Independence Day

I LOVE the 4th of july. I have learned over time that i think I enjoy it more than christmas and I haven't figured out if I love it more than Thanksgiving or not. Tough to say... BBQ or Turkey and Mashed Potatoes?
Just kidding- Maybe it is the soldier's wife in me that gets me all emotional over the 4th, but I do cry every time I see fireworks or hear patriotic music, especially the more recent country support-your-soldiers-type songs. It definitely is true that you care more deeply and appreciate things more fully when you have sacrificed for it. I am so grateful for those that are willing to sacrifice time from their lives to serve our country and defend the land and life that we love. I am so proud to have a husband that felt the importance of serving our country and sacrificing a big chunk of his life to do so. I am so proud of you, Kent.
On a lighter note, we headed down to Cedar City for kent's family reunion and had a great weekend! We rolled into Cedar at about midnight and we were all exhausted- the kids had slept most of the way, but we did have to concede to Elmo for the last half hour or so. I was so ready to get out of the car and we were driving down Main street when Kent says, "did you see that?" The only thing I had seen was the back of my eyelids, so he quickly flipped a uie (is that the technical spelling for it?) and returned the way we came to show me this...a 2009 Dodge Charger that they had in the showroom of the dealership. WOW. that is all I have to say about that- and tyse is quoted as saying "now THAT is a Hot Runner!" So true, my son.

Cedar has this great parade down main street that has plenty of fire engines, really nice cars (including the charger above with the mayor in it), lots of candy, and lots of people.
The kids were so excited to see their cousins again (all of kents siblings were there with their families) and get the candy. The only downfall was that Ollie hates loud noises (could he have come to a worse family for noise?), so the 4 consecutive fire trucks with sirens blaring weren't well welcomed. After binging on plenty of bubble gum and tootise rolls, we headed back to Ihler Flats (AKA Marlo and Wyett's backyard) to set up the tent for our summer "camp out." Even as I type this I know Kent is dying, thinking we might actually call this camping, but we did sleep in the tent, so it counts. They have this swing in the backyard that was the biggest hit- and now I am wishing we had a tree in our entire neighborhood with big enough branches to hang a swing from...
We spent the weekend with his extended family (it was a family reunion for his grandma) and got to see a lot of people we don't see often, so that was really neat. The kids LOVED the swimming pool, and the owner of the hotel let us light fireworks off in the parking lot, so it was quite a show (some of kent's extended family have a bit of a pyromaniac type streak in them- well manifested when the unidentified cousin was seen teaching his 3 year old son how to correctly light a firework the same size as the son's entire leg)! One thing I was really surprised by? I didn't really think Tyse was afraid of ANYTHING in the entire world (except his closet at night). Apparently he is a bit fearful of being too near fireworks. I had to struggle to get him to even hold a sparkler, which he finally did just so (in my opinion) Emitt could never claim to have done something he wouldn't do. Who knew?

This is how Ollie enjoyed his first 4th of july...


So after a late night with the fireworks and swimming pool, we returned to aforementioned camp ground (sorry, Kent. Backyard.) and retired for what should have been a great night's sleep. The kids were out for the count and didn't wake up at all, but it's a funny thing about camping in an unfamiliar backyard... when you hear sprinklers turning on in the middle of the night, it tends to wake you up QUICKLY! all the windows were open and we hadn't bothered with the rain fly, so we were launching ourselves around the tent trying to close them all up. Luckily, it ended up being the sprinkler on the neighbor's side of the fence (we were still only maybe 10 feet from it), but the catastrophe was a false alarm. Phew! The next problem we faced while our sweet little ones were sawing logs? We took an air mattress that didn't have a cap over the hole meant to let the air out when one is finished sleeping on it. Kent's plan- stuff it with a plastic bag or sock and it will hold wonderfully. I wonder how he felt about his plan both at 2 am and at 5 am when he was huffing and puffing air back into the mattress using his lungs... It really was fun, though, to sleep outside amidst all the trials!
Another highlight of the weekend was a gigantic bbq that M&W hosted saturday afternoon in their backyard. We all know I love a good bbq- and the food was FANTASTIC! It's a funny story- there is this guy that kent's family knows- I don't know if he is a relative or just a family friend- that really likes kent's grandma. Anyway, he showed up at M&W's house one day and said that he has always appreciated grandma and thought maybe M&W would like the meat from one of his cattle he had just slaughtered. An entire cow. Obviously the common person would not have room in their freezer for an entire cow, so he just happened to bring them an extra full size freezer as well! That is so cool... I am so glad that a funny story like that could happen to these guys! Anyway, so they donated about 10 lbs. of hamburger and had everyone else bring the rest. Those that hve bbq'd with me know that we don't often bbq hamburgers- partly because there are so many other great meats out there, and partly because I really just stink at forming burgers and they always fall apart on me. Until this...
Yup- a patty press. OK, it wasn't quite as commercial as this one is (it was plastic and the piece you press with looked like a hamburger bun with sesame seeds on it), but it may have been the best $3.99 that Marlo ever spent- in my opinion! It was so cool... and I flew through those 10 lbs. of meat in about 30 minutes- and they were all the same size- and a little skinnier in the middle so they don't stay raw in the middle and crispy on the outside... don't get me started! It was so cool! So if anyone ever needs to get me a gift, the plastic one at Smiths would be great!
What a way to end a holiday celebration- a new love for a kitchen tool! Happy Birthday America!