4th of July--a little late

I'm finally getting around to doing my 4th of July post. Actually, my sisters-in-law beat me to it, so a lot of the pictures I have are repeats--and I probably should do what they do, and combine a lot of pictures into one (so that my posts wouldn't take such a long time). But I think I do have some pictures that are different, and besides, this is my blog, so I can repeat other blogs if I want, right? Just so you know, I took about 700 pictures on the 4th of July, so you can't complain too much about all the pictures I have here. At least I didn't put them all on! :)

The day started really early with a visit to the balloon fest. I've wanted to go in year's past, but I could never get myself to get up early enough. It was really early, but so worth it. We met Seth and Karla and Dave and Melissa and the kids there, and I loved watching the balloons get blown up, and be in the midsts of all of them, and then see them all launch into the sky. And I loved getting to watch the kids and how much they loved it. Here are some pictures:

I didn't get much done the rest of the day--trying to recover from getting up so early! But the evening was so fun. I love our tradition of having a barbeque at Mom and Dad's house with water toys. Everyone came this time except Steve and Chelle. Hopefully we can get them there next year! This time, the barbeque started out with a water fight between Grandpa and the kids. It was so fun to watch! Here are some pictures:

This last picture is the victors showing off their water guns. So cute!

After the barbeque, it was time for the 2nd annual "Southern Family Not So Special Olympics." Dan and Ems started this tradition last year, and it was so fun, we decided to do it again. Each family is a team, and the rules are that every family has to involve each member of their family in something, and then Jan and I are alternates to help out. (Hopefully one of these days I'll have my own family to participate...) It was so fun. Here are pictures and descriptions:

It started out with the three legged race. So cute to see everyone tied together!

Then the sack races--we used garbage sacks.

Then the hotly contested wheelbarrow race. We have some competition in our family...

Then the balloon toss.
It ended up between the last four--Dan and Ems, Dave and Mel, Jon and Holly, and Mike and Janelle. It was fun to watch them get farther and farther away. Finally it was Dan and Em and Mike and Janelle, and Dan was tossing his balloon while he waited, and dropped it. Mike and Janelle had to make one final toss, and they made it, so they were the winners!

Then the pie eating contest--each team of two had to eat 1/4 a pie. Everyone was pretty sick afterwards! Jan and Emilee won this one.

And finally, my favorite--the obstacle course. It started out with going under the hoops...

Then up and down the play set....

Then up and down the inflatable slide (love this slide--it's so fun!)

Then bowling--you had to get all the pins down to not get a penalty....

Then around the cones and through the tires (not shown), and then around the swimming pools...

And either over or under the...hmm, what's it called...limbo stick?

Then I didn't get a picture, but after this you had to tag Dad, who was timing it.


And here are the final results. It looks like it was a tie between Mike's family and Emilee's family!

And finally, we had our family fireworks. We've been doing this for years, and I always love it. Dad used to do the lighting, with help from the boys. Now the boys have taken on the responsibility, and do at least three at a time. I'll end this post with these pictures! Happy 4th of July! We had a great day!

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!

Happy Birthday, Lizzie Beth!!

Well, it's that time again. I really should try to post about day to day things once in awhile. One of my work friends said recently, "Your blog is getting to be just a tribute to your nieces and nephews." She's right--but I am just so busy that I hardly ever have time to post any more. Obviously, that is why I am doing this at 12:30 in the morning--because I never miss a birthday without a post on their actual day. So I had to get one done for Lizzie on her 5th birthday, and I will be crazy busy tomorrow, and won't have time to even think about getting it done. Come to think of it, since it's 12:30, today is her birthday. So, happy birthday, Lizzie! This post is dedicated to you.

I got to be at the hospital when Lizzie was born, but, unfortunately, like her two other sisters, she had to go to NICU after she was born. Thankfully she wasn’t there for that long, but I hated having to see her hooked up. I love this picture, though, of her profile. She was such a doll already.

Here is a picture of Jan and I standing by her isolette (is that what it’s called?) in NICU. We couldn't hold her, but at least I could touch her head.

I love this picture. It is when she was a month old, with Cousin Brianna, who was born three months earlier. We had four babies born in 2004, and it was so fun!

This one is in August 2004, with Grandma holding our three newest babies. By this time, Cousin Truman had just been born, so we had three babies within four months. It was so fun!

Okay, I just had to put this one in. One night Janelle and I were sitting talking at our table. Lizzie looked so tired, and I said, "I bet she's going to fall asleep." So I took a picture, and kept my camera at the ready. . .

Sure enough, she started falling asleep--but I love how she is valiantly trying to stay awake here.

Looks like she finally lost the battle. Isn't she cute!

Here she is in December, again with Cousins Bri and Tru. This was right before Annika, our fourth 2004 baby, was born.

I love this one of her, with Mom in February 2005. She has such beautiful blue eyes!

Okay, I couldn't pass this one up. I love the corn all over her face. I think we were at Chuck a rama. What a cutie!

Here she is on June 19, 2006, on her second birthday, with big sister Kate.

Lizzie has more personality than almost anyone I know. Here she is showing some of that personality in November 2005. I love how the hat totally doesn't match with the dress, but she pulls it off beautifully!

Here's another picture showing her cute personality. Love the bandana. At least it matches this time!

Here she is at Cousin Emma's birthday party in 2006. Isn't she so cute! I love her smile and scrunched up nose in this one.

This one takes the cake. This was at our family pictures last fall. The photographer just couldn't get over how cute Lizzie was. She kept doing all kinds of poses for her. This was my favorite. She knows she's darling!

And finally (since it's almost 1:00 in the morning), here is a picture of Lizzie with me and her two sisters at my Grandma's funeral in March. We didn't plan to match, but it sure turned out cute!

I'm so grateful for my Lizzie Beth, and how sweet she is. I get to see her tomorrow on her birthday--we are going to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House together. It will be so fun!

Now, I'm going to bed!