Loving every second of being a wife and mom...: Family and Fireworks

We had such an eventful 4th of July weekend! Paul and I were both off on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday so we got a lot of great family time together. On Thursday, Paul and I decided to take on the project of cleaning out our garage. We have a lot of "stuff" in the garage and its very unorganized and half of it is junk that we just can't get rid (I know everyone knows what I'm talking about). Anyways, we pulled EVERYTHING out and threw away some stuff, put a lot by the road for trash scavengers (it was all gone by the next day), and stuck the rest neatly back in the garage. On Friday, we went to a people festival. It was really a balloon festival but there wasn't much balloon action going on! Because of the wind they didn't inflate the balloons until we were about to leave--what a bummer. A lady referred to it as a people festival because that was all that was really going on, people just walking around. Mom and Les went too. It was actually their idea. They told me they were going and I said "oh we want to go too!" So, whether they wanted us to or not, we went! :) We had a good time playing with Taylor and chasing her around everywhere! She definitely liked the balloons!

On the 4th, we went to the lake for our annual gathering! For the past two years, we have invited our church family to come up and celebrate the 4th with us. This year there were so many people there. All the family was there--including our niece Emilee (who now lives here with her Dad! We are so happy to have her home!) and one guy whose presence was very special. My brother in law Jamie has been in Afghanistan for the past 9 months and was able to come home last week for his 15 day leave. It was so great seeing him. He is a wonderful guy and a wonderful husband and father. It's amazing the strength these guys have to be able to leave their comfort zones and go to an unfamiliar area, away from all the things that matter the most. We all love Jamie and appreciate the work he does! My sis-in-law Sherri has been on cloud 9 these past two weeks. She can't seem to take her eyes off him! Jay and Breanna are also just ecstatic to have him home. They seem complete now. Jamie leaves again tomorrow to finish up his year there. Please keep him and Sherri and the kids in your prayers. He will only be gone for about 8 weeks before he gets to come home for good but it will be a hard 8 weeks for them all. e can't wait to see him step off that plane for good in two months!