4th of July and Jeff's Birthday!

Happy Fourth! We had a super fun day. We have a few little traditions for the Fourth, one of them is sleeping outside in the backyard in tent the night of the 3rd. We didn't do that this year because we had just cleaned up from camping the weekend before for Jeff's birthday but we did keep the tradition of going to our small town's Parade, infact, we were in the Parade! We were with the BCCH float. The kids decorated their bikes and rode behind the truck handing out Otter Pops(which is why Tate had to wear his batting gloves, to keep his hands warm:) BCCH bought 2 thousand Otter Pops and we ran out about a block before the finish line! I guess our Little Town has more festive people than I thought! Tate and Ellie got their faces painted, we watched A LOT of softball the whole week, had a BBQ at Mom's, went to the fireworks, and fired off a few fireworks that Aunt Jamie bought afterwards. One other tradition we have over the Fourth is making homemade ROOTBEER! I love it, it' s so good! I am so thankful for a day to remember our INDEPENDENCE and FREEDOM and the people who have helped and are helping to make it possible. Thank You to those who have served! WE love AMERICA!

Jeff's birthday present was camping the weekend before and this new Basketball Hoop! Tate has been soooo excited to share Dad's birthday present with him. It's so nice to get some cement and get rid of about 100,000 stickerweeds on the side of our house!

A little Guitar Hero can always help get you in the Patriotic mood, right?

Jeff's Birthday! Happy Birthday sweetie! We love you. We like going camping or doing something fun over Jeff's special day (another Tradition). We stayed near Bear Lake, in a TENT for three nights! It was such a great time. We LOVED being away from everything, all the stress that comes and goes everyday was gone (too bad it came back just as quickly). I loved having the time with my little family. It's so awesome to have the time to spend constantly with my kids and sweetheart.

Building sand castles at Bear lake.

Somebody say SMORES EVERYNIGHT?!! Oh, that's heavenly. Notice that Ellie just prefers a Whole Hershey's bar over a S'more? That girl is crazy for chocolate. Tate is a super marshmallow roaster... love that kiddo.

Tate working on Jeff's birthday gift! He made him a stick lastyear too but this year he came home without any bloodshed! We even had Ellie working on a stick with a knife... I couldn't really watch.

I think these kids loved the camping trip too!