Fourth Festivities

 Just like last year, we went to Marty's Fourth of July Party. We listened to my dad and his "band" (I add quotations because he always says he's not in a band) play some fun songs and listen to some original songs that my dad and Marty wrote.

 We had a blast listening to music,

 hanging out with the fam (like awesome Presley)(and awesome Carrie).

 The kids played in bounce houses, ran through the misting tent, and had ice cream and Popsicles.

 And to top it all off, we were able to see the Smyrna city fireworks. Can you tell that William was totally into them this year?

 The party was on the third, so on the night of the fourth, we may or may not have had fireworks in our backyard. Just saying. Carrie and I worked hard to get these bandanna skirts finished in time for the fourth of July. I am super pleased with how they turned out and am glad Carrie was up to making them.



The Month of June

 We have had a blast so far this summer. We've been super busy and we LOVED having family come to visit. Carrie and Nathan and their awesome girls Raven, Tessa, and Presley, all came to Tennessee from Utah. Carrie and the girls were able to stay for a month while Nathan went back to Utah for work. A month does seem like a long time, but it flew by too fast and I am so sad that it's already over. We had so much fun together. We took the kids to Chuck E. Cheese.

 We went down to Memphis to see Jamie and Katie. It was fun to take a small "road trip" and to stay up late watching chick flicks with the gals.

 Jamie's boyfriend is a fireman. Pretty cool, right? So, we took the kids to the fire hall to look around and so that the Utahans could meet Brian. It was a lot of fun to see what a lot of the things do on the trucks.

 And my kids wanted to wear Brian's helmet. Yeah, that sucker is heavy and William's head wobbled trying to balance it!

 We went to Main Street Toy Company, which is owned by my cousin and looked at the cool, vintage toys they have there and spent way too much money!

 Of course we went to the zoo. All the kids rode on the train, even Presley who couldn't make up her mind. And even Tessa who said from the beginning she didn't want to. It was SUPER hot the day we went and after kids complaining and a heat rash appearing on Presley's legs.. it was time to go.

 Grandma and Grandpa took the kids to Toot's restaurant. I don't think I need to explain why the kids thought this was hilarious. But, they did keep saying that they "ate toots for lunch." Good times.

I have many more pictures of the haps that went on while Carrie and the girls were here, but I have to wait for my camera battery to charge.

The Fourth

Happy Fourth of July!!

Vacation Finale, Finally

 It has taken FOREVER to get through a weekend vacation! Our final visit in DC was to go to the White House. We didn't take a tour and actually by this time, we only wanted to see the outside and go home and rest.

 By this time, Lily had taken over Olivia's stroller..

 And Olivia was on Matthew's shoulders!

 The next day, we headed out, but not without saying goodbye.

 We loved seeing Grandma and Grandpa. It was so good to catch up and get all the hugs we could.

 You'll just have to forgive my kids in both of these pictures... sometimes they are crazy!

 Jacob and Allison were awesome hosts. It was fun to see them in Virginia. They're on their way to medical school in Pennsylvania this summer! We're excited that they still won't be too far away so we can visit again soon!

 William and Lily wanted to hold sweet baby Reed. William held him for a little while, but Lily only held him long enough to take a picture. And then she was done.

When we were getting in the car, Olivia decided she was going to come with us! It was so great to see some of Matthew's side of the family. It has definitely been too long! We need to start planning another trip!

Vacation Part 3

 Here is the Lincoln Memorial from the outside.

 When we were walking up to the building, the park police came trotting by on their horses. Lily almost had a heart attack. So, we went up to them and waited our turn (there were a surprising numbers of adults who wanted their picture taken with the horse) for Lily to pet the horse. While this horse was biting at some of the other people, he was leaning into Lily and was being so nice to her. Maybe I have a horse whisperer on my hands. I think riding lessons will be in her future.

 Okay, so guys... I'll be honest, I had a little bit of anxiety the night before we went to DC because I was worried about the big statue of Lincoln. This is something you might not know about me or understand because frankly, it is weird, but I am scared of statues. I am laughing to myself for admitting this, so it's okay if you just laughed too. Well, I think I hyped myself up for this ginormous thing that I was a little relieved when I saw the real thing. For real, it is huge. But, not as big as you would think. I mean, I was brave enough to take a picture with it.

 From the top of the stairs in front of the memorial, you can see the Reflection Pool (which they're in the process of repairing), the World War II Memorial, and the Washington Monument.

And here is a sweet picture of Grandma (or Nana as William has decided last minute to call her) with all of the grand babies that were at DC.

Vacation Part 2

My favorite Memorial in DC was the World War II Memorial.

To me, it seemed to have the most spiritual connection that made my hear swell.

I'm sure that it helped that there was a high school band playing songs of our country and all of the military songs. There were Veterans there in wheelchairs. I was proud to know that Big Daddy served with the men that were there and he was a part of this.

One star was representative of 1,000 soldiers who died during the war. There were over 4,000 stars on this wall. The number of soldiers who died in this war is only second to the Civil War.

"Here we mark the price of Freedom"

There wasn't any way to get the entire wall in one picture without getting lots of people in it. I really just wanted to get a picture of the words. When I read them, it hit me like a ton of bricks. So many men and women were killed so that I could be free. Not really a new revelation, but the way that it is represented is so literal. I honestly had to take a second to hold back tears. I had a knot in my throat until we left.

Here's the wreath for Utah..

And Tennessee.

I loved having the opportunity to go here. It has made me have more love and gratitude for our freedom. I've been feeling very blessed to live in the land of promise.

Memorial Day

 Before I went on about the Memorials of our country, I wanted to share some pictures and thoughts about Memorial Day here. We went to see my grandparent's grave and other family who were buried around them also. Grandmama passed away last June and Memorial Day was the first time that I had gone to her grave since she's passed. It was special to see her name next to my grandpa's (Big Daddy) and know that she is happy where she is.

 We brought paper and crayons for the kids. They ran the crayons over the engravings on the foot

stones and the names became clear as day on the paper. It was fun for them to go to each one.

 Grandmama and Big Daddy are buried side by side. Grandmama's parents are buried on the other side of her. Grandmama's grandparents are buried on the other side of the head stone next to my uncle who passed away before I was born.

I know I made a comment of how cool it is to see the memorials for the people who have made this nation, but it was so great to show love and remember our family members who have passed and are doing remarkable work on the other side. These wonderful people have served our country and our church with their whole hearts. I'm proud to be a descendant of such people. I know they are near and can only hope that I can live up to their example and expectations of me.

We have a Brunson Family Reunion on Sunday and I'm excited to reminisce of those who have built our family.