Happy 3rd/4th of July!

 Yay. I'm 27 now.  I received so many thoughtful gifts on my birthday, but my favorites were probably the sweet pictures an letters from the kids.  They were so excited to give them and help me celebrate my birthday.  I just love them to pieces!

 And sweet Ben got me an iPad mini for my birthday, along with a very sweet birthday letter as well.:)

 We got to go on a date while my parents tended the kids in the afternoon, and then we all went to dinner at Joe Morley's and had cake and ice cream.  My mom was sweet enough to order this amazing cake from Mrs. Backer's bakery downtown.  Their cakes are so beautiful and taste amazing!

 The kids were eager to help me lick off the candles after that whole singing business was done.

 We finished off the night with some fireworks and went to bed so we could get up early for the parade the next day...

The boys and Steph were good enough to go early to find a place to watch the Murray parade.  There are so many psychos who set out chairs like 3 days in advance and then almost get in a fist-fight with people who are normal and come to find a place several hours before the start of the parade and blame them for moving their chairs when really it was the huge rainstorm.  Not that I speak from experience or anything...

E ready to get lots o' candy

The fam and Aunt Karen and Uncle Craig

The girl in her Fourth-of-July finery

Hooray for America!

Ben was disappointed that my mom didn't get pegged in the behind by a piece of candy launched from the Senior Citizen bus like a few years ago, but I would say the parade was a success.

After the parade we headed up to the Christensens' cabin for a few hours and then came back for a barbeque at the Johnsons' house with the Healys and then headed to fireworks.  It was a long but fun day.