Our first 4th of July in Texas and our last first holiday outside of Utah. It was a great day. I did also feel slightly homesick when I would think of traditions or my kids playing with cousins like in the past but it only made me feel even more grateful for our good friends here. Our friend Lisa has become an amazing friend to our family. Her husband Tonga is often away at work where he's gone for two weeks at a time before coming home for a week and then leaving again. The way that his work schedule lined up this month made it so that he was away for the fourth. He was also away for Christmas so we invited Lisa and her kids to come over that evening for awhile. Anyway we love this family. Lisa had invited us to join them for a barbecue and water fun during lunch. The kids had so much fun. Other friends had invited us to join them for the city parade in the morning but we didn't wake up in time for it. You had to be there pretty early. Danny didn't have any interest in going so it would have just been me with the kids but I was the one who ended up sleeping in. That's okay. I think my body really needed it because it felt amazing and the kids didn't mind because they didn't even know about it. I'll try harder to take them next year for sure. Anyway the kids played on our street in the morning with our new to us kid's jeep after I took our traditional 4th of July pictures. I really loved how this year's pictures turned out. I might be a biased mom but these five little kids are so beautiful to me. I'm so lucky to be their mom.
They all quickly got dressed in swim suits once it was time to head over to Lisa's house for lunch. She went all out with everything. It was all so great. The food, the fun, everything. She had two water blowup toys for the kids to go back and forth from as well as a slip and slide and then in addition to that they added the hose to the trampoline. The kids were in heaven.
Rylee, Taylor and Quinnie
Addie, Rylee and Grant
Left - Rylee
Right - Quinn
After several hours with Lisa's family we headed home for some downtime while Danny and I got dinner ready. We had invited the sister missionaries over for dinner at 5pm. Originally Lisa had planned on inviting us over for dinner but a couple weeks ago we had already scheduled to feed the missionaries on the fourth so she turned her dinner invitation into a lunch invitation with us. It all worked out perfectly. While we were getting things ready for the missionaries the twins fell asleep on the couch. They were so exhausted from all their swimming and water play. We had skipped right over their normal nap times. Poor girls. We only let them take a little power nap so that they would still go to bed easily but I did feel a little bad when we did have to wake them up. Look at those little cuties. Dinner turned out great. Danny made ribs which was yummy and we had salad, corn on the cob and and watermelon for sides. Our favorite was dessert. Danny's dessert kolaches are always a hit. It was a good choice.
After the sisters left we went back to Lisa's house for sparklers, poppers and fireworks. Grant was too nervous to even get near a sparkler let alone hold one so he didn't do that part but the other four really liked it. Fireworks are actually illegal in our neighborhood so Lisa just bought a small box for all of us to enjoy. Even though they're illegal most everyone lights them but we didn't go all crazy with that. We figured that the real fireworks would happen later that night when all the other neighbors lit theirs off and they sure did but we're not at that part yet. Danny was put in charge of lighting off the fireworks although I'm sure Hudson wished that it was him. He wanted to be right there on the action of lighting them all up and opening up the next one. Before I'll know it I'm sure he'll take the reins and be the guy in our family in charge of lighting them. Good thing we have years before that though. He had to sit behind the line with all the other kids to his annoyance. He really really liked a specific tank firework and was upset when it was thrown into the water bucket after it had been lit. He was pretty upset by it. That's why he isn't in the last group picture because he was pouting and didn't want to be in there. I get it. It was a long day for everyone I'm sure. Within ten minutes all of the fireworks had been lit. It was a small box but it was perfect for us. Also we were really appreciative because this way our toddlers and Lisa's young kids were able to experience some fireworks and still get to bed on time.
Grant had a shirt change because his new one got watermelon stained during dinner.
We got home in perfect time to put the twins to bed at their normal bedtime. Even though they took a late nap on the couch it was short enough that they still went to bed pretty easily which was awesome for us. The other three got in pajamas, teeth brushed and we were in the middle of reading them their bedtime stories when we started hearing fireworks outside. We decided to have them get their shoes on and we all went outside and watched them from our street. Hudson especially was grateful for it. He thanked me several times for letting them all go outside instead of getting into bed. He really wanted to get close to them but we kept a safe distance. He asked if I would take his picture which I'm always happy to do. He then asked for two more pictures. One of him in front of a firework that stayed on the ground and one of him in front of a firework high up in the air. I'm happy to take any of his requests. 😊
It's now the next day and we all slept great through the night. Danny did mention being woken up one time from some late fireworks but was able to get back to sleep. They were going off really late into the night but we must have all been pretty tired because we all slept pretty great. Our first independence day here was pretty great. I grew up really loving the 4th of July. I really have a holiday loving heart and sometimes it makes me want to make sure that these holidays are perfect for the kids and I feel bad if I come up short so it feels really good to know that the kids still had a great time even if we didn't make it to the parade or even if they weren't surrounded by their extended family. It still was exciting for them without those things. Addie also has a holiday loving heart and of course she made decorations to celebrate. I really love how she creates anything. We didn't have any tape in the house but she got creative and used bows and clips to attach her crafts to the chairs. It turned out pretty good. She got Rylee and Quinn involved as well and they colored some signs and flags too. Hudson also liked the idea and he made his own flag and colored it green. He then attached a portable fan to the chair so that he would be blowing in the wind haha. I didn't get a picture of the fan though but try to imagine it because it was pretty brilliant.
HOW was this picture just ONE year ago?? They all look so little. 💙
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