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Our 4th of July began with this PVC pipe brigade humming a long and hamming it up!  Elijah’s smile cracks me up!  We took the morning slowly, Chad and I made breakfast burritos from the random things we found in the fridge for the whole group as the kids were all awake and Suzanne was no where to be found.  (She had snuck out before 6 😳 to help tear down a shed we just didn’t know it until she showed back up around 8:00 or 9:00.)  The Pendleton Independence Day parade was to start at 10:00.  It was HOT already, but we were able to procure a spot in the shade out in front of Suzanne’s office.  There was a couple other cute old couples there.  It was definitely not crowded.
  
  
  
  
   
 The kids got so much candy that they filled a backpack and supplied the other couples near us with handfuls of candy as well.  It was very fun.

 After the parade we walked to the park that is next to the Roundup grounds where there was a small community garage sale and street fair.  Not being in the market for anything I enjoyed people watching in the shade.  These cousins are pretty fond of eachother.

  Then it was back to Aunt Suzanne’s house for more slip and slide….hours and hours more slipping and sliding!
 Mid afternoon we brought out Eve’s birthday cake (her birthday is the 5th but we wanted to celebrate when everyone was together since we would be driving home on the 5th).  She was not impressed with the suprise cake making it’s appearance a day early.  She warmed up to it though.  She would only show me four fingers because technically she was not yet.  I hope she is always this bent on being honest and holding to her convictions!

    At bedtime grandma and grandpa headed home with the four older grandkids Caleb, Hannah, Eve, and Hadassah for a movie and sleepover while is grownups headed to the PBR (Professional Bull Riding) event for a date night!
  
 The sunset was amazing!  It was one of those moments when you have to stop and take a reality check.  Yes, this is life right now!  For sure we are blessed way beyond what we deserve.  May we never get used to things as easy, may we never forget the giver of all good things, may we praise God in the storm, but also when everything is going right, when we are in the promised land and are stomachs are full with it’s bounty.

First thing this morning Chad and I got up and headed to grandma and grandpa’s house about 45 min. away to help them get their four little charges ready for church and their in time for Sunday School.  Chad headed back to get Suzanne who couldn’t come until after church but whose car was at mom and dad’s. When we got there they were partying it up with waffles and Eve gladly showed me all five fingers when asked because I like these age pictures for later when I am trying to remember back which birthday pictures we are looking at.

 After church we raided grandpa’s garden for corn, beans, and onions.  This guy has the most beautiful delicious onions ever!

    Guess what was for lunch…fresh picked corn on the cob that’s what!
 The kids played in the sprinklers to cool off and then back to grandpa’s pile of dirt.  The kids had to be hosed off when it was time to leave.

 An age progression picture from birth to five years!  I’m not ready to not have any little ones at home, all three kids are school aged now and there isn’t anything I can do about it besides enjoying every minute of their school aged lives now.  Kids are such a blessing!

 I hope these cousins are always close!  Thank you mom and dad, Suzanne and Jeremy fort he fun Fourth of July weekend. We love you guys!

Since our 4th of July really started on the 3rd, we must be making a habit of early celebrations.  The 4th of July was always a big family day growing up and one of the few holidays we make a point of celebrating with my family on the right day (ish) not a week later or early as is the case with Thanksgiving or Christmas.  So, we headed not quite directly from the Kite Festival last weekend to Hermiston then Pendleton area this weekend to be all together for Independence Day.  The 2nd after Caleb’s fifth grade state testing we headed to Irrigon, just out side of Hermiston on the Columbia River.  Getting in around dinner time, plenty early enough to enjoy mom and dad’s 106 degree heat.  It really wasn’t that bad on the back porch with the sprinklers going to water the yard, and by 10:30 it had cooled down enough to alow for sleep given a fan and light sheet were available.  The third started early for the kids and grandma and grandpa.  I’m not even sure how early they woke up, but they were already elbow deep in a brick cutting project for the front yard when Chad and I woke up at 8:00AM.  Showers, oatmeal, and packing up the car came next followed by the last leg of the drive into Pendleton.  We had popcorn and blackberry smoothie drinks for lunch at Suzanne’s and then headed to the Pendleton Reservation.  For the free first Fridays at the Tamástslikt Cultural Institute.  They had a traveling exhibit on Alcatraz (I didn’t know of the connection between Alcatraz and the Native American people until now) as well and many more exhibits on the local tribes.
 We were not allowed to take pictures in the museum.

   I love this new magnet we got for the fridge.  It is hard to battle the attitude of entitlement that is so pervasive in our society right now, so it sets our children up for unhappy, unsatisfied lives.
Next we stopped off at the Pendleton Woolen Mill, they were having a sale for the holidays and had a ton of really beautiful blankets.  Hard to resist the temptation until you think, seriously, we don’t have room for stuff.  The bare minimum, and nothing else….there is something freeing about that.

  
 After the woolen mill we decided DQ for dinner would have to work, it was kind of hot for cooking anything and the BBQ food was for Saturday besides that Grandpa Sherman had been given a gift card for DQ and was eager to treat all the little ones to ice cream.  As it was we ended up eating our dinner and getting two boxes of dilly bars, gifted by grandpa, to go and eat while testing our Aunt Suzanne’s ginormous slip and slide!!!

  
  
  
  
 We closed down the slip and slide and got dressed in our PJs in time for the Pendleton Fire Works.  I love love love fireworks and for me the closer the better.  You should feel the vibration and hear the crackles.  I was kind of disappointed when we found ourselves up on the side of the hill not all that close to the action.  Especially since I worked the last Fourth of July and completely missed the fireworks.  But all that was alleviated when the fireworks started. Pendleton is shaped like a bowl with the fire works being let off at the bottom.  We could still hear them just fine.

  
  
As Chris, Uncle Jeremy’s brother said to the kids as we were watching the fireworks, “This is the best 3rd of July ever!”