Fun weekend--LOTS of pictures!

I had a really fun weekend this weekend, so thought it was time to do another blog post. But warning--there are lots of pictures in this one! I guess since I get teased all the time about taking so many pictures, I'd better live up to my reputation. So, here goes.

For the last two years Emilee has been on the "float committee" for their ward. When she first got the calling, we thought it was a joke. But I guess all the wards in Lehi make mini floats for the Lehi parade in June. We went with her last year and it was really fun. This year she was the chairperson, so it was a little more pressure for her.

The theme this year was, "If I could I would," and her committee chose, "Live a Bugs Life." They spent weeks and weeks every Saturday (and lots of weekdays at the end), putting together an amazing float. Friday night was the mini float parade, and then Saturday was the grand parade. We knew that on Friday night was when they would be judged. Last year, their float got third place (out of about 20-30 floats). This year she was really hoping to place again. We had so much fun marching on Friday night. Besides the decorated float, they had a bunch of kids from their ward marching, and had them all dressed up as bees or bug catchers. Those on the committee (and Jan and I, as honorary members), dressed up as lady bugs. Here are a few pictures from Friday night (I'll show pictures of the float in a minute):

On Friday after the parade, we went back to Dan and Ems house, and hoped that they would call and let her know she had placed. I was in the house, and suddenly heard screaming outside, and it turned out that they had won Sweepstakes, which is the highest prize. We were so excited! Ems found out later that all three judges had picked her float, both for the detail of the float, and the participation of all the kids. I was so glad for her, after all the work she has gone to for the last few months.

We went and marched again on Saturday, and it was really fun--especially getting to go first among all of the small floats. Here are some pictures:

(I love emma in her cute little lady bug costume!)

And here is the float. It was so cute--she had little insects that had built a house out of a mushroom, using all kinds of "human" things. I'll let her put more detail about it on her blog (I'm already stealing her thunder by posting about it before she has the pictures...hope she doesn't mind).

I love the "bees" pulling the float.

We had quite a few people holding up "10's" It was fun to hear all the comments about how cute the float was.

Emma and her little friend McKensie sat on the float and were so cute and good!

We saw Mom and Dad, Dave and Melissa, and Steve and Chelle who came to watch. After the parade, Dad walked down to visit and I got this cute picture of him holding Matthew.

After the parade we had Camden's 1st birthday party. We alwasy do big celebrations for 1st birthdays in our family. It was such a fun party! Dan and Ems let Ad and Stace use one of the big blow up slides from the rental center, and the kids LOVED it. We had all 19 kids there, so it was great to have something to entertain them. It did get really hot, so my inventive dad and brothers put a huge tarp over it to keep it cool (which is why some of the later pictures have a blue tint to them). I love how they went in groups. It's so fun to have so many little kiddies!

They all gathered around Camden to watch him open presents. Look at all those kids! We just have so many little ones. Camden seemed to like his presents!

Kate lost a tooth during the party, so I had to take a picture of her with her tooth. She's getting so beautiful! Those boys will have to watch out when she gets older!

And, of course, I had to do some pictures of the birthday boy with his cake...

Isn't he a cute little dude? I can't believe he's one year old already. It will be a few more years before we have another one year party, since we don't have any more little ones right now. Hopefully soon there will be an announcement! :)

I just had to end with two pictures from Saturday night. I went back over to Dan and Ems house for a few hours. They were out in the garden with the kids, and this is what Matthew looked like. I love that he was eating dirt, and he looks so cute standing there with his shovel.

Finally, there was a beautiful sunset to end the day. I love sunsets!

It was just a fun weekend. We actually all got together again tonight for Lizzie's birthday celebration, but I haven't had time to download those pictures yet. We'll have another family get together tomorrow night to help with Mom's gardens, and then on Saturday for the 4th of July, so watch for more pictures. Now, I'm going to bed!