It’s a good thing we have the 4th of July each year because it’s good for all of us to take some time to celebrate and realize just how blessed we truly are to live in a free country. As the parent of a soldier, it makes me even more appreciative of what these men and women sacrifice to maintain those freedoms for those of us who take them for granted each and every day. Patrick is currently serving in Korea, and while he would be the first to admit it’s not his favorite assignment, I know that it has made him appreciate that he is able to live in the United States (most of the time) and I know there are many people that are grateful for his willingness to serve our country...including me! Thanks Patrick!
As for the rest of us, we had a wonderful 4th of July weekend and because we had a whole weekend to celebrate, it was a little different than most holidays. On Saturday we spent a lot of time working in the yard trimming trees and just making it look nicer. All of my daisies and day lilies have recently bloomed and if I could, I would probably just sit out in the front yard admiring them...but that would be much too hard, so instead I’ve just taken a lot of pictures…go figure!
While we were beautifying our yard, we finally got around to putting our flag back up (it needed a new rope) so that we could feel a little more patriotic. Then when things cooled down a little, much to the boy’s excitement, we even put up our new pool. Unfortunately, it takes over 3,000 gallons of water to fill it, so the water was going all afternoon, but it still wasn’t full when we went to bed, which meant they had to wait until Monday to actually be able to swim...but that’s better than nothing, right?
Just before it was time to go to bed on Saturday night, I remembered to go outside to see if anyone was shooting off fireworks nearby...and we were in luck! They were doing them in Westpoint and Hooper, and probably lots of other little towns, but we could sit on our front porch and watch the ones in Westpoint, or stand on our back porch and barely see the ones in Hooper...but that wasn’t close enough for us! So even though the boys were already in their jammies and none of us had shoes on, we jumped in the van and went to see the fireworks “up close”! We really only saw about 10 minutes worth of fireworks...but it was just enough to get our fireworks fix...for the week! Hayden and I LOVE fireworks, and lucky for us, almost every weekend in July there is a town nearby shooting them off, so we’ll be able to see lots of them in the next few weeks!
On Sunday, which was the actual 4th of July, we just did the normal church thing, but then on Monday we were right back enjoying the holiday. Rod had to work (or chose to work) so that he could make up for some days that he’s going to take off at the end of the month to go to AP camp with our stake, but the boys and I got up and went to Logan to spend the day with the Carlings. We got to
Mom and Aunt Marion
Teaching the kids to throw lawn darts
Time for lunch!Although the wind was blowing most of the afternoon, it was so much cooler and nicer than it would have been downtown...and the cabin is a haven for kids because there is so much for them to do! We went for a little hike, the kids played lawn darts and just did a lot of what kids like to do (whatever that is), we barbecued some hamburgers for lunch, we visited and then the kids all took a turn on the huge tree swing that we all love! It was a wonderful day!
Just before it was time to leave, Connor came running to take his turn on the big swing and he tripped and landed on all fours. Of course, he cried because he’d skinned the palm of his hand and his knees, but with a little water and a few bandaids, he was soon on his way and everything was OK...or so we thought! Later that night when we got home, he woke me up to tell me that his hand really hurt, so I got up with him to see if he needed another bandaid. Instead I ended up giving him some Advil so that it would stop hurting and then he went back to sleep and again, everything seemed to be OK! However, when he woke up the next morning and his hand was still hurting, I began to wonder if there was more than just a few scratches that was causing the pain. So we made an appointment with the doctor and went to have it checked out. Well a few X-rays later, we discovered that it wasn’t just scratched a little, his poor little hand was broken!
Connor is now sporting a new, glow in the dark cast, which is pretty cool and was novel for a few minutes, but he doesn’t like it so much anymore! We’ve let him swim with it, but it keeps getting too wet and I’m afraid he might have to give that up for a few days. We probably should have gotten a splint instead of the cast, which was one of the options the doctor gave us...but the mom in me, made me get the cast because besides healing his hand, I think it might just help him break his habit of sucking his two fingers...which just so happen to be covered up by a cast! That, I’m sure, will be another story for later on!
