4th of July Fun!!

Our 4th was great. We were up in Idaho! We went up there on Thursday. Traffic was a nightmare, but we finally made it. We spent that evening looking for my parents yorkie, Izzy. She ran away because of the loud fireworks. We looked for 2 hours, almost to give up, when my dad went and walked their running trail behind our house. She was about 1.5 miles away. We were very relieved when we found her. Everyone was out looking. Mike even got on a bike, now that never happens. That is how serious it was!!! That was the beginning to a great weekend.


This is Sage and Caden helping Nana make snickerdoodles.

This is Independence Day. Sage and Morgan were waiting for all of us to get ready to go the parade. Sage gets very annoyed when I pull out the camera. She really gets tired of me constantly taking her pictures. :)

This was the grand Rexburg parade. Great Gramps was up at 5:30 am to save seats for all of us. What a great guy. Thanks Grandpa. We love you and appreciate you. The parade was OK. What can you expect from Rexburg? Although the candy throwing was amazing. Almost better than Halloween. They threw so much candy. The kids loved it. We were waving at the horses in this picture.

Caden and Sage watching the parade. They were pretty intrigued. It really kept Sage's interest. Although, onceagain, when the camera came out, notice the sweet face she pulls.

This is Great Grandma and Grandpa (my grandparents). Again, thanks for saving seats. They spent the day with us. They came over for the BBQ after the parade. It was fun. Glad we could see them over the weekend.

This was the BBQ. It was your classic 4th of July BBQ. We had steak, potatoes, corn on the cob, all kinds of salads, etc. It was very good. Thanks mom and dad for all your hard work. We loved it.

Now this picture is classic. It is Mike, my Dad, and Jeff. Notice they are hiding behind random objects. What you don't see is Cam on the other end with a golf club, and a plastic ball. They would take turns hitting this ball with the club as hard as they could trying to hit someone. It hit a couple of them, leaving welts or burns (like a carpet burn) on their skin. They came up with this game all on their own. I believe they called it something like "golf dodgeball." I would totally expect this from Cam and Mike, but Dad and Jeff really??? It was actually hillarious to watch. That ball would fly fast.

Sage and I getting ready for some fireworks. Now I am not talking little fountains and sparklers. I mean the real thing. There is an indian reservation by Pocatello on our way home. Well Cam and Jeff went crazy on fireworks. We had some awesome ones. Did I mention the ones on the reserevation they are all illegal. Yes, they were great. Big, huge ones that were really loud and exploded in the sky. Stadium of Fire had nothing on us!! Sage loved the fireworks. They didn't even scare her. She would clap for more.

Sage is holding a little firework that you buy from the little stands. This one is a little "friendship pagoda." It spins circles and then it bursts into this little chinese house. The story behind it is, when I was young, probally 9 or 10, we were at my Grandma and Grandpa's house for the 4th, and they lit one identical to this. Now, my Grandma threw nothing away, I mean nothing!! So she kept it in the "grandkids" room for years. I think it finally got thrown away after she passed away. Well we found this, and lit it in memory of her. It was great.

This is the final product. I know it looks like nothing, but it has a little sentimental value to me.

And this is a very tired girl, after a very long and busy day.

It was a great weekend. Thanks mom and dad for letting us come home, the food, the entertainment, etc. It was wonderful. We loved it. A classic 4th- parade, BBQ, backyard games, and fireworks. You don't get much more American than that!!!