Our Fourth of July Weekend 2009

Proof that we saw the fireworks from our backyard
(Why else would we post a picture with a tree in the way? :)

As Saturday and the 4th approached, Amanda remembered her training from our little home preschool and realized that Independence Day was coming. She was very excited to go with us to see the parade in the morning. The theme this year was "There's No Place Like Home" and the three floats we saw (in the midst of classic cars and various community and school groups) were all Wizard of Oz themed. One of them by a local Catholic school had a fantastic setup with a small Emerald City, Dorthy's crashed house, a yellow brick road, and a rainbow bearing the words "Because of the wonderful things HE does." The whole Emerald city thing was particularly interesting to Mom, since where we were before here was Seattle, nicknamed "The Emerald City." So, does that mean that we actually live in Kansas? Isn't that where Dorothy went after she was in Emerald City? Unless of course this is the forest with the flying monkeys . . . we did see a couple of those in the parade, and sometimes it feels like we have our own here. :)

Speaking of Seattle, it's move in season here, and one of the new families this week is a family who was in our ward in Seattle way back when. Talk about a small world . . .

All in all, it was a pretty good weekend. We saw the fireworks from our back yard, and somehow all the kids slept through them, thank goodness. Mom actually got the Relief Society Newsletter out in a relatively time manner, and Amanda gave her first talk in Primary. Curtis continues to cuten, Jared is doing well in nursery and loves to play with rocks (we had to stop several times on the way home from the parade for him to do so), and Dan is continuing to survive scholastically. So, here's to the new week!