Independence Day

Well, I'll just say this, it was a good thing we didn't have many plans for the 4th because we woke bright and early to the pungent smell of dog diarrhea. The smell literally woke me up. It was like being punched in the face with a sack of dog poop. Dave and I went downstairs to inspect and sure enough, there lay piles of poop from one end of the playroom to the other. The other being right next to the air intake, which caused the entire house to smell. Dave shoveled it up while I tried to figure out what we were going to do about the carpet. Dave said to me, "When your first weapon of choice to clean the house is a shovel, it's not gonna be a fun clean up." Once he had the piles up, I started on the spot cleaning and sent Dave to Lowe's to rent a carpet cleaner. We had been meaning to clean the carpets for months now, but hadn't anticipated having to do it due to dog feces. We spent the next few hours moving EVERYTHING from the playroom to the garage and shampooing the carpets. And then everything had to be moved back into the house. 

Finally, I was able to shower and get ready, and, of course, get started on our 4th of July meal. This year we had a small celebration but I made A LOT of food. We had burgers, chips, watermelon, corn on the cob, a vegetable platter, and root beer. My mom came to town to do some work in the lab at BYU, so she came on the 4th and I picked her up from the train station after dinner. She ate and then we all went out to the cul-de-sac to start on fireworks. 

Side Note:

We have new neighbors, the Baileys, to the left of us who moved here from Indiana. They've become pretty much our only friends in the neighborhood. Shawna is really fun to talk to, she's upbeat and positive. She and I go out once a month just for a girls night, which is really fun and a nice break from so much testosterone in our lives, ha ha! Her husband, Neil, is a nice guy and really wants to go fishing with Dave but their schedules are completely different, so it's hard to find a day to go. They have two boys, Braedan, (7) and Colin (8 months). Braedan and Jett have become best buddies. Braedan really enjoys hanging out at our house and it sometimes seems like he's become our 4th son since he's over quite often and even eats meals with us sometimes. Both of our families like to get together and go to the pool or to a museum or get ice cream. It's so nice to have friends! 

Anyway, Dave started the night with some water rockets and then we sat out front with the Bailey's and did our own fireworks and then watched giant fireworks shows all around us! We busted out the glow sticks, and the kids were making giant necklaces, light sabers, etc. It's always a good Independence Day in a cul-de-sac!

Shawna, her adorable baby Colin, and her husband Neil