Happy Birthday Melinda, Brad, and America!

Daddy and Emerson

Grandpa J and Emerson

"What the...I have feet!?"

Emerson's little Crocs

Emerson being patriotic with his little flag

Emerson at the parade

Aunt Ashley and Emerson

Scott, Cousin Brett, and Melinda acting tough

Ben and Melinda at fireworks

I love the Fourth of July. I also love the third of July cuz it's my birthday. Hooray! I'm finally 22! You know the fireworks and parade? They used to be for me--that is, until I was 6 years old and we were lighting fireworks at 9:00 p.m. and my mom went into labor with Brad. He just HAD to come and steal it all away. (Just kidding Brad, I love ya and I would never send you back.) I still occasionally get a parade and fireworks on my birthday when the 4th is on a Sunday...so it's all good. I consistently got fireworks on my birthday when we lived in Logan because they always do the fireworks at Romney Stadium on the 3rd.
During the parade, it turned out that Brad was arguably our biggest asset as far as candy goes. One, because he went early with Daddy-o to save us places, and two because all the teenage girls throwing candy have crushes on him.
Another great thing that happened during the parade was Emerson discovered his feet! It was hilarious to watch him stare at his feet, rotate his ankles, and smile.
After the parade, Brad opened his presents and later we went to a barbeque at the Healys' house. Then we headed over to the McMullins' for another barbeque, and then went back to Murray to watch the fireworks on the rugby field with everyone. It was weird to talk with Scott and Ashley and realize that next year, we'll all most likely not be spending the 4th in Utah. But we really enjoyed spending the 4th with our families for the last time in awhile.

Rindlisbacher Reunion with Legs to Match

Emerson getting ready for his first swim

My handsome boys

Emerson's first dip (Isn't Ben's farmers tan cute?)

"Hey! This is just like a giant bath! I LOVE the bath! I must love swimming too!"

Who knew getting a baby ready to go swimming took so much preparation? They need a swim diaper AND waterproof pants, and I guess they don't HAVE to have a swimsuit, but Emerson does because Ben went with me to Babies 'R' Us (he'll deny it if you ask him though) and saw this little Elmo swimsuit and just had to buy it for him.

Every year the Rindlisbacher family has a reunion at the Spanish Fork Swim Park during the summer. We swim for about an hour and this is followed by a big pot luck barbeque. We thought it would be fun to take Emerson swimming at the reunion because he has fat (but adorable) legs to match.
This family is a big family (both in numbers and stature), and it's pretty safe to say that about 90% of them should not be seen in bathing suits. This reunion is famous among the Christensens because of what we call the "Rindlisbacher legs". R-Legs first entail cankles and are then topped off with cellulite that has cellulite. Nice image, eh? Now I'm certainly not one to condemn those with cellulite, because I might admit that I have more than I could ever want.
The reunion was fun, I only got mildly sunburned by good ole' Mr. Sun, and the best part was that we were some of the first 50 in line so there was still ketchup to go on our hot dogs and hamburgers. Small victory, but worth it none the less.

S'more fun pics of Little E

Salt Lake Bees Game

Ok, I know I'm a total blog slacker, and these pictures are kind of old, but we had lots of fun at the Bees game and Emerson looked really cute in his baseball outfit so I still wanted to post them. Yipee.