4th of JULY!

I know I'm a little late, but I thought I'd give u a break after all the FR posts.

I LOVE the 4th of July! I'm only sad we never got a chance to do concrete with Dad. I know Emily, Mom and Aaron aren't :-).

Emily and I went to NM cuz Mom was so excited for us to be there. Every year, the ward has a community carnival on the back lawn after a small parade around the block. Kids decorate their bikes and follow the fire engine. Many many moons ago a band made up of YM/YW kids that would lead out on a flatbed trailer followed by walkers (I remember dressing up as a pioneer and Clareann went as a box of cereal) and then a couple of bikes. It has now come along way from being a small Primary activity! They never make an actual count, but tell us how many snow cones they give out. I'm not sure how many there was this year.

Ever since I became a YA, I have participated in face painting... even when I wasn't there! (here in Vegas I took my paints to a BBQ and painted all the little kids faces)

Here I am, while Emily is waiting for a customer. (Aaron had the camera so I kept having to remind him to take pictures!)
Ah.. There she has one!
She also did my face... And Aaron's (a self portrait) Grandma let me do her face

And I thought Dad looked great with a head full of stars :-) That afternoon, we made ice cream and Mom's famous potato salad. Then we headed over to Aunt Lynns for a picnic on her back lawn and to watch the Shriners fireworks. There were lots of people there including the Painters but of course I didn't get any pictures.

Just at the end, I took a picture wiht my flash of Mom, Emily, and Grandma (see that bracelet on Grandma? I made it for her. I'm a pretty great granddaughter)I love being with my family and wish the rest of u coulda been there!

Last funny story. After the fireworks, there is a terrible bottleneck of everyone trying to go home and so we usually wait a bit before we head out. Aunt Lynn lives in a culdesac where the neighbors gather to shoot off fireworks where everyone can enjoy them. Dad was about going crazy worrying about the fireworks messing with his NEW truck so finally Mom told him to take Grandma home. We would catch a ride with Aunt Nola. I had ridden my bike (no room for us all in the truck) so after a little bit, I rode up to the end of Aunt Lynn's street to see him waiting there with all the other cars. Poor Dad. But at least his new SUPER DUTY truck was safe :-) Of course, I just want to mention that I got home before the rest of the crew even though I left only a few moments before they did. Yes, I'm pretty awesome.