The 4th of July in Good Old Carnation

Our 4th, as always, started out with the fun run. Here's "old Grandma" as Paige refers to me wrapping up the 5K
And Nellie and Emilee

Our friend, Anders Sjavik, who has lost @ 100 lbs. did the run too, so here we are in an "after" picture (Nellie had to get home fast to get ready for the float that she was to ride on). You gotta love those pit rings . . . It was HOT!!

The group waiting for the parade. Jen's crew was smart and brought umbrellas for shade - it was busting hot that day.

I didn't end up with pictures of everyone but I tried :)

Melissa and Nellie rode on a float honoring the boy from our ward who died on the last day of school (6-19-09) in a car accident. Josh loved to run and was very good at it so the fun run was dedicated to him this year. Special Care Agency is also hosting another 5K in his honor August 29th if you're interested.

Kaisa was able to reunite that day with a friend from 1st/2nd grade, Christy Luidhart (and her friend).

Calley's brother, Toby, came along for the "ride" that day . . . I hope he's not scarred for life :)

Only in Carnation - ya gotta love our little town ")

Then after some strawberry shortcake at the Senior Center, most of us went back to our house and Jen started her face painting. Good thing she had all that experience working for Clowns Unlimited so long ago huh?

Gracie chose a butterfly

Miss Summer wanted to be a dog like Daisy. Notice her tongue.

Tanner had a train on his arm. I had a better picture but it was just of his arm and I wanted to get his face too.

Druschba had a shooting star

Nellie a patriotic star

Nellie's friend, Linda, had some fireworks on her hand

Gracie painted my star, and Jen did some fireworks on the other side. I believe that Gracie also took the picture (please excuse my apron).

Ryan was actually the artist here - pretty good huh? Love the grin :)

Then we went to our friend's, and neighbor's, the Quist's, for our traditional barbecue. We've done this the last 17 years. Carl is the happy barbecue guy and always does such a good job. Too bad I didn't get a picture of all the good food :)

Laurie and co. had filled water balloons for a friendly game of water balloon "toss", which of course ended up being an all out war . . . throwing people in the kiddie pool, using the hose and etc. I tell ya, there's never a dull moment with this group!

Lee's blackberry and pager ended up getting wet (OOPS) so Laurie had been told by Verizon that if that happened, to put them in rice to help absorb the moisture - so that's what you see here. I'm happy to report that the blackberry is cured, but the pager is being a little more "sensitive".

At dusk we went to watch Carnation's beautiful display of fireworks! It was the perfect end to a fun filled day. Lee, Nellie, Linda, Kaisa and Billy went around town after that to "bust" people who were doing fireworks, since they're banned in our town, and didn't find much - THANK HEAVENS!! It was a good day :)

Then . . .

Naughty Chad came down after church today, thinking he was SOOOOO funny in a TINY shirt and some whitey tightys . . . for the shock value, of course - to get a reaction - so I told him I was taking his picture and would blog it. He quickly tried to run away - but I got him anyway. In Lee Soptich fashion, he later said "I don't care, go ahead and take a picture", so I did, but will spare you that one :). This one gets the point acrossed. Click on the picture and look at his face - it's pretty funny. I think he's shocked that I really did it. Kids are fun "). Like I said, never a dull moment.

The End

Daisy's "roof" and Grandma Great

Daisy's house is slowly getting the finishing touches - Lee found a hot deal on shingles off Craigslist so he decided to finish Daisy's roof . . . he was a little frustrated though because he didn't QUITE have enough to do it right, and ended up having to piece it together. I assured him that it was a dog house and that Daisy wouldn't care :). Now when we reside our house we can finish her siding and get it painted.

We tried to have a last minute ice cream party last night, while Grandma Great was here, but only 3 people came . . . tough crowd I guess :). We've enjoyed having Grandma here, but I think we may be wearing on her a bit ") . We drug her around to tour Emilee's house, Jen's house and Scott's house - and then on to Remlinger Farms. We ended up getting her belated Mother's Day gifts there (hanging basket for flowers and some peach raspberry freezer jam) - this way she got to choose her own gifts.

Her arthritis has been giving her some problems (probably all the stairs she's been climbing) so we've been using the rice bag like crazy! Hopefully she'll recoup from her visit here with us - we're sure glad she came ;)

Grandma Soptich/DeGraw, Aunt Connie, cousin Sarah, and a Hair Party!

Grandma Soptich/DeGraw came for a little visit via Aunt Connie on her way to work at the temple, so we decided to have ourselves a hair party :)

Nellie had her hair colored and trimmed

Here's her finished product - Emilee was trying to get her to let her hair down and show a little spunk/sass . . . but sometimes Nellie gets a little bit nervous and embarrassed about doing that :)

Here's Jen getting a total make over and going short

Jen's finished product - SO cute! It shows off her pretty face.

. . . whoops a daisy - Emilee brought up the fact that she was the only daughter that didn't get her picture taken - and decided to just "suck on her straw" (inside joke)

Emilee's finished product; a trim and a few new bangs

3 (of my 4) beautiful daughters - what a lucky Mom I am.

And last but not least, here's a little shot of Mr. Raccoon that loves to come and eat Daisy's leftover dog food when we forget to bring it in at night - maybe he/she wanted a make over too ")

Father's Day Bash 2009

Jennifer made all the "Dad's" special bow ties for Father's Day, so here's a shot of all the handsome Dad's (Tyson, Lee, Paul and Ryan) . . .
. . . and 1 "wanna be" Dad with borrowed children. I HAD to ask old Billy if he thought he'd be in the Dad's group by next Father's Day - he said he wasn't sure about that :)
We enjoyed a scrumptious potluck with strawberry shortcake for dessert.

and the "helpers" descend

Here's Calley feeding the beggar babies.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!