4th of July celebrations...

Our fourth of July celebrations deserve a post in and of themselves. We had a jam packed day and LOTS of fun! Of course, my mother-in-law went all out to make it extra special and of course, I am over a month behind in posting about it! :)

We started off the day swimming. (the pool that we got kicked out of, even though my Mother in law was a member of the club-we won't get into that right now!) We had SO much fun. All of Ben's siblings were there and all of our nieces and nephews-that's 24 Pypers!! We had a great time! :)

Tucker was a little fish down there, the loved the water and was swimming away with his floaties on!

Here is Ben doing a flip...he needs to get more height, he kept on landing on his back! ouch!

Tucker wanted to jump in, just like his daddy, so Ben kind of threw him in and he loved it! I wish I could get him to swim this good when we go to the water park up here!

After swimming, we came home and had a little birthday party for two of our nephews with June birthdays. While we were swimming, grandma decked the house in red, white and blue!

All of the cousins eating some delicious cake and home made ice-cream for lunch! :) It doesn't get better than that!

Tucker just dug right in and went to town on the frosting-that's my boy!

We then headed outside for pinata time! That was a big HIT! (pun intended. I know... I'm funny!)

The birthday boys getting first whacks at it...

And finally, the loot...

Uncle Ryley finishing off the pinata once and for all...

Aunt Meg & Meribeth helping kids with all the candy and toys...

Jonah and his bubbles, he LOVES bubbles! :)

After the pinata it was too hot to stay outside, so the kids watched a flick while we got the food ready! I can't believe how we are all starting to fill this house up so fast! :)

Ben and his dad grilling for our delicious BBQ...

Grandpa and his coke zero!

After our BBQ we had a 4th of July parade around grandma & grandpa's house.

Tucker and Jonah getting ready for the parade...

Aunt Meri has her parade-mobile all ready... :)

Waiting for the parade to begin...

Laura & her kids...

Lynlee & her kids...

Terra & Teddy...

Tuck & I...

After some mishaps with the other riding machines, they all decided to pile into the wagon and be pulled by the tractor...

And they finally finished around the other side of the house...it was quite the adventure! :)

Josh pulling Tucker...

Tucker pulling Josh...

And then the water balloons came out and it was WAR! Ben against all of us... It was a pretty easy victory for us, except for the fact that Ben got on the roof with the hose, so we all got drenched! :)

And finally, after all of us getting soaking wet, we went out to the culd-e-sac and had a little firework show of our own, put on by our very own Uncle Ben! :)

It was a great day and we were so happy that we got to celebrate our country and freedoms with the ones we love!

Our stint in the south...part I

Well, its been well over 2 weeks that we've been home from Alabama, but I get overwhelmed even thinking about blogging about it, so I have put it off and put it off....And here it is 2 nights before I head out for Girls Camp and I am blogging. Yes, I should be packing, or doing laundry, but I find that this is the time, for some strange reason, that I sit down at the computer to blog. Go figure! :) I really need to get caught up. Not only from our two and a half weeks in Alabama, but from the other two and a half weeks that we have been home now. I feel like I have been a hermit in my house this last little while. Still trying to catch up on sleep. Yet here I find myself, with a new thing to prepare for and pack for. :)

Alabama was a blast! We had such a great time. The very first day we got there, there was a huge thunderstorm. A southern storm! You can't tell from these pictures, but it was pouring! It was so strange to me that it was a thunderstorm yet, still 100 degrees outside. I usually associate rain and thunderstorms with cool weather. Not so in the south! :)





Grandma and Grandpa are so good to us down there. All 5 of Ben's siblings were there and we had a grand 4th of July celebration the first week we were there, while everyone was there. Tucker loved loved loved having all 11 of his cousins to play with and loved trying to keep up with the older boys. Grandmas house in and of itself is a pretty awesome place with TONS to do and lots of space to explore. Tucker was in heaven there! He especially loved Toby and Millie, their 2 dogs. In fact, he still remembers them in his prayers. They come right after mom and dad in the blessing line up, so they are pretty high on his list! :) Just at Grandma's house alone, some of the things we did were:
Countless rides around the front porch on the John Deere. Tucker loved this thing!!!



Getting hauled around in the real John Deere:



Feeding the fish every day was a must:

Tucker became a pro, just look at that form for throwing the food in the water. I think that this was the best these fishies had ever been fed! :)

Catching tree-frogs. There were a TON of them and this was a favorite past-time.

This one actually stayed in Tuckers hands long enough for a picture. They were usually pretty quick buggers...

Lots of good ol' fashioned Nature walks with grandma...

Picking tomatoes... My father-in-law has a big beautiful garden...



Aunt Meggie made us slushies one day to try and cool down from the heat!



So, its getting late and I still have like 500 pictures from Alabama to go through, so this post will have to be continued after I get back from Girls Camp. Some things to look forward to during the rest of our time in Alabama include:

• 1 trip to the beach
• 1 photoshoot
• 4 vomit fests
• 4 different states
• 1 surgery
• 1 call to poison control
• 1 4th of July parade
• 1 water fight
• 1 child falling into the pond!
• 1 cemetery visit
• 1 trip to the zoo
• A few trips to the park
• 2 attempted trips to six-flags
• A few bad movies
• A few good movies
• 2 movies in the theatre with grandpa
• 1 talent show
• 1 dinner with Bens old friends from High-school
• Way too many late nights
• A little bit of shopping-would liked to have done more! :)
• Getting kicked out of 1 pool
• Finding a few others that would do :)
• A few boggle games
• Countless small southern towns driven through :)
• Only a few melt downs...
• And lots and lots of yummy food

Make sure and stay posted for the rest of the Alabama saga... It only gets better from here! :) As for me, I'm off to Camp Liahona, the same camp that I went to as a Young Woman growing up, and we will see how the blogging world fits into my schedule when I get home. I have every intention of blogging for my posterity, I'm just not sure I can always muster up the energy to go through all of these dang pictures I have here! :)