More 4th-Themed Fun

4th of July Festivities

7am - the race begins - James and select family members (Dad, Anthony, George, Allison and her *friend* Michael) run the 5k:

The race was followed by the parade:


Then there was a family BBQ at Greg and Mary's, at which I was too busy eating to take any pictures.

Later that evening we went to see the fireworks - we watched it from a field that used to be my Freshman dorm! (Let us all sadly shed a tear for DT)

But, Mr Adams

I love this song from 1776, and while we're still basking in the glow of Indepence Day, I'd like to share it with you:

What We Did this Fourth of July

What you didn't know is, the fourth of July really starts on the third. Early on the third.

It starts at 6am with the Kiwanis Club Charity Breakfast and Balloon Launch:


The delicious breakfast is followed by a waterfight at Discovery Park, starting at 8:


Then milkshakes at the Purple Turtle. Sadly I did not take pictures, but here's one of a milkshake:

The rest of the day was less scheduled, but we still managed to cram a lot in there. There was Tiger Woods Golf on the Wii, a nap on the couch, a trip to the fair, and a dinner at Brick Oven:


All in all very fun. A post on the actual fourth(and the fifth!) to follow.

Take On Me

This video is hilarious... I finally found a full version of it. Enjoy! :)

Take on Me: Literal Video Version - watch more funny videos

Zions

Sorry for the lame blogging activity lately - things have been going on, but - I just never seem to think of blogging about them these days. Can I pull the "pregnancy card" as James calls it? Lame excuse, but still... it's there. Plus there's the issue that I'm on the computer all day for work and by the time that's over, I pretty much want to pretend computers don't exist (not an easy feat in our home), so that may be another cause of the blogging apathy. However, we did just have an amazingly lovely vacation that I'd love to tell you all about, so here I am, blogging again.

First the big and best news and the reason why we were vacationing - James graduated! Well, he's done with classes in any case and technically graduates in August - but he's done and that's the main point of interest. :) We are both pretty excited (and a bit trepidatious) to begin the next, post-school, chapter of our lives. Couldn't have asked for better timing, that's for sure. Hurrah for James!

So, to celebrate we took a trip down to Zions National Park. We stayed in a little bed and breakfast called the Desert Thistle, which I would highly recommend to anyone going down that direction. The couple that owned it were just the sweetest, kindest, friendliest people I've ever met and they totally made us feel right at home. The place itself was beautiful, and the bonus was we had it all to ourselves! I guess that's the benefit of going on vacation on a Thursday :) Here are some pictures of the b&b:

Outside - aren't those flowers gorgeous? They have hummingbirds that come and feed through out the day - just charming.
The breakfast room - Maureen, the owner, did all the decorating herself. Quite a talented woman and such a warming personality. We loved her.

The common area - we actually spent most of our time in the kitchen dining area, talking to Maureen and Warner (James fixed their camera and helped them download Timez Attack - they were very impressed :) ), but the common area was beautiful. We are definitely going back.

The neighbor's llamas, which you can see from the backyard/pool. Maureen and Warner also have a sheep (but he was hiding) and two dogs - one huge Newfie and a tiny Scottie. You just don't get this kind of experience at a hotel ;)
Us at the pool
James getting sunscreen in his eyes and lamenting the fact that his wife wants pictures of this.
Me and my round belly in my preggie swimsuit.

We spent the first day at the b&b and then Friday morning, after a delicious breakfast and hours-long chat with Maureen and Warner, we finally decided to get going and went to the park. We found a parking spot just outside the entrance (what luck!) and then walked in to the park. They have this awesome shuttle you can take around and get off at the various trail heads. We did very easy walks (you can't actually call them hikes... they were even paved), and really enjoyed our time there. Here are some pictures:

8 months pregnant. By the way, it is a bad idea to look at pictures of yourself on your wedding day and then pictures of yourself 8 months pregnant right after. I'm proud of belly for carrying my baby for me, but . . . sigh . . .

Here's me dipping mmy feet in the Virgin River. Nice view of the belly, I'd say.

For more pictures, you can see the facebook album here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=269268&id=551240506&l=2b41d397d7

So, in any case, we had a real blast, and then had the special treat of coming home to James's family! They are here for a few weeks for family reunions and fourth of July festivities (boy I love this time of year) and we got to spend a little time with them (after we had showered, because boy did we smell.)

Anyway, I think this post is sufficiently long. I'll try to be better at posting in the future.

The Children Really Are Listening...

So, I have learned today that you have to be careful what you say around kids, even - or especially! - when you don't think they're listening. Today in nursery, we had had snack and the official singing time and we were seeing how long we could keep the kids entertained before letting them go back and drag out all the toys again. Two of the children entertained themselves by jumping all over James, while the other sister and I entertained the other two by singing a few more songs.

We had just sung "If You Chance to Meet a Frown" and then there was a lull - so I just started singing a random song to the same tune - I really didn't think that Maija or Bryce (the kids that were jumping all over James) were listening at all. So I started singing "James is not a jungle gym, but he's pretty fun, so let's crawl all over him..." then I couldn't really think of anything to end with and lamely finished with "and kick him in the head." I chuckled at my own lack of creativity, then turned just in time to see sweet little Maija following the song's suggestion. Boy did she give it to him - one swift kick to the side of James's head with her sweet little white sandals. And she turned to me with the biggest grin on her face like "See! I did it!" Oh boy, I felt bad for that one.

So, watch what you say - and what you sing - around the little ones. They really are listening.

(James later suggested that perhaps a better - and rhyming - ending would have been "and kick him in the bum." That at least would have had a less painful outcome for dear James.)