24th of July

For the 23rd of July we went to my Grandma's house for dinner, and then to the parade. The kids didn't last long at the parade so we went to the park for some face painting, rides and of course smoothies! That night we walked up 1800 South for the fireworks at Mueller Park. Too bad we forgot the camera! But, the kids had a ton of fun and I was happy that Bountiful celebrates the 24th on the 23rd so I could go. I had to work a 12 hour shift on the 24th.

The highlight of the park for the kids is the face painting. This year Emily wanted a unicorn.

Savannah, my poor January baby hates the heat! The second she is outside her cheeks get flushed and she starts to glare and give ornery looks! Poor little girl.

Brett pretending he is "flying like Batman" while on the swing ride.

Brett chose to have a Batman mask. He loved it! It was pretty funny the next day when we tried to wash it off, the black paint wouldn't come off his eyebrows! He looked so silly with his light hair and black eyebrows.

Emily and Brett also rode on the ponies, the poor ponies were a little spooked by all the loud noises coming from the parade.
We had a lot of fun, the 24th has always been one of my favorite holidays. I always loved going to the parade and park when I was little. I remember my family getting a bear claw (big scone with cinnamon on it) every year and sharing it. One bear claw to 6 people! I loved it, I am glad my kids can enjoy it too.

Raccoon!

I already posted some pics on facebook, but I wanted to share these pics with some family members who haven't seen them. Last week my friend came to drop off some stuff and saw this guy perched above our mailbox by our front door. Needless to say, it surprised her! He then moved from our front door to right by the garage. That is where he is when I took these pics. He was pretty scared, and so was I (I just kept hoping he wouldn't make a permanent home in out chimney or something). The kids thought he was adorable and wanted to pet him, of course I wouldn't let them attempt that! In the evening he moved over to the window sill and fell asleep. By the time Mike and I went to bed he had left and we haven't seen him since! Thank goodness! Now, we just need to get some good covers for our chimney in case any of his little friends come by :) Mike was reminding me that in the 9 years we have lived in our Bountiful home we have seen 10 raccoons on our property! Crazy!

We go camping every year with my family to Smith and Morehouse and have a wonderful time. This year Emily and I got really sick with a stomach bug and weren't able to go up the whole time, luckily we were well enough to make it up on Sunday for the day. I just had to post this picture! There was a log over the river and Mike wanted all the kids on it so I could take a picture of them, this is what happened. Emily was so scared she started to bawl, Mike of course couldn't stop laughing and they all ended up getting a little wet. The end result, no picture!

Savannah LOVED throwing rocks into the stream, she would laugh every time one would splash into the water.

Em and Brett with their favorite rocks. I wonder how many more years they will pose while hugging, so cute!

Papa helping Brett throw rocks off the bridge, the bigger the better! Brett was so impressed with the huge splashes!

We had a great day, I just wish we could have been with them for the whole time, maybe next year!

4th of July

Well, for some reason blogger is being difficult. It won't let me rearrange my pics! Anyone else having troubles with this? So, that is the reason the pictures are so out of order! We were able to go to my parents and Mike's on the 4th. We had a lot of fun spending time with family. Above are some of the Neeley side cousins. Ashley, Conner and Tanner with Emily and Brett. The loved being in the back of Grandpa's truck!

Mikes parents, Kay and Ken.

Savannah was kind of freaked out by the sparklers. She just tried to mold her body against mine and sit really still. She did that for the whole firework show.

Em with her glow in the dark sunglasses, I have about a million pics of this on my camera because she wanted me to take a ton of her posing...........always the diva!
This is what Savannah did the whole evening, she would pick up pinecones off the lawn in the little bowl then walk to the garbage can and wait for me to lift her up to it so she could throw them away! Too cute!
The "Snaps" were a big success, everyone got into it. Another big hit was the homemade ice cream Mike made. Cinnamon Chocolate Spray, Malted Milk, Swiss Milk Chocolate and Root Beer. Yummy!!!

Earlier in the day we went to my parents house. Here we are doing the annual fishing game. The kids each got an airplane, we also made foam sunglasses and necklaces.

Savannah mad that she got a little wet, she was fine as long as no water got on the swimsuit!


The kids had a blast spraying water at eachother with the squirt guns from Grandma and Papa! It was an awesome day, I just can't believe we are already this far into summer!