Happy Independance Day!

We had a fabulous 4th! It consisted of starting out the day at 6 am so I could run the 5k. It felt great, although I have to admit I did stop and walk for a little bit. I did not realize we would end running up hill on 9th east in Provo for those of who know that hill. Needless to say I was not mentally prepared for that. But it was fun to have a goal towards which I could work.

We watched the parade and had fun with family. Adam then went golfing while I and the kids recuperated at home for the afternoon. That evening, we had a swim/ bbq party at my parents.

My mom was on the Colonial Days Committee for the city festivities and therefore had to spend much of the weekend down town dressed up as a women for colonial times. Her costume was great, but I think if she wanted to give it even more affect, she should have gotten rid of her hair highlights and not worn any makeup.



Here are our patriotic children. (Tim, holding Caleb, is my little brother and obviously not one of our children but nonetheless quite patriotic...)



(Thanks to Shiloh for Lucy's cute outfit. It was perfect!)


On a side note, I planted some flowers this year trying to make our house look more like it is inhabited by people who care. It was really fun. I stuck with mainly pansies because I do not have a green thumb at all and I know that they are really strong flowers. There are garden plots on both sides of our porch. The east side has been flourishing wonderfully...




... whereas the west side is anything but flourishing. I'm not quite sure why. We treat it the same. It does get less sun than the east side because of our roof but not enough that I would expect these shabby results.




Oh well, I've learned my lesson. I've been using this rental house to experiment with my gardening skills, learning by trial and error. Two years in a row now I've planted our beans way too deep so only 3 or 4 end up sprouting. I do well with tomatoes and peppers (but who doesn't). I was faithless when planting our corn, thinking that it wouldn't work but we have two lush rows growing quite well. I'm excited for those. You get to eat the delicious fruits of your labors and in the fall, you can tie up the dried stalks and use them for cute harvest decorations on your porch. You just can't go wrong with corn!