The Fourth on the Farm

Well, we celebrated the Fourth back on the farm with Kenny, Beth, and Lily.

The girls got to playing immediately!  Why are they already acting like teenagers?  I mean seriously, look at them.  Laying on the bed playing with an iPhone.  When I came in to take this picture, Grace was like, "Mom!" and Lily rolled her eyes.  

Ok, this is much better!  Not exactly sure what they are dressed up as or what they are about to do with those guns, but I can handle this better than the-13-year-old-girly-attitude from earlier.

After a "quick" run to the grocery store,  we had an afternoon swim!  Carter can now just chill out in the pool in his floaties. (Grace was still in a baby float at this age.)

And, Grace has decided that she can swim with her face in the water!  This is HUGE!  She has always hated water in her eyes.  I'm not sure what made her try this out, but I'm glad she is getting braver!

Lily is a cutie!

We had patriotic pancakes for breakfast on the 4th!

We swam.

We jumped.

We kissed.

We built towers.

We jumped some more.

What was that?  Did you just see Grace jumping in the pool?  Oh my!  I'm not sure I recognize that girl.  First, swimming with her face in the water and now jumping in!  I'm very confused!

After yummy hamburgers and homemade fries, we had some rice krispy treat sparklers.

Carter went to bed because he was EXHAUSTED and we had our very own fireworks show...from the farm truck tailgate.

John provided us with the grand finale..."Dirty Dancing in the Sky!"  I don't know how "dirty" it was, but there was some dancing in the sky and it was the perfect ending!

The next morning, we did a little shopping in Smalltown, USA.  We went back to Borroum's Drug Store and ate one of the best burgers ever.  The kids sat up at the counter to wait for their milkshakes...

...and they were super excited about it!

Love this cutie!

We had another wonderful time!  What a great way to celebrate our country's birthday!

fiReWoRKs

Hello, July!  Summer is definitely in full swing and HOT!!!  We welcomed July in with fireworks!

We found our regular spot, unloaded (why do we always need so much stuff?), and John and the kids began playing soccer.

Grace took a break to hang out with me for a few minutes.

Mimi and Poppa showed up a little later.  Carter loves his Poppa!

And Grace loves her Mimi!

It was getting dark and we were ready for the fireworks to begin.

Grace started giggling uncontrollably as soon as the first firework hit the sky!

Carter was a little unsure...we were super close!  You could feel the bangs!

But, he finally started enjoying the show.

It was a great night!

InstaFriday

~~~my weekly phone pics~~~

We visited my sister.

We went swimming and it was awesome!

Grandma and Grandpa returned home from their trip to Alaska and they brought gifts!

Carter does this a lot.  All he wants to do is eat!

We celebrated our 8th anniversary.

Grandma and Grandpa kept the kids so, we could go out.  Alone.

We ate at J. Alexander's and we both had the steak maui with mac and cheese.  Mmm!  It is so good.  You need to try it next time you get a chance.  I'm serious.

Carter is beginning to show a little interest in watching TV.  I obviously don't want him watching all the time, but a few minutes every now and then would be nice.  I need a few minutes.

I got some fun, new nail polish.

Beth and I went shopping at Anthro.  Love!!!

I hung out by the pool.

It was a plastic kiddie pool in our backyard, but that's where I hung out.

Grace and Carter love it.

We went to story time at the library.

Then we picked out some books to take home.

The kids played in our neighbor's sprinkler.  It was coming over the fence into our backyard and they thought that was hilarious!

"We got SUPER wet!"

Well, that was my week in phone pics. Nothing interesting.  Just us being us.

Woo-Hoo! We went to the zoo!

A couple of weeks ago when it wasn't 101+ degrees outside, we went to the zoo.

Carter loved watching the panda snack on some bamboo.

Then, the kids thought it was time for their snack.  They saw me packing lunch and they couldn't wait to eat at the zoo! That face.  Oh my!

After lunch, we watched the elephants and they were playing in the water.

So cool!

Grace and I rode a camel.  She loved it!  I did not...that hump is not very comfortable.  It was actually super uncomfortable and awkward and I felt kinda violated.  Just sayin'

Grace "swam" with the sea lions.

We watched the black bears and played in the Northwest Passage.

Then we headed to the Teton Trek and played in the geysers...so much fun! 

After exploring the Teton Trek, Grace found her favorite baby girl antelope.

We love the giraffes!  They are our favorite!!!

There are signs by the crocodile exhibit that read, "ALIVE" because these things like never move, but we saw it move!  It looked like a lot of work!

Flamingos...pink flamingos!

John took the kids on a train ride through the farm.

This horse liked our Carter Man!

After a short "nap" in the chicken egg, we decided it was time to go.

On our way out, we walked through Cat Country and Carter discovered his favorite part of the zoo...

...the snow leopard's ball!