4th of July Weekend

It's been so long since I've blogged that I've almost forgotten how! We have been a busy family of 6 since school has been out and, aside from the occasional sibling altercations, I'm enjoying every minute with the kiddos. School starts back up in only 4 weeks and I can say not only that I think we will survive, but also that it will be a little sad to have the house so quiet again.

We had a wonderful 4th of July weekend complete with the 3 F's-Family, Food and Fireworks. We started the morning with a wonderful breakfast and patriotic performances at church, then a brief walk around a desert arboretum-type place that is near our home. We veged out for most of the afternoon, then despite the ominous clouds overhead, picked up chicken and headed to local park for fireworks. The pic above is pretty sad but what we were trying to capture was the simultaneous lightning show that we experienced with our fireworks. It was as if Mother Nature was competing with the fireworks and based on the onlookers responses, she was winning!


On Saturday, we headed up to the mountains for some relief from the heat and a hike.
Here are some pics:

Noah (aka Nature Boy) discovers a ribbon of Quartz.

Typical Xander pose.


Audrey's turn for dog duty. Since this photo was snapped after he had already played in the creek, you can probably only tell from looking at his head but we ran out of dog shampoo and used Pantene instead for Jackson's last bath and it was amazing! His fur was so soft and shiny that he looked blue in the sunshine. I think we may use it from now on!

We are very blessed to have surroundings like this

about 30 minutes from our home in the scorching desert.

The whole crew on lunch break.

I didn't get any great pics of Taylor on the hike so I took the camera back out once we got back to the car only to find that he was 'watering a bush.' I threatened to take the picture anyway but only got him fleeing the scene.

I hope that you and yours had a wonderful holiday weekend! We certainly feel blessed to enjoy the freedoms that we do in this nation and are grateful to those who serve at home and abroad to ensure those freedoms for us!!!