The Fourth, Friends, Food, and Fun

Sadly, we had no plans for the 4th of July weekend as of two days before the holiday. My sibs were headed down to my parents house in Vegas, others had bought tickets for the "Stadium of Fire" (to see Miley Cyrus, The Blue Man Group, and Glen Beck, and the fireworks display), and other friends had to work. So, we finally accepted the fact that we were total losers and would just have to stay home and organize or clean the house or something.

But, alas, we had some fellow neighbors and friends that came to the rescue. In fact, so many opportunities to play came up, that we had to literally run from one activity to the next. Firstly, we went to a neighbors house up the street for games, crafts, water fun, and lunch (hot dogs & lemonade). I had a fun time helping the girls decorate their t-shirts, stringing necklaces, making star wands, dodging water balloons, snapping photos of the the kids doing gunny sack races and sponge relays, and visiting with the other madres & padres. Meanwhile, our daddy was sacked out on the hammock catching a few zzzzz's. (In his defense, his back has really been giving him fits.)

As soon as we left, we raced home, took potty breaks, grabbed swimsuits for Darin and I, and went to meet some friends at Utah Lake for a little boating and floating. Oakley literally did the floating part. She had a life jacket on (thankfully) while wading off the shore. She was watching flocks of gulls flying past her up above. Occasionally, she'd stumble backward as she'd crank her neck eying the sky. I had looked away for a second, only to hear her screams of terror. She was floating on her back, scared to death...I had to get to her fast. I ran, kicking flip-flops off in the process, and picked her up to calm her fears. I knew the life jacket would do it's job and that she wasn't going anywhere. But, I moved fast because she was so scared. As I lifted her up and hugged her, she said, "I fell backward." I laughed only inside ('cuz it was a little funny). She has reminded me several times since then that she fell backward.

While this whole drama was unfolding, Darin was out on the boat with B & Mak. This was their first time being out in a speed boat. We weren't sure how they'd handle it. But when the opportunity arose, they both jumped into the lake, swam a little, and rode on a tube being pulled by the boat. Dakota and Oakley got a turn to ride in the boat a little later and loved it. Dakota even got to "drive" it some.

After we left the lake, we ran home to freshen up and prepare dinner...kabobs, corn on the cob, watermelon, etc. The Jensen family came over to share dinner with us. We ate at 11:30 p.m. We could've called it a night, but how do you not let the kids run around with sparklers on the 4th? So, off to the front yard we went. Oakley loved her sparklers. She'd wave her wand around writing the letters of her name. It didn't take her long to learn the "sparkler terms of use". When her sparkler went out, she'd carefully walk over to the bucket of water and drop it in. The bigger kids found other uses for their sparklers...burning ants on the sidewalk. They all took their turns running really fast in an attempt to make streaks in the air with their sparklers. We had to keep telling them to be quiet. We finally went to bed around 2 a.m.

The next day, was just as busy. I got up and prepared food for our next feast (mango salsa, yum!). We'd been invited to dinner up at a cabin in Heber with some other friends. It was absolutely gorgeous up there. The view from their back porch was awesome. We had so much fun visiting in the cool mountain air, while the girls all played together, creating "houses" and "snack shacks" amongst the foliage.

On Sunday, we were supposed to go over to another ward member's/friend's house for sweet rolls and socializing, but we had to postpone that event. They had b-day celebrations they forgot about, and by this time, Darin's back was really hurting. I'm surprised he did as much as he did this last weekend. But, needless to say, we don't feel like losers anymore. We had fun with friends on the fourth!