Fourth of July

We had a great fourth of July. It has become our tradition to go up and celebrate the fourth with Dave's brother and we love it!! This year was a little bitter sweet, because Dave's mom's side of the family had their reunion over Fourth of July weekend and she wasn't going to be there. She was at the last one 2 years ago and my father in law really wanted to be there this year. They hold the reunion and Dave's grand uncles place in Show Low. It is one of the funnest places ever. There is a pond(it's not what I call a pond-it's the size of a football field) that you can go fishing in, canoes and kayaks to use, horses to ride, swings-even one that takes you out over the pond, and so much more. There is also a creek that runs through the property and the kids loved catching tad poles and crawdads. A kids paradise. My kids were never bored.

Another thing that made this reunion a little different was that 2 years ago Dave's grandad volunteered to do the next reunion. Which involves feeding about 200-300 people dinner and breakfast. So Dave and I had the opportunity to help out-it felt good to help and it gave us an opportunity to get to know his family better. We were down in the kitchen a lot so I have the thank my amazing sisters in law Anna and Melanie for watching my kids. And the rest of Dave's family for helping with all of the food and serving. It really was so fun and Dave has such a fun family!
The kids playing on the dock with Uncle Stephen

Having fun with the cousins!
Aunty Melanie doing all of the hard work.

After the reunion we packed up and headed out to Taylor for the rodeo!

The whole crew!
Jason and his family, Julie and her friend, Grandpa B, our family, Uncle Stephen, Aunty Amy, and Kylie.

We loved the fireworks. I got a fun new camera a while back and so the shutter would stay open for a bit. It made our firework pictures turn out fun!

As soon as we got back from Taylor Kawika left the next morning for Scout camp. He was gone for a week! Dave has always been on the camp outs with Kawika and this was the first time he would be without him for most of the time. I knew he was in good hands, I was just sad to let him go for that long! But he survived and had a blast!