July 4th

we kind of celebrated the 4th of july out of order this year. on saturday nite, we had all of our employees over for delicious homemade treats (made by kathy and emily) and a HUGE fireworks show up at the fire pit. we had strawberry pie and ice cream, tons of fireworks, a small fire, most of the family, and a zillion kids and piro's running around everywhere. we stayed seated and watched the madness. it was great! emerson even called 911 on us the next day. that wasn't so great. no more playing with the landline phone!

early monday morning, i ran in the melba fun run while the kids and ben cheered me on. it was a nice, little race. ben said i was the 8th girl to come in, so better than dead last. i wanted to stay for the parade there but ben had to get going so we came home and i loaded up the kids for the caldwell parade. it was a bust. there were only about 10 entries and then the tire of the stroller came off the rim on the way back to the car, emerson started screaming and we still had to stop at albertson's. she drank 1/2 of a large bottled water and promptly fell asleep. i picked up some crab to grill and we headed home. she-ra demolished a huge cauliflower plant while we were gone. may the snow crown r-i-p. we played on the trampoline and in the sprinkler, then had dinner when ben got done for the day. we grilled crab legs and i made homemade ice cream w/ cones. we watched 'tangled' outside in our lawn chairs, enjoyed the sunset, let emerson run wild and get all dirty while she was covered in ice cream and bug spray...then bathed and went to bed. the kids loved it!

while in caldwell, the kids and i stopped and looked at the display of flags set up in the park. each one had a picture by it of a post-2001 veteran that had given their life from idaho. even though i think this conflict has been in vain and our leaders not the brightest, it still makes me stop and think about the freedoms i enjoy each day and how thankful i am to live in this country, the united states of america!