4th of July Weekend

I love fun and busy weekends. And this one did not disappoint! On the 4th we picked up Nate's car from the shop (new alternator). Then we came home and cleaned and got ready for a BBQ. We had our friends the Coberlys and Howells over. There was SO much good food and we ate ourselves silly. We also had fun playing Rock Band and the kids enjoyed playing out in the little pools (Harrison also thought it was funny to pee in the pool -- BOYS!)

Notice my crazy child who doesn't want his picture taken. Here's the close-up. Looks like a guy who would think it's fun to pee in a pool.

Melissa and Jacob rocking out!It was a group effort on the drums. As always, Nate was such a good sport with the kids.
Chris, Jenni and Eliza. Jenni puts us all to shame because she can really sing.

I made my traditional Flag Cake (This is a pre-marriage tradition that will never die! I love holiday food traditions!) I was very happy this year to get the stripes exactly right (13, starting and ending with red, etc.) One of these years I'll be able to do it from memory, but I still have to look at a real flag every year.

Notice the grumpy face again.

Harrison and Ty were having a grand old time yelling their heads off. We encouraged it while we got a few pics and then made them stop.

That night we went over the Town Center to watch the fireworks show that Highlands Ranch puts on. The Godfrey's suggested their favorite spot, so we met them there and decided that will be our favorite spot too! The show was great, except for the "fauxnale" as Chris called it. They did this great finale that had Elizabeth running for cover (Harrison's ears had been covered the whole time), and then they shot off about 10 more random, lame, little fireworks. And then it was over. It was like they realized they had a few more and just shot them off for the heck of it. It was actually pretty funny (we were also a little slap happy by then).

I couldn't get Elizabeth to smile for anything. Here she is decked out in her red, white and blue! Matching stroller and sippy to boot! I had been saving those shoes that I got as hand-me-downs before she was born. That will be the one and only time they get worn (her feet were too chubby to push through the front). Dressing girls is SO fun!
Here's Julie with all the kids. Kids adore her and gravitate toward her because she is the sweetest person ever! She the Secretary in Young Women and is probably going to be Harrison's pre-school teacher next year. I was trying so hard to get good pics of her and all she wanted to do was eat crackers!

Jenni and me! Jenni is the one who is motivating me to get up and work out early in the morning (more info on that below).

The next day he told me the fireworks scared his tummy. He probably got that from Ty who said they scared his eyes. They were making fun of me for wanting to take pics with the fireworks in the background, but I think it turned out pretty cool!

Saturday I worked on my lesson while Nate took the kids to the pool. Then I went and got my first ever pair of running shoes (for those of you who know me well, pick your jaws up off the floor). I know I had made a personal vow that the mile I ran on the BYU track at midnight my freshman year would be the last mile I would ever run, but I have decided to revoke that vow. I am starting very slowly and will keep you posted. I got an AMAZING deal on the shoes, so that was exciting! I will be breaking them in tomorrow morning at 5:40 AM (that's when we go work out - insane, I know).

So this morning was a typical morning on the days I teach Young Womens -- which also happen so be Fast Sundays, so keep *starving* in mind as you proceed to read (I think I have finally learned my lesson to get EVERYTHING ready by Saturday night -- it's just so tempting when you don't have church until 1 PM to save some of it for Sunday morning). Basically I still needed to do the handouts. While I was working on those Harrison jumped off the end table and landed on a metal American flag decoration that sliced his toe open. When I heard him wailing, I knew he was hurt so I went running downstairs to lots of blood, which is pretty scary for a mom. Nate was at church for meetings and I was still in a robe, so I was frantically trying to decide what to do. 911? Running to the neighbors for help? No, I didn't want to scare them in my robe because they would have seen what 4 years of cheerleading, 4 years of aerobics, 2 years of nursing babies, and bad genes can do to a girl. So I decided to call Mina, who lives really close and I'm comfortable enough with to expose to the sagginess issue. But after I got his toe cleaned up a little, I realized I could run upstairs and get dressed. So Mina came and saved the day without having to see the aforementioned devastation. I didn't realize she was going into nursing before she switched the English, so she knew what she was doing and also had a great bedside manner with Harrison. She got him all excited about the peroxide bubbles and he didn't even cry for that part! Thank goodness for good friends!

So, once that drama was over, I resumed working on the handouts, and the printer was out of ink. Nate was later than ever and didn't get home until 11:45, so we had an hour and I still needed to shower and get ready, finish the handouts, feed and dress the kids (he did that part). It gets better. The computer froze and didn't save my work, so I retyped this other hand-out thingy for the lesson, quickly cut them up, got everything together and jumped in the car. When we got to church I opened my manual to give Nate a paper that I needed him to make copies of (we have Young Women first) and a huge gust of wind came a blew those stinkin' handouts all over the parking lot. At this point I'm 7 minutes late and I'm supposed to be in there teaching - so forget the handouts! (Thank goodness it was a secondary thing - if it had been the main one, I may have lost it right then and there.)

I know I can be a little overly-dramatic, but that was a very stressful morning for me! Somewhere in the midst of all that I really hurt my back, so that just added to the joy. But the lesson went pretty well and I really do LOVE teaching Young Women. I even love preparing the lessons and handouts (I usually get a big kick out of doing the handouts, it's a creative outlet for me). I just need to not leave it for the last minute when a million things can (and usually do) go wrong! Now that I'm done with the lesson and have eaten and taken ibuprofen for my back (which hasn't helped much) I am feeling much better.