course taking tons of adorable pictures. Here are some of my favorites. Enjoy!

My totally adorable kids.

Hailee and Alan and the boys.

John being a wierdo in Hayden's sunglasses.

Hayden wasn't thrilled with the fireworks. This is before he started screaming his face off.

Me and Hayden hanging out.

Boating Fun

We had SO much fun out on the boat with our friends!! The kids had a blast out on the tube and the taco, but I think Alan had more fun than anyone. Ha ha! He was like the biggest kid of them all! We were able to spend several hours out just blasting the radio and flinging Alan and the kids all over the lake. Hayden had a blast on his first boat ride. He was bouncing up and down and waving his arms everywhere. He was so excited. He made it through almost the whole trip, before he passed out sitting up from exhaustion. It was so cute!

I let my daughter take my picture. I guess it's as decent as it can be with me in it.

Hailee with her cute boys, Hunter and Jaxon.

Alan and the girls on the taco.

Pulling the tube and the taco.

All the kids (minus Camren).

John and Hayden (they're not really red, we had the bimini top up)

Me and Hayden.

Excuses and Idaho

Man. So it seems like every time I make plans to update my blog it goes like this:

Me: ooh! look! I did a couple new posts! Only 5 billion more and I will be all caught up! Go me!

Internet: oh Michele . . . . someone posted something new on facebook!

Me: ooh! what is it?

Internet: oh, and you're people are starving in your cafe, and there's a sale at Gymboree and you might want to check out craigslist and ksl while you're at it.

And there goes another 3 days of my life I will never get back.

At least this time I actually had an excuse. We went to Idaho for the weekend. We left the 2nd, and got home the 5th. We spent time with our best friends, Hailee and Alan, and had a TON of fun! Idaho was beautiful, and it was nice to be with friends. We went to amazing fireworks, we had a surprise birthday party for Camren, we took the boat out, and we just spent time lying around talking and eating double stuff oreos and diet coke. It was awesome and I wish I didn't have to come home.

Although I love Utah, it is lonely here. My parents are in California, and while I would LOVE to live right by them, I have NO desire to live in California again. I have friends here, but not ones that we hang out with and do stuff together with as a couple or family. It was so nice to be in Idaho. John even applied for a few jobs out there after we got back, because we liked it there so much. I don't know if anything will come of it, but it would just be nice to live somewhere where we had friends that we could hang out with all the time and do stuff with. Like hang out at each other's houses, and go camping and boating together, and just do stuff together. I know that it sounds crazy to think that we would move to Idaho because of friends, but it's nice to know that I would seriously have someone that I could hang out every day with. I don't have anyone like that now, and it gets really lonely.

Wow, well this post got really depressing all of the sudden and I didn't mean for it to. Anyway, our trip was freakin awesome and I will do more posts - with pictures in a minute.

This Is What We Do With Naughty Kids

We have a huge roll of industrial plastic wrap (for when we move), and Em and I tried using it to cover the dining room table. After we gave up on that (totally didn't work) Hailey thought she would grab the pieces off the table and wrap Martha in them. Em and I decided that was a great idea. So she rounded up Hailey, Martha, Corlie and Brooklyn and I wrapped them with the actual roll of plastic. It was hard to do 'cause the roll was so heavy and awkward, but it was fun to have them all wrapped up and captive. We decided next time we should do all the kids, then we can just go stick them in the other room and then have the night to ourselves. Now that's a plan!

Hmm. Martha doesn't seem too impressed.

Me wrapping up the kids.

Help! Let us out!

Dying Eggs With Emily

Since Emily (my bestest friend on earth) won't be able to make Brooklyn's birthday party tomorrow, she came over to spend the afternoon/evening at my house today. I fed the kids chicken enchiladas (my favorite recipe of Em's) and then we got to work dying our approx. 4 dozen eggs. The kids had a blast, but I don't know if they had as much fun as Em and I did. ( I will do another post with those pics. Hehe!) They all managed to dye their hands, and Amelia managed to dye her shirt blue. I was disappointed by that, but I guess that's what I get for forgetting to make her take it off. It was one I really liked too. I guess it is a play shirt now.

All the kids at the kid table. Clockwise from front: Amelia, Camren, Karissa, Martha, Corlie, Brooklyn, Daniel and Hailey.

Martha and Corlie.

Daniel and Hailey.

Camren dyed his hands a lot more than the eggs.

Brooklyn checking out Daniel dying his egg.

Half of our finished eggs.

Wedding Bells For Rebecca and Chris

Today, one of my bestest friends got married. Rebecca and I have been friends since the second we met, 13 years ago. This is her second marriage and Chris' first. They are absolutely adorable. I told Becca that it worked out that she married someone several years younger than her this time, because she was finally getting someone at the same level of maturity as her. Haha! The wedding was beautiful. I think I have close to 100 pics, but here are some of my favorites. I would have included the one John took of the 2 of us, but I look like crap, so you will have to do without.

Happy bride, all laced in and ready to go.

The fabulous back of the dress.

Exchanging vows.

Everyone all lined up

You may now kiss the bride!

Exchanging rings.

They started out so nicely.

But it didn't last. (Nice red eyebrow Becca)

Licking off the frosting. Mmmm.

Friends In Town

The last few days, I got to have my friend Hailee, her husband Alan and their adorable baby Hunter staying at my house. I actually met Hailee through my brother Justin. They were friends and then we met, and we talk ALL the time now. When she said taht they were coming down from Idaho for a friends birthday party, I was like Hello! Stay at my house! So down they came. It was so fun to have them here for a few days and be able to talk and talk and talk. I don't think any of us really got any sleep since we were up until all hours of the night, but thats what happens when you have a limited time to visit. You can't waste any time. While they were here we went out to lunch at Cafe Rio. Yum! They hadn't been there, so we had to go (and have the salad - duh!). It was sooo good! I was sad when they had to leave, but it was great to see them and finally get to see Hunter in person for the first time. And of course, Amelia was totally taken with their dog Scooter. After they left she kept asking me where he was. It was a lot of fun and I hope they come back soon!

Hailee and Alan.
The adorable Hunter

Brooklyn playing with Hunter.

Snuggling up on the floor.

Amelia and her new found friend (victim) Scooter.