Fireworks

For our 4th of July Weekend, we headed up to Show Low for the Ellsworth Reunion, which is held for the descendents of Edmund Lovell Ellsworth every 10 years.

He has 10,000 living descendants today which they compared to Abraham Lincoln, who has zero living descendants. Quite the difference...

might have something to do with his 4 wives & 46 children..haha.
Edmund's youngest daughter, Effie Ellsworth is my Grandpa Phelps' Mother. That is how we tie into the Ellsworth clan.

We arrived Friday, after stopping at BURGER HOUSE for a delicious lunch & the kids thought the hotel was pretty cool, since the beds were close enough to jump back and forth from...

Friday night we headed to the Stake Center to watch "1856 The Musical"...

which lasted about 10 minutes with our kids & then we left to go to the McD's playland down the street:)

Got them all worn out (or wound up) for bedtime...

Saturday morning started BRIGHT and EARLY...when Ryler woke up at 4:30am & didn't want to go back to sleep, because we were all in the same room, which he isn't used to:(
After several attempts to get him back to sleep, including Matt driving him around for an hour, we got up and got ready & ate a delicious breakfast at the hotel & then headed off to the parade...

The parade was fun...but a bit long. They had 120 "floats", most of which were boring, but there were some good ones & the kids all got plenty of candy!

Waving the American Flag...

After the parade, we headed to Pizza Hut for lunch & I was reminded why drive thru is really the only option with my 2 boys...

Then we headed back to the hotel for naps...well Matt & Ryler did. 

Parker & I hit the Dollar Store & then some antique stores.
I wanted to buy EVERYTHING I saw...but those darn antiques are EXPENSIVE!

Later in the afternoon we headed back to the reunion for GAMES!
My cute nieces, Hallie & Abby on the train...

Aunt Heidi playing "soccer" with Ryler...

The boys made a rocket, that flew Really FAR!

The reunion provided a delicious BBQ dinner for us. It was SO WINDY at dinner, we worried about them canceling fireworks!

After dinner we headed out to find a park. 

We ended up at the Elementary School playground that was right next to where they would be launching fireworks! So we laid out our blankets & saved a GREAT spot & then let the kids play...

Right next to the playground where we were, was a big 4th of July Carnival & of course the kids wnated to slide down the BIG BOUNCER SLIDE...

Matt & Ryler...

Heidi & Parker & Hallie...

The smells lured us over & we bought a bunch of junk food, including Cotton Candy & Funnel Cake to eat while watching the fireworks...

We waited as it got dark...

The show was AMAZING! We were so close! The kids loved it...despite the fact that Ryler looks half asleep/half constipated...

Part of the beautiful show....

During the finale, we looked over to see both our boys sound asleep.
Oh well:) they saw MOST of the show...

Saturday night Ryler did MUCH BETTER & even let us sleep in! We woke up about 9am Sunday morning & headed home to the heat!

Such a FUN holiday to spend in a small town! 
We had such a great time & the weather was AMAZING!

Summer Grass

Just realized I hadn't posted about getting GRASS in our backyard! I did a post on my craft blog, so I forgot that I never posted on our family blog. 

Anyhow...there used to be a small rectangle of grass in the backyard, with a cement border around it...

and an extended patio, that really served no purpose, since there is already a covered patio...& a lot of rock...

We removed the bricks, posts, roof,etc from the extended patio before we ever moved in. 

But then it sat...looking like this for the past 8 months or so...

 Recently we had the curbing around the small grass patch removed, sprinklers installed & grass laid & I LOVE IT!!!

Even if we (I mean, Matt) has to mow it...

Now we can run & play(even barefoot), play football, get wet in the sprinklers & more! I LOVE looking out the kitchen window & seeing GREEN:)

THE RANCH

We headed up to the Ranch last week & had a blast!

Me, my dad, my sister Heidi & these 3 cute boys headed up Tuesday morning...

As soon as we got there, my boys picked out some hats to wear...

Hanging out at the "Bunk House"...

Heidi, giving me a 4th of July Pedicure...complete with cute fireworks...

Concentrating on painting rocks...

My mom, my sis Kylie & Powell & Mia & nephew Tanner all joined us later in the day Tuesday...

I gave Ry a mug of water & a paint brush & he thought he was painting the rocks...

Taking a break at the end of their walk around the property...

All the BOYS at the pond....

The neighbors horses graze in our meadow, so the kids got to pet them on our walk to our pond...

This has been sitting in the meadow for as long as I can remember. The kids love playing on it...

Cheesy Smile...

Random dog that liked to come see the kids...

Fire & Smores...

Parker & I at "Rock Fort"...

Grandpa & grand kids at Rock Fort...

My brother Matt & his girls, Hallie & Abby came up Wednesday...

Parker & the horsie...

Taking a ride to see the all of the burnt land that a fire near our property burned...

DANCE PARTY...led by my sis Heidi...

Hauling Water with Grandpa...

Enjoying Popsicles...

My brother Matt taught some Wilderness Survival skills & built the kids a fort...

It was so nice to get out of the heat for the week, the kids always had something to do & we were able to relax & have fun! We hiked, slept, read(a lot), canned apples, made crafts & hair bows, watched movies & just had fun playing in the DIRT!

Relief

Things got worse before they got better, but Ryler is finally getting some relief from being sick!

After ending up in the ER Sunday morning, Sunday was ok... he seemed to be getting better & slept ALL NIGHT...until 5am Monday morning. He woke up with the barking cough again & was gasping to breathe. I almost headed to the ER again(since the Pediatrician wasn't open). Instead, I took him on a walk around the neighborhood about 5:30am to get some fresh air & it helped a bit. We waited until a decent hour...about 7:30am and called my bro-in-law to borrow their breathing machine. As soon as I gave him a breathing treatment, he was doing much better & fell asleep from about 9am-11am. 

BUT...

when he woke up, he was worse. Even his regular breathing was irregular & sounded like he was having trouble getting air. I gave him another breathing treatment & it didn't help a bit...so off we went to the Pediatrician...

He was sitting here, watching the movie they were playing & the receptionist came out in the waiting room to make sure he was ok. She couldn't believe how loud his regular breathing was. It was sad.
But by the time we saw the doctor, about 1 hr later, his breathing had regulated & sounded much better. 

The doctor gave him a steroid shot to open his airways & I saw immediate relief! He fell asleep on the way home & slept from about 4pm-6pm. 

He slept ALL NIGHT(yay! Finally feeling better!) & slept until 10:30am on Tuesday !!! Holy Moly!

Then he fell back to sleep at Noon & I had to wake him up at 4pm! He was doing some serious recovering...his poor body was so tired!

He is finally doing GREAT & I'm so glad he happy & healthy again!!!

Jogging Stroller

I went up to the cabin for the week & when I got back, Matt surprised me with a Double Jogging Stroller!

I have been looking for one for months...actually probably over a year, but they are so expensive.

He found a great deal on Craigslist & I LOVE IT!

The boys were fascinated with it & on Tuesday, when Ryler was still trying to recover form being sick, I put a movie on & let them watch it in their stroller & they thought it was so great!:) Ryler NEVER holds still for a movie & he sat there until he fell asleep.

It MAY be TOO HOT to jog a lot right now, but I will still find uses for this stroller!!!