our independence day celebrations

Friday nights are something the whole family looks forward to.  The kids call it, "Family Fun Night."  The night before the fourth we roasted marshmallows, made s'mores, and slept in a tent in the backyard.  Let me just say that camping in the backyard is WAY better than real camping.  

Karl and the kids working on the marshmallows.

 

Samuel sleeping "in" his sleeping bag in the tent.

Notice the different pajamas?  Okay, okay, maybe we slept in the tent for three nights.  The square patch of grass is finally recovering from the three nights of camping.

 

The next morning we went to the Murray parade.  Has been tradition for 15 years.  

The highlight of the parade happens to be the candy.  The kids get so much.  It is like trick or treating but they don't have to go anywhere.  The candy comes to them.

 

Look at this.  They got SO much!  

After showing it off, the girls sat down to organize theirs and Samuel started eating his.

 

Eva being Eva, sorting.  Samuel being Samuel, grabbing onto Karl's legs.  

  

After the parade, we all cooled off.  Them at home in the backyard.  Me at the fabric store's 4th of July sale.  Nice.

They put the slip and slide at the bottom of the real slide.  It worked.  Especially for Karl.  

And a little gutter cleaning.

  

Backyard bbq means roasted corn.  Always.

Eva is getting so good with her chopsticks.  

Karl was so proud of his s'mores idea.  Reese's peanut butter cup.  Turns out everyone liked the original better.  But it was fun to try.

And what is a blog post without announcing the loss of another tooth?   I got this one documented.   We took our little stash of fireworks across the street and lit them with three other families.  Was so fun.   And maybe all they had in the cooler was beer and Mt. Dew.  And maybe I had to explain to my  thirsty 6 year old that she was going to have to wait until we got home to get a drink. Did I mention the pit bulls had babies?    Fourth of July, recorded.

memorial day weekend

When I envisioned myself as a mom, I didn't include enough images of myself trying to convince my kids to do things.  You know, finish your dinner, wash your hands, put clothes on before you go outside, look at the camera, make your bed, stop hitting... you get the picture.  I know for sure I didn't envision enough my kids simply not complying.  At all.

So, before we headed up to Heber, I went downstairs and found a Thomas costume that I bought at an after Halloween clearance sale (uh, because you never know when you will need one?  I thought Samuel would be more into dress-up than he is, I guess).  This was my chance to use it.  

I had to think this one through.  If I just suggested it, I knew that Samuel would absolutely would not wear it.  He would hate it.  I share this because I am so proud that my plan actually worked.  I walked the up the stairs and said, "Hey, Sam!  Look at my new costume.  Cool, huh?"  Before I knew it he was begging me to wear it.  He was even trying to reason with me, "Mom, that is for kids.  See the picture on the front (of the tag), it is a kid."  "Nope," I answered, it's mine."  But, finally, I told him that if he was good, I would let him wear my costume.  

It worked.  It totally worked.  He was good AND he wore the costume.  

Just so I could have a picture like this and this: 

 

My clever plan worked (Bwa ha ha ha ha!)  it was so worth it.  

So, before we headed out to the train, we all ate at Dairy Keen.  That place is all decked out in train stuff (just like my son.  Yes!) and I guess it adds to the whole train experience. 

  

Part of the crew enjoying their food.  Karl sharing his "Train Burger" with Samuel.  They had this display where, for a quarter, you could see the train go back and forth.  Thanks to Grandma and her quarters, Samuel kept pretty busy with that while we ate.

  

There was so much going on at the train.  The kids fed some animals and got tattoos before we boarded Thomas.  

 

  

Here is Karl teaching Samuel the important things in life.  Eva loves her cousin Sarah.

  

 

They had a hay bale maze set up.  Leave it up to Samuel to just get up on the hay bales and walk.

  

They had a discovery zone where they thought of kids like Samuel (train sets to play with) and Eva (coloring and stamps).  

  

It is written in the Big Book of Overindulging Your Child that you in order for it to be a true overindulgence, you have to have cotton candy and balloons.  Preferably balloon animals made to order.  Who are we to go against that?  The guy handed Samuel his sword and he showed his thanks by saying, "What kind of sword is this?"  It wasn't long before Samuel learned that balloon swords don't work on fences.  Oh, and just because we were supposed to, we topped off the afternoon by stopping by Dairy Keen on the way out and got shakes and dipped cones.  (Just a little Samuel trivia:  Though he loves to order them, Samuel does not really like soft serve ice cream cones.  He takes few bites/licks, and then we end up finishing it.  Always.)

  

Thanks, Anne for planning this.  Thanks, Grandma and Grandpa for making it possible.  We had a blast.  

Two days later...

 

We spent the day in Logan for family barbecue and swimming.  My kids absolutely love going to there.  

 

I love these pictures because it shows just how much Grandma adores her grandkids.  The feeling is mutual.

 

I went down this slide for that first time.  This is not ordinary slide.  This thing THROWS you.  

 

I have heard enough stories about Karl's grandpa to know that he was a great man and a big part of Karl's life.  We went up to see his grave.  We also showed Samuel his namesake.   

So, the last time we went up to Karl's grandma's house, he got her started on Facebook.  This time he set her up with wireless internet.  This woman is amazing.