Zinn's Ranch

We went up to the Zinn's Ranch again for the firework show. It's so awesome! (except super chilly!) We love it. It is so nice of them to do it and invite others up.

4th of July Fights

We got into lots of FIGHTS this Holiday!!

Brett & the kids found these Bubble Balls. They all had Bubble Wars together. Too funny!

The Bubble Balls lastest about a week & a half then they started leaking at the seems. Shoot! 

We'll have to save up for the heavy duty ones online.

We told the kids that we would have a Food Fight with them sometime.Well... today was the day!!! We got everyone a large container of cool whip as their weapon.

Here's the end result- Seamons covered in Whip Topping:

Immediately after the whipped topping was gone- we started into a Water Fight. The kids had helped blow up tons of water balloons plus we had the little pool filled and stocked with our squirters. Good times!

Happy 4th!

Happy 4th of July! {Warning: Tiny pity party here for a minute----} We love the 4th of July and we just got out all our cool red, white & blue decor to deck out our home for the Holiday!!! We have so many good memories of getting people together and sharing our love for the birth of our country. This year however, we invited tons of people to come have a Patriotic Dinner with us but no one could make it. I was pretty bummed! {OK--- pity party over!!!}
But it turned out to be a good day spent with just the family.

The kids made a special fruit dish.

We got out our patriotic face paint so we could look super awesome!!!

We took the kids to Finding Dory. So cute!!!

And stay tuned for the couple fights we got into. LOL Happy 4th!!....

Later in the evening, the kids let off their own fireworks they had bought in the front yard.

Capital City Flag Raising

We attended the Centennial Park Flag raising today. We love the story they share as they raise this HUMONGOUS flag into the air. The wind was blowing hard so it made the flag look majestic. Justice got to help present the flag and hold it up. You can see him at about the (2:33) mark in his Captain America shirt. He's in front of the man in the yellow shirt.

We watched them raise the flag. Then we enjoyed free hot dogs and rootbeer floats. {Liberty slept in so she didn't come with us}

 The kids loved the Bouncy Slide. They got to go on it several times.

They loved trying to jump and hit the orange tube overhead. Silly kiddos!

Great way to start our 4th!

Midnight Italian Sodas

After the fireworks at Zinns, the Fifes invited us over for Italian Sodas. It was almost midnight but we're always up for hanging out with the Fifes. Fun times and fun friends!

Fireworks at the Zinns Ranch

Every year, the Zinn Family invites the entire Stake up to their Ranch for a firework show. We heard about it last year but didn't make it up there. So we thought we'd try it out. It was AWESOME! They rope off a field for parking. They have a big field for you to set up chairs. They have a small lake on their property and let off the fireworks across it. They did a flag raising, a prayer a speaker and even had quotes from President Hinckley. Then we watched the firework show! Pretty awesome! We'll have to make this a tradition for sure! Happy 4th!

Centennial Park Flag Raising

Happy 4th of July!!!

Earlier this week, I saw a flyer about a celebration happening at Centennial Park this morning. We decided to check it out!
They did an amazing flag raising of the humongous flag by the YMCA. The flag was brought in by a horse and a colonel in a old time uniform. They invited all Scouts or Veterans to help unfurl the flag. Justice and Bryson got to participate. They got to help unfurl and carry the flag to the pole. So neat!

They played a recording of Francis Scott Key and his story of the night he wrote the Star Spangled Banner as they raised the flag. It was a version I had never heard of & so inspiring of the dedication of the people to keep the flag raised. He talked about how as long as the flag stood standing- it meant we hadn't given up. When the flag pole got bombed down, soldiers would hold the flag up. Many lost their lives as they held up the pole and other soldiers would take their place in holding up the flag. Wow! What sacrifice!

Once the flag was raised, we sang the National Anthem and then they shot off a cannon.

Next, we headed over to the other side of the park for some free hot dogs and root beer floats. Yum! We found the Andersons and the Allens to hang out with for a bit.

Then the kids got to play on some bouncy toys and go to the playground for a little while. What fun times! What a good way to start out our Holiday!

Firework Show @ Home

We visited the Firework Stand down by the Montana City Store and loaded up on some fireworks. Then we had our own private firework show tonight in our driveway. Only 2 injuries and lots of noise!!! Brett & the kids count that as a success! ;)
Lots of running away from things that blow up:

Lots of colors in the sky and one goofy family:

A Patriotic Home

As we pulled out our decorations, we realized that our 4th of July decor was severely lacking. Can you believe that??? What is wrong with us? (We usually took off and headed to UT so I think we just never really decorated our home. So weird!) But we found a couple sales and remedy that problem. So fun, patriotic and beautiful!

Brothersons Visit: BBQ & Fireworks

We finally went back to the apartment for a late night BBQ and fireworks. We bbq-ed hot dogs and hamburgers on our tiny grill. We also had pasta salad, potato salad, chips and grapes. Yum!

We did a bunch of our own fireworks by the garage. One time the tube fell over and almost blasted all of us. Luckily no one was hurt. It was fun to be able to buy the big fireworks that blast in the sky. Liberty LOVEs smoke bombs so there was plenty of those as well. Our cute neighbor boy, Landon joined us for parts of our festivities. We adore him!

We also watched the East Helena Firework Show on the front lawn. It was a decent show even with it being a ways away from us. It's funny though because the whole sky was full of fireworks the whole night. Who needs a city-sponsored show when everyone can buy big fireworks on their own anyways? ;) Pretty awesome!

It was way late after all our fireworks. The Brothersons have to get on the road early tomorrow morning to make it to their destination before dinner. So we hugged and said our goodbyes. Thanks guys for coming to visit. We sure love you! So glad you could come. Let's do it again next year! ;) XOXO

Happy 4th of July everyone!

Brothersons Visit: Spring Meadow Lake

After breakfast, we took the Brotherson family to Faith Lane to check out our new home. The adults had a great time checking it out and sharing things for the future. But the kids were ready to go pretty quickly. ;) Maybe when we actually live there and there's a tramp and a fort and carpet and toys, they'll be content to just hang out. Funny kiddos!
We also wanted to share a bit of Helena with the Brothersons while they were here. Their trip yesterday was so long that everyone was a bit tired. Kristen and I let the boys rest for a bit at the apartment while we made some lunch. How cute are they?

Then we headed to Spring Meadow Lake for some lunch and some water fun!

We had lots of fun at the Beach and playing in the Lake. At one point clouds rolled in and threatened to rain on us. There was some distant thunder. All of a sudden someone loudly yelled, "There's Thunder, everyone out of the water!!!" Everyone froze and turned. It was Ethan. ;) So everyone except the Brotherson and the Seamons family got out. Kristen talked to him about how it wasn't his responsibility to tell people what to do.  He said he was just concerned for their safety. It took about 5 or 10 minutes before people realized they could get back in. We had a good chuckle about that one. Evan LOVED the beach. He was quite a hoot when the kids tried digging holes and filling them with water, He thought they were his personal hot tubs. He would crawl over to them, back up and climb in. Silly boy!

At one point after lunch, the boys went around the lake to the Fishing Dock. No one caught anything but everyone had fun taking the walk and getting to cast the fishing poles. We packed up when it started drizzling. We barely made it back to the table and packed the car before it started raining on us.

4th of July Breakfast- Shay Style

Our Ward usually does a big 4th of July breakfast. BUT somehow this year- it fell through the cracks. 

Shay C. and I were talking Wednesday at the Lake and chatting about how sad it was to not have a celebration with our Ward Family. So... we decided to throw one ourselves. Neither of us have been to one (in Helena) before but we just decided to do it- Shay Style. ;) [Some of the older members kept telling people- "That's not the way we usually do that". Shay and I had a good laugh because it wouldn't have happened at all if we hadn't done it. Take it or leave it, people! LOL]

We talked to the Bishop and the RS Pres to let them know our plan. (Neither came anyways but it was out of courtesy) We made assignments and sent out an email. Only one person  RSVPed so we weren't sure who would come. However the turnout was amazing!!! I believe about 75 people attended. Wowzers!

We had everyone bring breakfast casseroles, bagels, donuts or muffins and fruit. The RS provided the drinks. We could have used a couple more breakfast casseroles but other than that- it was a pretty perfect 4th of July breakfast! So glad we got people together.

Here's our cute Ward Family (plus the Brotherson Family who we luv as well) that attended. Only a couple of them threw a fit about me taking their picture. ;):

Jen Listerud offered to sing the last verse of the Star Spangled Banner. She did an amazing job! Then we all said the Pledge of Allegiance together.

Funny side note:
We have a bunch of patriotic songs on Brett's iPod. We brought it to play in the background. One of the songs happened to be The Star Spangled Banner. When it came on a few people stood and put their hand over their heart. We didn't have the big flag out at the time so everyone just faced Brett (He looked like a flag anyways). Then everyone stood and followed suit. When it finished everyone clapped and thought we were starting our Program. ;) Jen thought we had forgot that she was singing and asked if she should sing something else. Oops! We explained the situation and we all got a good chuckle.

Brett did some Flag Trivia with the kids. They earned candy for all their right answers.

We made a poster of a big flag that said, "We Love the U.S.A.!" We had everyone sign it or write something that they loved about the U.S.A. Then we hung it up in the hallway of the Church.

P.S. Unfortunately, the poster fell down overnight, I guess, because it was no where to be found when we showed up for Church. Bummer! Wish someone would have at least rolled it up and left it there. ;(