service and fun....

 For family home evening we went up to Grandma Olsen's (Derek's Grandma) to help her with her yard. She hasn't been able to take care of her yard since Grandpa Ferris passed away a few years ago. He was quite the gardener and loved doing it. We loved helping clean the yard up. There is still more to do so we should be going back up soon. Thank you to Derek's mom who arranged it.

 Here is Emma with her vine dress. She was cutting some vines and found a very long one and decided to make it like her vine dress. She was prancing all over the yard with it dragging behind her. :)

 Joseph taking it easy on the blankets.

 Grandma has this HUGE garden that was taken over by weeds. Thomas, Daddy and Oma were workin' their magic in there.

 I gave Emma an assignment to cut down these bushes that run along the stairs that were overgrown. She LOVED doing this part and was proud of her work. :)

 And Oma working hard in the garden. She's the one we always turn to when we need gardening tips in our own garden.

It was a great service opportunity for our family and looking forward to going back to do some more.

Pioneer children....

 We spent the beginning of our Pioneer day morning having a neighborhood breakfast up at our neighbor, the Lilly's home.

 When we got back, the kids spent time looking at and holding roly polys' on our driveway. I don't know why but there were a ton of them.

 This dress Emma is wearing was my sister Kim's Holly Hobby dress from the 70's. She wore it for family pictures :) Anyway, I think this is Emma's third year in a row wearing it on Pioneer day.

 Daddy joined in on the Roly Poly finding action. :)

 We went to North Park in Provo for some pioneer celebration. We stopped by the Provo Recreation center with these jumping fountains. It was pretty much one of the coolest things I've ever seen. That was great the entertainment for quite some time that morning :)

 Spider Man was there and Thomas lit up like a Christmas tree.

 The traditional old fire truck that the kids had fun on.

 They had a fun activity with sawing a log and having it branded after. Man, that was a work out. It makes me appreciate all the tools we have now to make it a little easier.

 Panning for gold

 Check out this cute face. He melts my heart.

 Just  before we were heading out, we went to the Native American dance show. It was pretty incredible. The kids even got to join in at the beginning.  Look at them hold hands :)

 Hello Tom Selleck.

 Joining in on the dancing

 Later in the evening, we went back to Lilly's yard to watch some fireworks with our great neighbors. You won't believe it, but another huge aerial firework tipped over and shot out. Remember our 4th of July. I am a paranoid freak now when it comes to the big ones. I may never be the same :)

 The next day, Emma was still in the Pioneer mode.  That morning she asked questions about what the Pioneers ate. I told her a couple pioneer stories and one being that there were very difficult times with food and that they only had flour to mix with water. Emma put on her pioneer apron and bonnet, grabbed a plastic bag of flour, container of water, a tiny quilt and her pony. She put her quilt on Thomas to keep him warm for their trek...to the play house. :) HA!

 "Pioneer children sang as they walked and walked and walked...."

 Thomas bringing along the essentials.

And that wraps up our Pioneer celebration.  I love learning more stories and sharing stories of the Pioneers to our

children. I hope it can help them see how much we are blessed with and that there were many that sacrificed their lives all because of obedience.

Our 4th of July

We started our 4th of July losing my keys :) Losing my keys. Eventually they were found and we made our way to Magelby's Fresh for some breakfast.

Normally we wake up very early to see the balloons launch, but due to rain and wind they were cancelled.

We ate yummy breakfast and stopped by the provo parade and caught the very end of it. It was just the right amount of time.

We then loaded up again to make our way to the movies to see "Monsters University." We all loved it. That was a good laugh. 

Came home and made some festive drinks. Thomas keeps asking for me to make them again. I haven't yet. :(

Then we had naps and I made a trip to Home Depot.

In the evening we went to our neighbors, the Weights for some good food and fun. 

Later went to my parents neighborhood for some serious fireworks by one of their neighbors. Got too close for comfort a few times. For instance, one huge aerial firework exploded and shot all over the place including right in between each of us and over Thomas and Derek's heads. I was holding Joseph and covering him up and trying to hover over Emma who was sitting in front of me. SO scary. We moved 20 feet. Three minutes later another one shot out at us. We were done so we moved back over to my parents yard and watched those fireworks clear on the other side of the neighborhood where we were safe :)

So here are pictures...

 Thomas showing off his awesome and patriotic nails and drink. Don't ask. We wiped those nails off the next day. :) Emma and their cousin Lucy were having theirs painted the day before and he wanted in on the action :)

 mmmm...

 I'm a nerd

 Thomas showing us his mad skills on the trampoline.

 Not sure if they were getting ready to play crack the egg or....

 Jumping with Fay and Amy

 And this was just before the fireworks came shooting out at us and I said choice words. So Scary!

Look at how brave he is :) Magical.

 It was cute to see the kids making shapes in the air.

 4th of July part II on the 5th of July. Swimming at Oma and Opa's pool.

We had a cultasac firework show in the rain. Britta and her friends were lighting all the fireworks and having a great time doing it. :)

The kids and Uncle Dylan got their mighty glow sticks and showing them off.

cuddles with Daddy

more sparklers

And roasting marshmallows.

Joseph was SO tired so we watched  the fireworks from inside.

Another year of reflection and gratitude for the freedoms that we have.