The 4th in St. G.

We went on a last minute trip to St. George, without Paul.  Addie flew home with Mimi, and then Garrett and I drove up the next day and met everyone.  Paul was volunteering at a fundraiser firework stand a lot during the week, and he was on call on the 4th and had to work that Saturday.  We were sad to leave him behind, but we were happy to go because we wouldn't have seen much of him anyway.  But we managed to fit in a little facetime on the trip.  Addie was a camera hog.

We got there the evening of the 3rd, and it was super hot.  Taylor had just bought an above ground pool and was starting to fill it when we got there.  The kids were too hot and too impatient to wait till it was full, or for it to be light outside, or for me to dig out their swim suits, so we let them get in and splash around.

The morning of the 4th we went to an early morning town breakfast.  It was already way too hot.  We were all trying to hang in there for the parade, but Baby Will was having a hard time.  We called it a day and headed to the pool.  (I say we left because of Baby Will, but we were all more than happy to get home to AC and water.)

Aww!!  The pool!!  This thing was a lie saver.  Most of our time was spent playing in it.

 My little Harley Babies.

 Garrett thought he was so funny "Eatin' the bacon!"

 "I'm lightning McQueen! Ka Chow!"

 Even Baby Will took a dip. And he loved it.

 My brave child.  Climbs the ladder and jumps right in!

We turned our 4th barbecue into a mini retirement party for my dad.  He retired last week after 42 years of government and military service.

These two love their cousin.  He seemed to like them, too.

 Garrett is a rock solid sleeper.  He slept in the living room all three nights, right by where the adults were watching movies and playing games.  It didn't phase him at all.  

Addie and William were asleep before firework shows started, so we left the men with the babies, and us girls took Garrett to a show.  This is the first year he's been awake to watch, and he was mesmerized.

William had a little scare one night while Samira was putting his pajamas on, and his G tube came out.  It was pretty intense for a few minutes, and a home health care nurse was on the way to help, but they were able to calm him down enough to get it back in without needing to go to the ER.

We did our own show on the 5th in the driveway.  I've decided I'm really bad at picking fireworks.  Taylor said, "You may as well just put gun powder on your money."  What-evs, it was still fun.  Addie and I tried to take a picture of ourselves, but it was too dark, and the flash was too bright, we couldn't keep our eyes open!

 I finally got Addie's tattoo off in the pool.  This one lasted so long that it left a tan line.

I was dreading the drive home but the kids did awesome.  We only stopped once for gas and chicken nuggets.

It was good to be home after a fun time with family, and back to back trips for me.  I finally finished unpacking tonight, from both vacations.