4th of July fun

Wow, last week was fun!  To start off, Lindsey came back to us on Monday.  She got to spend the weekend in Montana with her Aunt Katrina.  It was just the two of them.  They had a blast.  They went to the Farmer's Market and the People's Market.  Lindsey decided that she now needs a pair of fairy wings like the ones she saw at the People's Market.  They also went and saw the movie Brave.  I was a little worried that she would be having so much fun she wouldn't want to come home, but then she would have missed our 4th of July trip, and that is her favorite.

Michael left us on Monday to travel down to Utah with Grandma and Grandpa Newey.  He had a great time with them and also Aunt Nicki and Aunt Melissa.  We left on Tuesday to head to Huntsville, Utah where the rest of the family was meeting up.  On our way down, we needed to stop in Burley.  I decided that I really needed something to eat and we needed gas and a potty break.  As we went to get out, I told Rachel to put her shoes on.  That is when she told us that she didn't bring any shoes.  She was so good about getting herself into the van and buckled that we didn't even think to check to see if she brought shoes.  Needless to say, she got a new pair of pink crocs, and we ended up getting Taylor a new pair of flip flops because the ones she brought were falling apart.

Once we got down to Huntsville we had some dinner and Robert set up the tent.  We borrowed a large tent from my parents (our poles broke last year and the replacements didn't work).  I think we could have gotten away with a much smaller tent, though.  I ended up sleeping in a bed in the house so I could be closer to a bathroom.  Rachel decided to sleep with Grandma and Grandpa.  Taylor and Lindsey slept in "the girl's tent" with two of their cousins.  That left Robert and Michael.  Joseph asked if he could sleep with Michael and since there was plenty of room, Robert let him.  3 guys in that huge tent. 

Wednesday started bright and early.  There is a firetruck that goes through town at 6 in the morning with it's sirens on to wake everyone up.  They also have a race first thing in the morning.  DeeAnna ran the 5K and Farris the 10K.  I had plans to run this year, but being pregnant and sick, I opted to take the year off.  Then, we went to breakfast at the park.  My kids love having breakfast at the park.  We had quite the group.  We ended up taking up 1 1/2 tables for our group.  While we were at breakfast, finishing touches were being made to the float.  Robert's Uncle Ross had restored a tractor and wanted to put it in the parade.  He attached a trailer to the back for all of the family to ride on.  Grandpa Newey drove the tractor and the kids got to throw out candy.  Even though we told them to throw it slowly, they still ran out 2/3 of the way through the parade.

This was the first time in a long time that we were able to stay to see the fireworks.  After the parade we went back to the house for lunch and naps, I needed one.  In the early evening a group of us went to a melodrama.  It was really corny, but fun.  Poor Michael didn't take a nap earlier and as soon as he sat and wasn't moving, he fell asleep.  He missed most of the play.  We came back to a delicious dutch oven dinner prepared by Grandma and Grandpa.  They took a couple of dutch oven classes earlier this spring and we got to benefit from their knowledge, it was yummy! 

Once it got dark we watched the fireworks.  They put on a pretty good show.  I know I enjoyed them, and so did the kids.  We didn't light any of our own.  There have been so many fires and just to be on the safe side nobody lit any when we were there.  However, I think we may have found something even more fun, glow bracelets!  The kids got all decked out with bracelets, necklaces, anklets, and they even fashioned some glasses.  Someone brought out a radio and the kids put on a show for us.  The adults loved watching the kids dance around and the kids had fun dancing and glowing.  It was so much better than sparklers because even the littlest kids could participate without worry about burnt fingers and they lasted much longer.  After the dancing was done, someone started a glow war.  Next thing you know, things are flying through the air.  That is about the time the littler kids went to bed and the older kids had their fun.  I went to bed, too.

In the morning we took our time, loaded up, and headed home.  It was sad to leave family, but nice to be going back to my own bed.  Everything was good when we got home.  The dogs were happy to see us, the chickens were still clucking away, and the lambs had eaten a lot of grass.

Early Friday morning we headed off again.  This time to Eastern Idaho to an Anniversary party for my aunt and uncle.  It was a lot of fun, and the kids got to play with more cousins, this time on my side of the family.  Since we won't be able to make it to the family reunion in California later this month it was nice to see some of the family.  They had a guessing game where you had to guess the number of candy in different jars.  Taylor won a jar of taffy.  She has been very sweet to share with us.  After lots of food and visiting, we headed home again.

Saturday found Robert and the kids going to a neighbors house to help vaccinate their lambs.  In the evening, the neighbors came over to vaccinate our lambs and give me a short lesson on drop spinning.  I was left with a drop spindle and some wool to practice with.  I'm starting to get the hang of it, I think.  Now I need to work on getting the yarn to be a uniform thickness.  With all of the excitement of last week, I am looking forward to some slower days to recover and hopefully soon I will be feeling more human again.