Kiss the Cooks: 4th of July!

Whew! I've been trying to organize these photos for a while now, but I'm stopping! So these first few are not in order, but it's no big deal! We have been having fun! And keeping busy for the most part! We have no real plans coming up, but it doesn't seem to matter, we still end up busy! Life is good though! It's full and crazy, and also good! We've been having fun swimming almost every day, hitting up any other indoor activities at the library or McDonalds playplace or any other cheap options that pop up!

I'll start at a random place because the pictures are here! We cut Brenna's hair! I personally am a fan of long hair generally, but her hair had gotten unmanageable with all of our swimming and nothing we were doing was helping really, so we decided on a summer chop! It turned out really cute I think! But we do have to make sure and style it or it can still get pretty crazy!

These pictures are from a girls day we had while the boys were out ATVing... more on that later!

This is apparently the look you get when you say "Brenna, Look!"

Which changes to this when she realizes you want a picture! goober!

The following pics will be, in no particular order, about some of the other stuff we've been up to! Starting with Sadie! She is quite active and fun these days... and busier than ever! She is 11 months old, and starting to take some steps every day! She'll be walking in no time! Her favorite game though is basically crawling all over stuff, cushions are the thing of choice since everything is soft, or me if I lay on the floor. She doesn't love smiling for pictures though!

My american flag! So proud!

Owen is my lego kid for sure. The older kids like them, but it only keeps their attention a little while... Owen, he can sit and play forever. With me or without me! Big duplos, or little legos, it doesn't matter, he loves them, and he is much more able to concentrate on them than Mason!

More recently, a few days ago, Brenna woke up sick. She said she had a hurt neck, so I figured she'd slept wrong and didn't worry. She was complaining of not being able to turn her neck, but then she said she had a bump on her neck too! So I checked it out and she had a big ol' lump on the side of her neck, and a fever too! So we went to the doctor and got some meds, and she slept for basically an entire day! And she didn't feel much better for a couple of days either.. she threw up once, and had a few random naps, and has been (still) very clinging and snuggly, which is nice most of the time! She's feeling better now and the lump is almost gone, so that's good!

Now we are BACKTRACKING a little while and we went to the library for Reptile Rick's show! And it was a great reptile show! He brought lots of neat things to show, and had the kids and parents on the edges of their seats! (some out of interest, and some our of fear!) And he even let all the kids touch a 13 foot python at the end! The kids were talking about it for days!

This isn't related to anything, but it gives me such a satisfaction when my dough rises well! So this was a very satisfying day!

Sadie climbing on me

The kids had swimming lessons for two weeks and it was fun for them, and HOT for me and Sadie! But we survived, and now Owen is starting to swim on his own without floaties! We love being in the pool!

Another fun thing is that Jeremy and I were able to escape for a quick weekend to Vegas to meet up with some family and see my cousin Brad's wedding! It was a quick, busy trip, but so much fun! I don't know if I'd leave a baby again though since it was a little hard on me, but I'm really glad we went!

The Pawn Stars pawn shop!

Us with the museum curator from Pawn Stars!

All done up for the reception!

When we got home we were excited to see the kids! And they loved the outfits from Grandma and Grandpa Smith! Sadie liked hers too, you just can't tell from the pictures.... we have like 25 of the girls and these are the best ones!

Now back to where we started! Girls day was made possible because of boys day! Jeremy took the boys up to Flagstaff with his dad and brother to play around all day in his dad's new toy! They had a lot of fun out there, and we stayed home and grocery shopped, cleaned and relaxed a bit! I'm glad Jeremy snapped some photos too!

Now for the 4th of July weekend! So fun! We aren't usually in town for the 4th since we go to Canada most summers, but this time we were here and anxious to have some fun! Jeremy had friday off of work too, so he took the kids to the movies in the morning (we go every friday for the summer movie program) and then we went out on Lake Pleasant with Jeremy's dad and Justin's family and did some tubing! We had a lot of fun, and the kids were just able to get over the nervousness of it when it was time to stop! Next time they'll be ready! This is Jeremy and Owen and Mason on the tube.. Owen was especially cautious and wasn't a huge fan!

This is me with Brenna, Mason, and Isla

That night we got to hang with Karli and Brock for a bit too. Then it was the 4th! We had a ward breakfast and the kids got to decorate their scooters and be in a parade outside (for like 10 minutes tops since it was like 103 already!) Then we came home and cleaned and cooked like crazy all day to get ready for a BBQ with friends. I had such a fun time and am so glad we could do it! Jeremy even bought some fireworks and gave us a little show in the cul-de-sac! Then we went and saw the big fireworks too! The kids all loved it, and so did I! Besides the heat at all times of the day! But it was fun!