Happy Fourth of July 2008!

The festivities begin!

Emmett and I met a few ladies down on the Main Street for the Kiddie Parade yesterday morning. Luke came down from his office to watch as well. It was a nice parade that Emmett will maybe watch/pay attention to next year. Lots of fun costumes, floats, horses and candy! There was a man on stilts that was pretty great. I guess he has been walking in the parade for over 30 years. He came over to give Emmett a high five. Emmett was not sure what to do! Fun all the same.

It has been storming in the evenings around here. Nice cause it cools things off and the lightning show is amazing from the front porch with a glass of wine. I tried to catch a few bolts, but haven't figured out that function yet.

Well, the family left for Cody this morning, along with a few of our friends that are coming to join the fun! Nina and Eric are riding along with the folks in their motorhome and Emily and Charles are heading up late this morning. I have been frantically cleaning and moving things this morning. Nothing like waiting til the last minute. Luke hung all the bathroom fixtures last night and now the bathroom looks pretty complete. My mom is bringing up a table for towels and stuff in the bathroom and then we are about done. I will post a video of the completion later. I have to get back to my potatoes in the oven and dips that need to be made! Enjoy your 4th everyone!

Workin' weekend

Luke and I have worked most of the weekend on the garage and basement, and there is still so much to do. We had some issues with the contractor not showing up on Friday night.....not very happy. But it should get done today. Meanwhile, we have cleaned everything that was being stored in the garage and moved it to the basement. We found that a few boxes were home to a couple mice this past winter. I am taking stock in mouse traps this fall. It feels really great to have a garage again and one that is clean and organized! Now to organize the basement....most of the stuff was put in the closets until after the fourth of July. I don't have time to go thru old photo albums and baby clothes and decorations. After windows get cleaned, floor gets mopped, beds get made, bathroom accessories get hung, furniture gets moved and rugs get placed we should be almost ready for guests. I almost forgot the most important task of all: Wine/beer fridge get filled!!!

We did get to have a little fun this weekend. Our friends the Anderson's, had a birthday party for their daughter Darby, she turned 2 on Sunday. We went over to their home on Saturday for a fun-filled afternoon. They had bought Darby a blow up water slide for her birthday. The kids loved it! Emmett did not like the slide so much, but loved to play in the catch pool at the end. Courtney and Derrick live in a neighborhood with lots of kids and everyone played so nicely together. They had BBQ'd and then came the cake. Darby loves the Wiggles, so they had an octopus cake made out of cupcakes. It was pretty cute...with purple and black frosting. I specifically picked Emmett out a cupcake that had yellow frosting so I would not have to deal with the stains. Darby had black smeared all over her body! She was finger painting her belly at one point. It made for a really great birthday picture! I have never seen so many kids with frosting all over their faces. I think it became a game after awhile. Emmett played his heart out and was asleep in the car seat before we drove out of their neighborhood.

Oh! I forgot to introduce you to my little friend.....Luke saw him in the window sill outside of the office area. We even saw him scurry back into his little hole that he had dug to access the area. Hopefully when we get things landscaped, this problem will start to go away. Wishful thinking?

Fun in the caboose

This is an old toy box that used to belong to my brother, Ken. Emmett has now discovered it's many fun uses: throwing things into it, banging the lid on the wall, chewing on the side(did I mention he has a few molars coming in?) and playing inside the toy box. He loved looking at me thru the windows! It used to make a really good hiding place when I was a kid. Memories, paint the corners of my mind......

Good news

Clint, part of the water association and our neighbor to the northwest, stopped by last night to see our "pool" in the back yard and agreed that they will take care of the problem. The association will bring someone and their equipment out the week after the holiday. The big hole is about to get bigger.......and we should have water access by the end of the month.