4th of July

We celebrated the fourth all weekend long.
We started by having breakfast at Ihop. Growing up pancake breakfast was a July 4th tradition. They don't do that here, so we had our own.
We also bought some new flip flops at Old Navy for $1...we bought some for Baby D for next summer too!

Basically, it was about 95 degrees on the July 3rd. We had just moved and didn't have AC units. Thankfully, we have some now thanks to a couple in our ward. It was so hot inside that we were basically stripped down to our underwear and trying not to touch anything and stick to it.
Just before the ward BBQ, we decided to brave the heat and made these Rice Krispy treat flags (idea stolen from my sister).


The BBQ was pretty fun and the weather was very much improved (breeze and only 90 degrees). We enjoyed socializing, watching other people's kids (and then giving them back), LOTS of good food, and Steven even got to play a round of horseshoes.
After the BBQ, I came home and tried to cool off and Steven drove to go shooting and light off some fireworks (as a preview) with two of our friends.

The next day, we went to church as usual. I used my pipe chimes for our primary music time. I had fun hopefully the kids did too! After having a nap and finishing up some homework, it was the most anticipated event of the weekend: FIREWORKS!
Steven was ecstatic to be able to light his own fireworks. We were rather deprived of that as kids in AZ. He had a budget and I let him go pick out fireworks alone earlier in the week. Such.A.Bad.Idea. These fireworks stores are bigger than Costco and filled with fireworks...and he went to 2 of them! He came back with all of this:


I took the lighter away and held onto it until it was time. We planned our evening with the Hanson family. Anna & Sam tried to join us at first too, but Sam did not like the fireworks. She was shaking and trying to go 'bye bye' the whole time so they had to leave. We started lighting off fireworks right behind the university apartments...well as Amy predicted, the University Police showed up. He just rolled down the window and said "NO. Take them outside of city limits". Luckily he didn't just give us the ticket that costs $101. We were trying to figure out where to go outside of city limits and we decided to stay in town and watch the city fireworks first. After a pretty good city display, we were on the hunt for a new location. We drove about 2 miles south (it's a small city) and were out of the limits. We pulled up to a house that is still being built and had a large dirt driveway to light off fireworks in. Steven & Gary preceded to light off their fireworks for the next 2 hours. There were a few close calls when they weren't sure which way the firework took off, but we all returned home safely.

Steven has a list of the fireworks he's going to buy for next year. I can't wait. I hope our baby likes the fireworks. I love the fourth of July.

Bismarck Temple Trip

A few weeks ago, Ya ya I'm behind again...sue me, it was Stake Temple Day. We have always participated in this whenever we could, but it has never been the same as it was this time.

First, it means a lot more when you have to drive 4 hours each way to get to the temple. We wouldn't change this trip for anything. We have always been spoiled living less than an hour away from a temple. We have also lived by a temple that operates almost every hour (sometimes on the half hour too) every day of the week except Sunday & Monday. It was surprising to hear that the Bismarck temple only operates on Thursday night at 5 & 7, Friday night at 6 & 8 and Saturday at 9, 11, & 1. All in all, it takes a lot more effort and planning to attend the temple here. Several times in AZ, Steven and I would randomly decide to have date night at the temple, or we could take the youth during the day. It was close enough to go on a weekday even! We definitely took advantage of it there.
We left Friday afternoon with our new, awesome friends the Hanson's. We rented a car...I don't remember what it was, but it was nice and saved so much money on gas (The Hansons also drive a gas-guzzling jeep). The 4 hr trip there FLEW by because of the great conversation, yummy road trip snacks, and Steven's persistence of listening to Michael Jackson.
We got there and checked in our hotel, visited the Smiths for a bit (they had gone up earlier in the day), jumped on our bed for a minute, and then we went to the pool. After the pool when we were all starving, we circled the city for some food. Never in my life have I been so excited to see a 10 story building before! Bismarck was a huge city compared to Grand Forks!
We were all indecisive and finally decided on Applebee's. BUT as soon as we turned in to Applebee's, we saw the sign for Olive Garden and quickly, unanimously changed our mind! There are two Applebee's here in GF and there is no Olive Garden. Also, Steven and I have never been to an actual Olive Garden restaurant. Our wedding luncheon came from Olive Garden, but that was a limited Olive Garden experience. The food was SO good! How did we never go there before? Poor little Hannah (the Hanson's daughter) got wiped out and fell asleep on the floor while we finished eating.
Oh and some guy proposed to his girlfriend at the table right behind us...it was distracting, a little awkward, and I hope Olive Garden had some more romantic meaning or memory to them than just being random...
After dinner, we went back to the hotel and watched Food Network a little before we crashed. The next morning we slept in and took advantage of the awesome continental breakfast (nice hotel= nice breakfast). Then, we checked out and headed to the temple. The temple was a small temple, but just as beautiful as the rest. I have never been in a temple that small before, but it felt how it should and I was happy to be there!

*PS I wear tights now-isn't that so not me? But I'm rather attached to my legs, so they are not optional.

When our session was over, we went and found the Smith's kids and Hannah at the church and stayed there talking for awhile. When we could avoid it no longer, we headed home (after stopping for lunch first). We got home when it was still daylight and had a blast. Thank you for Gary & Amy for planning this and letting us come along for the ride! The next stake temple trip is in April, and we can't wait!