4th of July

Up on the mountain.

This is the place to be during the 4th of July in Arizona.

Small town of 6,000 turns into 20,000 overnight. Makes it pretty interesting for all the local folk. All the grocery stores and restaurants have to stock up for us! Bags of ice for the parade so we don't melt away, extra Tacos on Thursdays, etc.

We went up a few days early for the Bosen funeral. Jared loved waking up at 5am to go fishing (he never gets up that early!), and the boys loved camping out with pipa and grandma. Things got even better once their primos arrived. I never really saw them much after that except to remind them to wash up before eating, helping serve food, and then getting them into their pj's.

The boys love the freedom that comes with being up in Eagar. They eat what they want (lots and lots of sugary treats), go to sleep after 10:30pm, and play hard all day long. Great weather too.

Jared and I enjoyed exercising on the jr. high track (as did Wrangler. He ran 8 laps with me daily, keeping right by my side). Isaac was a mess with his new environment and had several time outs, melt downs and screaming fits.

Ice box pie is another family favorite. There is never enough to go around.



Austin is Pipa's little sidekick.


A German brown trout. Good job Jared!

Waking up from his nap. I love his bed head and sleepy smile.
Jared bought us all matching shirts to wear as a family. It was cute to dress up.



Que dice el perro? woof woof woof
Pipa, Jared, Uncle Ronny and Isaac.
4th of July pancake breakfast from the local firefighters. A yearly tradition.

Isaac loves to feed himself. Lucky for me, he doesn't try to do it too often b/c it's a mess!
Driving around town without seat belts, lots of sweat and smiles.
I painted my toes red, white and blue. My adoring boys wanted their nails done too. I have no girls, so you bet I was excited!
A typical meltdown for Izzy. Good thing he laid on top of the basket when he went down.

The candy at the parade is always the best part.


This was the best picture I could get of everyone standing still.
A cold slip 'n slide.
Stuffing marshmellows.

Fireworks at 9pm at the airport. Isaac had a genuine expression of thrill when he saw them light up the sky!
17 people all under one roof; a 2 bedroom "cottage" and a motor home parked outside.
Let the good times roll.



On a side note:

I also went to the midnight premier of Twilight's "New Moon." My girlfriends Trisha Mariner, Darbie Hall, Leslie Boley and Niki Thrower all joined me for a fun girls night out. We loved eating all our treats, cooing over Jacob's abs and listening too all of the shrieks in the theater. It was madness with the lines, saving of seats and 105 degree heat at 11pm.