Fourth of July

We got to celebrate the Fourth of July with our cousins, the Sanders!

We brought our new pool to Grandma’s house so the kids could splash and cool off. Here are the three cousins born within 11 months of each other.  They are very different now, but I'm sure they'll be running around together creating trouble within a few years.

 Emmy and Abby finally got to have a good fight with the water guns Abby got them for Emmy’s birthday in April. :)

We visited the Colonial Fest in Orem and really enjoyed it.  They had all sorts of booths set up with colonial period clothing, dishes, weapons, etc.

 We locked Henry and Spencer in the stocks.  (And Emmy, too, but she wouldn't let me get a picture!)

 Sweet Aaron found a stick and entertained himself.  He amazes me how happy he was because it was way past nap time.

 Emmy LOVED the colonial school.  She sat up straight and tall and completed her work correctly on her slate. 

 We had a BBQ at my parents' house that evening, and Julie was having fun with her boys. 

 Her kids are perfect stair steps right now.   I love it!

 And we can't have a family party without piling on Uncle Garratt!  He has four kids on him in this picture but I've seen him do more!

 Garratt's birthday is the 3rd, so we had a birthday party for him, too.  Emmy sewed this little teddy bear and wrote "I luv you Garratt" on the heart.  She sure loves him!

 

 Garratt and Wes took the older grandkids to buy fireworks in the afternoon, and they came home with quite the show for us!  After dinner we did smoke bombs, tanks, ground blooms, a few little fountains, and sparklers (all my kids are used to seeing)

After it got dark, we put the babies to bed and lined up on our lawn chairs for the "big show."  Now that the aerial fireworks are legal, my brothers had to get some.  We watched not only theirs but those of all my parents' neighbors.  It was one after another for at least an hour!  It was super late when we headed home but we had a great time!

Emmy got to spend the night with her cousins, and Uncle Garratt agreed to sleep out in her new tent.  Everything went great until it started raining cats and dogs around 2.  The kids were sound asleep so Garratt had to guide them inside, find beds for all of them, and then run out and rescue their sleeping bags and pillows.  The tent had puddles inside when we cleaned it out the next day!  What an adventure!