Fourth of July 2018

When Shawn got off work on Tuesday, we headed over to mom and dads, cooked foil dinners over a camp fire and camped out in the back yard in a tent.  It was fun, but I need to remember NOT to do this before the fourth next year because I was exhausted all day and spent the week recovering! It was still a pretty great day, beginning with the Haines parade. All of the Aunts and Uncles and cousins know where to meet every year so that we can all watch together.  This was the coldest Fourth of July I could remember; in Haines it was only around 60* and many of us had to wear jackets all day.

l-r: Ammon, Isaiah, Isaac, and Emmie:

Isabelle and Anne

Heidi and Kevin:

Isaac, Maddie and Isabelle:

All the older cousins l-r: Isabelle, Ammon, Isaiah, Emmie, Gracie, Isaac, Maddie, Eli holding Lincoln, Anne:

Adam and Shawn:

Katie, Eli and Lincoln:

Ivy, Joseph and Ethan:

The four year old trio; Pace, Thomas and Ezra:

David in the background, with Pace and Abram showing off candy:

mom and dad!:

After the parade we headed to mom and dads house for the annual barbecue.  There were SO MANY people there!! All of us ALONE make a substantial crowd, but four sets of missionaries were there, Katie invited another family and Heidi had a friend there, plus Uncle Tim and Aunt Jan, Uncle Phillip and Aunt Ellen.

The kids played Badminton:

played in puddles and dirt:

Climbed trees (Kilynn here):

And we all either played or sang under the trees.  I tried to talk Aaron into coming, but he was too crazy busy.  I was impressed with how well Caleb was able to accompany this year!  Also Wes is learning the banjo and they are both doing a great job!:

Ivy fiddled (of course) and mom and dad sang with the Ukelele - but I took videos of them and am not going to post them because they don't show up in blog books.  They are my favorite though...

Hyrum and Isaac:

Belle with her Uncle Eli:

Some of us spent some time up at Crawdad pond:

Nolan and the Farber boys caught about 40 crawdads.  They ended up putting half of them back and releasing the other half into Adam and Ori's pond.  Because I guess everyone loves Crawdads and wants to get them going in their pond (cringe) and because as Kylee Kerns explained, their pond has "allergy problems" and maybe the crawdads will keep up with it🤣

The kids watched every World Cup game that took place this week.  We ALL watched the Saturday games.  Shawn wasn't happy with how the game was going here:

Maddie was feeling the pressure, too.  They really didn't want Russia to win:

I got a letter from Caden's new mission president, President Whitney.  I am so excited - they look just right for him! I can feel how good and genuine they are just by looking at their faces. I can tell that he will love them and they will love him and it makes me so happy: 

Isabelle planned a "princess Tea Party" for two darling girls in our ward. She made and brought around this invitation to them last Sunday:

They were so excited that their moms said they couldn't quit asking when it would be all week long!  They made Holly hock dolls, attended princess academy where they learned how to sit, curtsy and eat like a princess, attended a tea party where they ate dainty princess food prepared by Isabelle and practiced their etiquette, and then played some princess games.  Isabelle is so much fun and such a planner!  I loved watching it all:

princess academy:

Learning to drink (Italian Soda) with a pinkie up!:

Pace was pretty pleased with his "stop" and "go" sign:

Saturday David brought Ali and Nicki for what will be a week-long visit. Maddie and Isabelle have been SO EXCITED for this to happen and feel like it is the highlight of their summer!!  They mentioned that they wanted to do it back in the early spring and David and Kelley agreed.  I am loving seeing these cousins catch up with each other and it made my heart happy to look behind me on the way home from church and see all these bodies.  This is what my family used to look like before Kami and Caden left! It has been feeling far too small.  It was also so great to have all the Gee girls in Young Women's.  All the other YW were gone so the Gees ruled the class.  They all speak up and contribute to the lesson, have testimonies and have great thoughts!

Enjoying Italian sodas before bedtime.  It's going to be a great week!: