Independence Day 2011... AWESOME!!

Let's pretend it hasn't been over a month since I should've posted this.....

We had a fabulous Independence Day this year!! We started the morning off with a pancake breakfast and flag ceremony at the church. Pancakes, eggs, sausage, milk and juice. Even Ethan ate! Then we stopped at Fred Meyer for a couple things and in their parking lot was a firework stand. Sean and I bought our first-ever legal "illegal" fireworks! See, in Oregon, the artillery shell fireworks (mortars) that launch into the air are illegal... but NOT in Washington! This was our "haul" - about $75 worth of fireworks that we got for $40 between sales and a coupon we had.Then I baked and iced some 4-5 dozen sugar cookies in a "firework" design.

The afternoon and evening was spent at the Dahls' house where we had eight families.... 17 adults, 18 kids and 2 missionaries. While food prep was going on the kids got to play in the pool the Dahls "inherited" and/or watch the 2-liter soda bottle rocket launcher that Bro. Harris had brought. {Side-note: All pictures are by me or Dani Mogstad...though some pictures are by me, using Dani's camera!}

(Photos by Dani)

(Photos by Dani)

On the menu was pork, beef and chicken kabobs, potato salad, BBQ chicken, hot dogs, chips, veggies and dip, layered bean dip, pretzel/jello salad and fresh berries. Not to mention chocolate pie, fancy homemade marshmallows (dipped in chocolate and rolled in crushed graham crackers - then "toasted") and cookies.

There was lots of post-dinner chatting by the adults; running around, blowing bubbles and playing by the kids and then the anticipation was killing them and we starting breaking out the sparklers and roman candles.

(Photo by Dani)

Ha ha! Oh, this picture makes me laugh. Brian totally reminds me of Sean's brothers and the two of them are good friends.

(Photo by me, using Dani's camera)

(Photo by me, using Dani's camera)
Dang! He is a CUTE kid!!

(Photo by Dani)

(Photo by Dani)

(Photo by Dani)
Look at that face!

(Photo by me, using Dani's camera)

(Photo by me, using Dani's camera)

(Photo by me, using Dani's camera)
PS: This is her cute, red-headed daughter!

(Photo by Dani)
Love the sunlight!

(Photo by me, using Dani's camera)
I had fun trying to catch these two all night, they kept hiding from the camera!

(Photo by me, using Dani's camera)
Mr. Mikey. Gotta love the Indiana Jones look to this picture! The hat, the thing in his mouth and the smoking, double-fisted roman candles.... awesome!

(Photo by me, using Dani's camera)

(Photo by Dani)

And then finally it was dark enough to bring out the "big guns" aka the MORTARS!! Most of the families contributed to the show, so we had quite the display! The sparklers and roman candles {mainly roman candle wars} continued throughout the night.

Have any of you ever participated in a Roman Candle war?!? Yeah, I hadn't. I'm a rule follower. So when the firework says "Do NOT hold in hand." I take it pretty literally. Well, our party peeps do not heed that warning and instead have Roman Candle WARS!!

As in, live fireworks pointed at the opponents! Gah!! I couldn't believe it. But after watching a couple rounds and realizing that they were actually pretty careful to aim into the sky or at the other person's feet, I decided it wasn't so bad. It wasn't until the end of the night, though, that I finally relented and joined them.

Me, "lighting up" for my first-ever Roman Candle war. Don't be fooled by the smile. That's a "what the heck am I doing?!" smile!

Conclusion: It was actually kind of fun and I felt like I was Harry Potter, casting spells with my wand. "Expelliarmus!!"

We had some fun with the camera settings to get these cool shots of sparkler writing...

And, of course, I got lots of pictures of the spectators enjoying the show and trying to keep warm!

Love these boys of mine!

He never seems to be far from his snack bowl!

Ha ha! See? I had fun with these two throughout the night!

Love this shot!

Me and two of my best friends in WA - Vicki and Jenn D.

The happy couple!

We had a great time with all our WA friends this year - even if they did tease me all night about not being here last year {I was in Utah with my mom and sisters}! Sorry Mom and Dad, I think we have a new 4th of July tradition so you're going to have to come up here. Pretty sure Lizzy won't mind one bit!

New Blog Header... You Like?

Well, it was time for a change on the ol' blog... I should be finishing a new post, but my creativity got the better of me!

All the pictures are from this summer except the family picture {that's from Ethan's birthday, obviously, and my favorite recent family pic} and the summer smoochin' pic of Sean and I {that's from last summer}.I am loving the picture of Ethan in the water with the life-jacket, the "I [heart] U" is from the 4th of July {almost done w/ that post} and I had to pay homage to one of my fave downtime activities in the summer - reading outside in my cute shades and w/ a cold drink! :) Oh, and the background picture is from our favorite summer hang-out spot. Don't you love the kid in the upper right corners shooting the stream of water?

First Testimony

I want to hurry and get this down before I forget, because I'm already forgetting the exact wording... Today, Ethan was almost desperate to bear his testimony for fast and testimony meeting at church. He asked me if you had to raise your hand to go up to talk. Then he asked who got to go up and said he wanted to go. So I asked him what he would say and then we talked a little about what a testimony is {in very simple terms}. Of course, once he decided to go up, there were quite a few ahead of him. Finally it was his turn, but by then he'd lost his nerve, so I bore my testimony {something I had already planned on doing} and when I was finished {and with a little coaxing} Ethan gave his testimony. It went something like this:

"I'd like to bear my testimony. I love my Heavenly Father. I know the church is true. I'm thankful for Primary. I love my family. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

Oh, and cute side-story: While I was bearing my testimony I started to cry {surprise, surprise} and Ethan reached out, got a tissue and handed it to me. Pretty sure, there was a collective "aaahhh" from the congregation. :)

Mani-Pedi

My apologies for another week-long break between posts. I tried, really I did. But I was at my parents' house and couldn't get my pictures to load up and wasted hours trying to finish up my 4th of July post. So, so frustrating! But I am back home now and should have several good posts this week, so stay tuned!! Today's is just a quick one...

Last weekend, while our friend Vicki was in HAWAII!!!!, two of my other friends and I went for Pedicures! This was only my second time getting a spa pedicure and I am totally convinced it is splurge-worthy a few times a year. The rest of the time, well, I can do a pretty dang-good job painting my own toenails! Everything was going really well (even though the scrub tickled my feet a little) until she was filing my nails... well, it wasn't until later that evening, when my big toe was still stinging a little, that I realized the corner of the nail file had sliced across the top of my toe - the entire length of the nail. OW! Think 1/2 inch long paper-cut across your toe. Yeah, not cool. Anyway, the end result was good though. The three of us all went with the same base color and then Keri and Jenn had their designs painted on. Mine are just some of those nail stickers you can buy with a layer of top-coat. The designs totally match our personalities. :) Jenn's are the stripes and Keri's are the polka dots.
And, of course, every time I get my nails done it reminds me of Anjelah Johnson's nail salon comedy!