Party weekend!

Party #1 - Kaylee's 12th Birthday!

(What?  I'm so young, how can I have a 12 year old?)
She doesn't look super excited in this picture because she had been sick with some weird stomach thing (that everyone caught, we were starting to think it was the water here) for almost a week.  This was the first day she had gotten up and dressed.
Oh, and it was probably 9:30 by this time because....

We had to wait for Jeremy to put his father's day present together so we could BBQ our burgers.
(Here's just a little glimpse of the inside of our house.  That door in the background leads to a bathroom, the boys' room, and the little girls' room)

We sure do love you pretty girl, happy birthday!

Party #2 - Happy 4th of July!

Texas had to cancel all fireworks because of the horrible drought, but we were pretty sure there were still festivities going on somewhere.  We found a parade a couple of towns over and thought we would brave the heat. 
HOLY MOLY it was so stinkin' hot. 
I've tried not to complain too much about the heat, but man, this was, like, excruciating.
We were dripping, and we only stayed through part of the parade!
I think it takes more than one month to acclimate.

(They don't throw candy at parades here - I even remembered to bring bags.)

It's pretty neat living in a place with such a strong military influence.

Lila, Jeremy, Ben, and Kaylee all trying to fit in the shade.

Here's Jeremy's cousin, Ashlee, and her baby, Isaac.  How great it is to see a familiar face down here! 
Ben got an internship here for the summer, and we're grateful for the timing.  We sure had a fun weekend catching up with them.

Happy Independence Day!

As a side note before I finish my post,

I just wanted to share the ways I know I'm not in Idaho anymore...

• The Mall is called" The Cotton Patch" (I feel strangely like I should be offended by that.  Is that politically correct in the year 2011?)                                    
• Your choice of drink is sweetened ice tea or unsweetened ice tea.
• My chili options at the grocery store are hot or extra thick.  No vegetarian chili for these folks. I usually try and buy the kind with less calories.  They did have a turkey chili, but there was no beans.
• A little nursery age girl comes to sacrament meeting with, I'm not making this up, a baggie of dill pickles.