4th of July Weekend!

We had big plans for the 4th of July...spend some relaxing time in Sky Valley...enjoy their pancake breakfast... watch the sky valley parade... go see some cool fireworks... possibly get together with my best friend from hygiene school, Cara...

And then we got to Sky Valley and it pretty much rained POURED raining 90% of the time! :-( On the upside, it definitely wasnt too hot! Quite to the contrary, it was pretty chilly!

We got a few loaves of bread and spent some time feeding ducks one afternoon. There were lots of ducks! And they seemed to be pretty hungry which was pretty fun!

Our only problem was that the kids kept eating the bread ;-)

So our plans were for a full weekend. But what ended up happening? It rained. And rained. And we watched for ark to come pick us up and trusted Gods promises that he wouldnt flood the earth again. ;-) The parade was cancelled. The fireworks were cancelled. Basically, we just spent time with Gran and Grandad, which was fun, too. But we definitely felt badly that we had gotten the kids pumped up for all our fun activities that DIDNT happen. Oh well ;-)

We DID get a surprise though when we got home... ASHLEY CAME HOME!!! My cousin, Ashley, moved to Ohio last Jan (almost 2 years ago now) and man, we miss her! So we were thrilled!!!

Rhyan had just gotten up from her nap when Ashley got here... and it cracked me up because when she came out she was in her panties. Only.  ;-)

I was excited (even though she wasnt dressed appropriately at all) to get a pic! Then, I asked Mack to take a pic with Ashley and THIS is what we got... man, he's a booger!

Later that evening, we went to the Nash's house for a 4th of July party!  They had bought some fireworks and planned to set them off so it was a great way for the kids to see fireworks since it was a bust in the mountains! The party was also a guise for the REAL reason we came together... to celebrate Connie! (Melissas mom). She is such a sweet lady and it was wonderful to get to be a part of her day!

I had bought some sparklers for the kids to have fun with outside. The most tragic thing happened as a result of our crappy parenting, though. I gave each kid one with instructions on holding their fingers down low and being careful... I was continuing to light them and pass them out and Jeff was sitting in the back of the truck taking pics when we heard a scream.
Mack had poked Taylor with his sparkler. It burned THROUGH her dress and burned a hole in her side.
Oh. my. word.
There arent words for how terrible we felt. I mean, he's 2. What the heck was I thinking? (well, i thought Jeff was watching him, thats what i was thinking. and he thought i was watching him). Major parenting blunder.
Taylor has a scar but handled it well. I dont think i'll ever stop apologizing, though :-(

I took Mack on home (we live down the street from one another) and Jeff stayed with Rhyan so they could wait till it got dark to set off the fireworks. I could easily see them from my backporch and they were beautiful! We had a great time (other than our tragic/shameful ending) and are grateful for our friends!