4th of July Weekend

We had a fun-filled weekend. Unfortunately I forgot to pull out the camera until half of the weekend was over.

Saturday we had a BBQ and had some neighbors and a few families from church over to join in the fun. It was good getting to know our neighbors a little better, and getting to know a new family in the ward. The kids had a blast in the kiddie pool, Jake grilled up a storm on his new grill, and we all enjoyed some tasty food and good times. Rachel was very excited to finally get to eat the popcorn balls she had been eyeing for a day and a half.

Saturday night we tried driving across town to catch some fireworks we had heard began at 9:00. Apparently they ended at 9:00. Rachel was very disappointed when we turned around to head home after she got just a little sampling of how cool fireworks were. So Sunday night we headed down the road to watch the fireworks that were at the fairgrounds close to us and Rachel LOVED them. It was fun watching fireworks in the company of such exuberance. :)

My parents were out of town visiting my new niece, so we've been taking care of their dog, Reese, and Sunday we decided to bring him out to our house since he's such a chicken dog. Not that he chases or herds chickens (it would be kind of cool to see a chicken herd, though), but he is just a big chicken. We came home from the fireworks and he wasn't where we had left him. After looking around we found him in Rachel's dark bedroom hiding from the noise of the fireworks, making himself comfortable:

We had to drag him off the bed. We tried to get him to sleep outside, but we had to drag him out the back door then listen to him scratching to get back in. So we let him stay in the garage for the night. Wimp. :)

Monday, since Jake had the day off, we decided to head up the mountain to have a picnic where it was a little cooler. We didn't go too far up, but the temperature was about 15 degrees cooler than the valley, so it was nice. And being among pine trees is always relaxing. After lunch Rachel got busy being a kid:

Notice her face is nicely decorated with the dirt:

If not for the dirty face this would be a real nice family picture:

Rachel had a blast collecting pinecones.

And sticks.

It was a lovely little getaway up the mountain for a little while. After we came home and took our naps we had a movie night to top off the weekend of fun.
Hope everyone else had a great 4th of July weekend, too. We sure did. Now it's back to real life. And the mess that our fun weekend wrought in our home. :)