Happy 4th of July 2008

We woke up this morning to my Dad telling us to come look at something on the window. This is what we saw. This little green frog was all curled up and suctioned to the window.

When we opened the door, he spread out, and it was SO COOL to see him on both sides of the glass. The little suction cups on the bottoms of his feet were awesome to see. He also had this little thorn looking thing on his back. I got close with my camera to take a picture and he jumped to the side of the house and I screamed, b/c it scared me. But it was still really cool to look at him. He was such a bright green!

The Monzingos came over to swim and BBQ, so we spent the morning getting stuff ready. This pasta salad was SO EASY! It was just curly round pasta w/ a bottle of Italian dressing on it w/ a red bell pepper and some broccoli in it. As you can see from the brown little hand reaching into the bowl, Autumn was LOVING it. I do have to admit that it was pretty darn tasty.

I made these sheet cake eclairs (which were super easy) for dessert.

This was just 1/2 of the food we had. We had quite the spread w/ bratwurst, hot dogs, baked beans, chips and salsa, potato salad, pasta salad, cantaloupe, the juiciest and tastiest watermelon, etc. It was such a yummy feast. We just swam and ate and swam some more.

Autumn took a nap and when she woke up, we went over to see Uncle Curt, b/c she was asleep when he came over to say hi. I got this ADORABLE headband at the $1 Spot at Target...what a find! She was just so festive for the 4th.

Around 9 pm we headed over to one of my Dad's clinics and met up with him and drove over to an open field to watch the fireworks. We just sat in the back of the Durango, and we also had some blankets so we could sit on the ground.

The fireworks were great, and we could see the fireworks from 4 different cities from where we were sitting. It was pretty amazing. And what was nice was that we were far enough away that we didn't hear the loud booms. I was worried that it might scare Autumn. But, as you can see from this PRECIOUS picture, she had a blast. She just sat and stared at the fireworks and loved them. She did this on her own, and put her little arms around Grandpa and Grammy. It's like she's saying, "Hey, thanks for bringing me here. Y'all are just the best ever!"

I have a real appreciation for the 4th of July. My Dad was in the Army for 12 years, so I've been around military people a lot of my life. I am so thankful for the men and women who serve in the Armed Forces. They suffer so much just so we can have the freedoms we do. I am so grateful for their sacrifice. I know America definitely has it's problems, but I count it as a huge blessing to live in this great country.

HAPPY 4th OF JULY 2008!!!