4th of July

 Ben, our local dignitary, was invited to be in the 4th of July parade again this year.  It's surely become a tradition for the kids to ride with him in the parade.  This year they didn't have a truck with enough room for the kids to tag along, so we took our own car, and I drove while Ben and the kids waved.  Looking back at pictures from previous parades, it's so fun to see how our little town has grown.  The number of parade participants is a good indication of how fast we're growing and how family friendly Mountain House is.  I always get a little misty-eyed, so happy to call this place home.  It was fun to ride in the parade this year and to see all the familiar faces.

 Towards the end of the parade route Ammon had had enough waving and needed a snack.  We were idling down the road at a snail's pace so I went ahead and nursed him while driving the last leg.  Some friends of mine that noticed (hopefully no one else did!) yelled out "Nice multitasking Danelle!"  It was pretty funny.

Afterwards we went to a BBQ at our friends' house.  They live on our old court and it was fun to hang out on our old stomping ground.

 The kids played and the grown-ups chatted.  There were two kiddie pools.  This one was dubbed the relaxing pool and the bigger kids would kick out any little kid that splashed.

We just love our ward (church congregation).  They're like family.  It was fun to visit with some new faces, and catch up with some old ones.  I feel really blessed to have such great people in our lives.

My friend Erin, the party host.  She throws awesome parties.  We're already looking forward to her Halloween one.

It was HOT!  Poor Ammon really wanted to swim.

Erin's husband Adam.  

Meilani made a new friend Reiley.

My friend Becky and her son Sam.  I love this lady!  She's been my counselor in Young Women's and is seriously the best.  I'm so glad to have the opportunity to work with her and to get to know her sweet family better.  She's such an example to me and is always there to help, foreseeing the need and acting on it.

After the BBQ we went over to Amador where Ben was the summer school principal for the high school again this year.  I love that he has keys to that big ol' pool.  We swam there several times this summer.

Ammon loves the water.  He can almost float on his back.

Liam

Dad and Seth

Seth doesn't like not being able to touch the bottom of the pool so he spends most of the time at Amador in the outdoor shower while the rest of us swim.

Eli  taking the plunge off the high dive.  He's always the first one to do it.

Sariah getting brave.

Meilani practicing her front flip.  I think she slapped her thighs pretty good on this one.

Sariah learned to dive this summer.  We had lots of practice at Amador.

A couple in our ward who have grown children invited those of us with young kids over to do fireworks when they realized that we all live in an area where fireworks aren't allowed.  I'm not sure they were expecting such a huge turnout, but we all had fun.  

We went to buy some fireworks to contribute.  I thought we'd get $20 worth of sparklers.  Ben ended up getting a $100 box.  I decided not to be mad, reasoning that I could now easily justify purchasing those nice frames I'd been eyeing.

There was a beautiful full moon in the background illuminating a fun filled night.

An awesome way to celebrate our nations birthday.