4th of July

I really wanted to take the dog on a hike, so we packed up the kids, the dog and our gear and headed out for a 4th of July hike at Castle wood Cannon. We all had fun and made better time then last time we went out. About 10 minutes in Tori said, all done Mommy, however she had to stay on my back for about another 1 1/2 hours. She wasn't too happy, but when we put here down she would just wonder around and yell when we told her to go with us.
Cassey did great and we even let her go in the water and swim a bit (more like soak her under body and take a drink. I really didn't want her to get in and wet and stinky, but when I saw all the other dogs, I felt sorry for her and caved under peer pressure of strangers.
When we got home, we ate and stuck the kids and dog in the bath (separately) and got all cleaned up and cleaned the house before the family got there.

We had a great 4th of July/birthday party for lots of our family. We had it at our house which was nice, because it was so hot out that we all stayed in until it started to cool down about 6. Judd, Rachel and Grant made a pinata for Grant's birthday and used the tree to set up.Grant got first crack since he was the birthday boy.


Tori took a couple of swings at it. She didn't do much damage though.

Last of the kids was Jakob, since he was more likely to do some damage.
Here are all the kids lined up ready to go grab their loot when the next person takes a stab at it...

Yet Tori, took one of the lightsabers to it, may the force be with her.
The girls got some good loot once it was broken.
Then we did birthday presents for Elise and Jeff...Judd, Grant and Reta...

and Chris (sorry no pictures of him).

I had to add this one to the blog, this is Aubree, look how big she is, if you notice Elisa a couple of pictures back, they are due at the same time. Poor thing she looks ready to have that baby today and still 3 months to go!

Then we went in for cake and homemade ice cream (strawberry, thanks Mom)!!
We couldn't do fireworks at our house so we did battle with the lightsabers. Since Jeff sells them, through his lifesabers company he was able to bring lots for the battles in the backyard. They were really cool and looked good in the dark and the sounds were just like you hear in the movie.

Thanks Jeff!!
Abby tried to take out Grandma, but wasn't successful.

All in all it was a lot of fun. Tori and Abby didn't get to bed until after 10, not bad for Abby, but Tori usually goes to bed at 7ish, so that was really late. Guess we will all be sleeping in tomorrow.