The home of the brave.....
Saturday I spent time cooking in preparation for the 4th of July festivities we were attending this past weekend. I then spent more time than I care to admit trying to find the correct exposure settings on my camera while photographing the cupcakes I made...
(Yeah, I tried the Lemonade Makin Mama's cupcakes. Except I used a chocolate cake mix. My sister and I both agreed that no one ever complained that something had TOO MUCH chocolate.)
(This is all riveting material, I know.)
Anyway, I think we can all agree that I never quite got the exposure right.
I later decided that my ISO setting might have been too high. Or low. Or my aperture was too wide. Or too small. I think that if I would have tweaked my shutter speed and made it just a little faster...or slower. Or maybe I should have taken a picture of the awesome looking oreo hot fudge sundae dessert or chocolate pie topped with toffee pieces that I made. I am sure THAT would have made the difference.
Obviously, I have this whole "shooting on manual" thing down pat.
Obviously.
In between the cupcakes, pie and ice cream dessert, Aunt Sissy and I took some time to swim with the kiddos.
Judging by the white faces I think that one can say that we take sunscreen seriously around here.
Although, if they saw Aunt Sissy's legs, they might disagree.
Later that night, Steven decided that 100 degrees wasn't hot enough and we went ahead and built a "campfire" to roast hot dogs over.
And smores.
You can't forget the smores.
We, however, made the best of it.
That's not unusual for this girl.
In fact, I would say that would be "her nature".
B, apparently, was already pretending that we were out in the wilderness....and no 'facilities' were available......
Ahem.
100 degree weather and a campfire..... could it get any hotter?
Why, yes. Yes, it could.....
(Typing that made me laugh. Steven usually does that to me. You know? Make me laugh.)
So, considering we didn't have enough time to prepare and it was obviously TOO hot to camp, we improvised:
Or maybe I should say the kids improvised.
Sunday, after church, the kids went swimming again.
They also fine tuned their jumping skills with the help of uncle Jason.
(I think....)
He thought I'd like to see them?!?!?!?!?!?
I swear! Sometimes I don't think he knows me at all!
Or, maybe he knows that he just has to flash those beautiful eyes my way and all is forgiven.
I want to pinch those delicious little cheeks....
My two favorite men.
Love. This.
And we can't forget to give attention where it's due......
Aunt Sissy!
B had been begging for fireworks ever since the first tent went up. While waiting for darkness to set in, B busied himself playing with them in MiMi's shop.
To say he was excited was an understatement.....
Come to think of it, L was pretty excited to. She could hardly contain herself.
Unfortunately, for the kids, it stormed, therefore, preventing them from shooting off their fireworks.
However, it didn't rain on their parade.
July 4th it is a tradition in our family to go to the parade in town. This year it was the 132nd annual 4th of July parade.
We haven't been there EVERY year, but it seems like we have been there for almost every one.
When we first arrived I ran into my cousin and got to see this cute face:
The kids found their places, and had their Wal-Mart sacks ready to score some good candy.
After an hour in the hot sun, the kids were parched and thus the great deliberation regarding how much of the Dr. Pepper each one got to drink began.
(Isn't he nice? "Helping" her to drink up?)
(Further discussion over which line was the correct one....)
(More deliberation.)
Soon after an expert was called in to further assess the situation and determine the appropriate "line" that would fairly divide the drink in half.
Yeah.
That would be me.
After L got her fill and re-dehydrated herself, she went to work keeping uncle Jason cool.
In the heat it really was a full time job.
One with no pay.
After the parade we all went to eat and then stopped by the nursing home to visit my grandparents.
My grandma S, my father's mother.....
and my Grandpa M, my mother's father.
Jason and Steven promised to take care of my mom when she gets old and gray...and even practiced taking rides in Grandpa's wheelchair.
We left before we could get kicked out of the nursing home.....
They both exclaimed "We could live here!"
I think as much as Mi Mi liked the water, she could have lived there too.
Dad in the midst of telling a story.....
Since our fireworks got rained out the night before, and we had promised to take L to the rodeo, we went to town to take in both activities.
B didn't want to leave the house without his hat.
L was in her element surrounded by horses.
And for the first time ever, they BOTH participated in the calf scramble without Steven or I helping them.
Although neither one got their ribbon, you wouldn't have been able to tell it by their smiles.
Maybe I should clarify.
Aunt Sissy DIDN'T participate in the calf scramble. She was just happy.
.....and you would've thought that B's happiness would have lasted a little longer. He had, after all, been begging for fireworks for weeks and the appointed time had arrived for the city's firework display.
Unfortunately, B experienced a quick change of heart.
At one point, he even uttered the words, "I think I might freak out."
And he did.
We can't say he didn't warn us.
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