4th of July Weekend

(just a warning, this is a very long post with lots of pics.)

SATURDAY, JULY 3RD:

The morning started off great with a mother/daughter tea party! :) It was for Heather and Kirstin's birthdays and it was such a cute idea. Lisa (Bowerman) throws the cutest parties. Everyone was dressed up, there was so much darling and delicious food, and doll houses, etc for all the girls to play with.

I love this picture of Lisa in there playing with all the girls. She is such a great lady, and she just loves kids so much. I can only imagine what a great mom and grandma she is!

The birthday girls. Heather on the left, Kirstin on the right.

All the daughters that were there. Yeah...Brynlee doesn't have any dress-up clothes yet.

Here's everyone that was there!

After the tea party we headed home and gave the kids (and myself) a nap. That evening we headed down to St. Louis for their fireworks show and free concert. We didn't plan very well and ended up getting way over-priced fair food for dinner, but oh well. We ended up running into Rochelle Pearson and her family (thank goodness!) and so we sat with them. Then Terra Reed and her family came too (and Bishop Coleman) so we all had a great time together. It turned out to be a lot more fun than it would have been. It's always fun to be with friends.

Rochelle, me, and Terra under the arch. I love these women.

Jacob Reed, Tyler, and Elijah Pearson are such good buddies.

Thanks to Rochelle for bringing the glow sticks! What a hit that was with the kids!

It was fun to watch the fireworks under the arch! That place was packed! Also, we were a little disappointed because we've heard of all the great bands/singers that have come for the 4th in the past. But this year we had a guy named John Legend, and none of us had ever heard of him, and we weren't really into the music. Except for a few songs where Tyler was showing off all his cool dance moves, but what else is new :).

SUNDAY, THE 4TH!! I personally thought it was pretty neat to have it on a Sunday this year, I don't know why. Church was great, really good testimonies and lessons. I squoze into my favorite dress for probably the last time until after this pregnancy. That evening we did a little family devotional and talked about what Independence Day means, and Kenny did a cute acting out scenario with Tyler being America, and he was England. haha. Tyler really enjoyed the fighting and wars part. At 6:00 we went over to the Ryan's house. Lorren Ryan is the RS Pres, and we just love their family. Their were a lot of people there for a delicious BBQ and game of wiffle ball (even during the rain!); the Kraudes, the Reeds, the Fousts, and of course the Elders. We had a wonderful time! On the way home the Holiday Shores fireworks started and we pulled over for a while and watched those too, until Tyler exclaimed how badly he needed to pee. We heard the rest while reading bedtime stories. It was a great day.

MONDAY JULY 5TH: Kenny had work off!! It was great having him home. We got a lot of things done that I can't do by myself, and mostly just enjoyed being together as a family.