Oh CRASH! my BASH!

(July 4th, 2023)

Part of me thought I might get caught up on the blog before June came home from her mission. Nope. That's not going to happen. Things have been busy and I've been sore. It's amazing how you don't want to do much when you are in pain. But I can still stay current so today I'm posting about the 4th of July.

One of our problems with this holiday is that we don't have any consistent traditions. Sure, we go up to the University parking garage often, but that isn't set in stone. It's not necessarily my favorite either. It's just something we have done. We don't get together with extended family. Our ward often has a breakfast, but not always. So it's a little up in the air. 

But face paint. I would say that is a tradition. I didn't realize it until we brought it to the breakfast (which did happen this year). The girls grabbed it as a last idea. (Well, maybe they were always planning, but I didn't think about it until we were almost walking out the door.) No one asked us to bring it, but it is always a hit. Daisy painted so many faces. I saw lots of kids sporting cute designs. I was first up. Daisy did one side and Ivory did the other. 

Ivory gave up right away when her firework looked like a spider. So Daisy did my other cheek later.

I did my girls' faces and I believe Daisy did everyone else. I wish we had taken more pictures. I think she even got some adults to sit still for a minute, like Brother Henrichsen and Brother Wiszt. 

Face painting went all day. Beau and Analena did each other's faces later in the day. 

And even into the evening, Beau took over and did some awesome designs. I loved it all. Face paint is so fun. And it's a tradition.

But back to the breakfast. It was a good turnout and great food. 

They had some lawn games and we brought Spikeball of course. It was such a fun morning playing Spikeball. We played for a couple hours and well after everyone left. I probably played too much since I was really sore the rest of the day. But I'd rather hurt because I did something I enjoyed.

Maren taught us about the little helicopter leaves. Apparently, they are sticky if you open the little pods and you can stick them on yourself. Pearl and I did some nose battles. This is how people had fun before phones.

Back at home, the day was pretty chill. We cleaned more of the garage, I went grocery shopping, we made treats, and it looks like Ivory and Beau had an impromptu photo session. So fun!

While shopping, I saw the fireworks on display and decided that was what we were going to do. Nothing crazy. I promise that all the neighbors' fireworks were better, but it is still fun to set off your own. At home, while we waited for it to get dark, we played some games. Daisy braided Beau's hair but also played Wise and Otherwise with us for the first time. She was really good and almost won. 

We already planned to make the DHI sundaes. Ivory invited friends over which was great since treats are good, but shared treats are better.

Then, when it was dark, we went out and we lit off the fireworks we had. It was fun since there were plenty of other fireworks going off in the neighborhood. You could look around and see them in almost any direction. Tyler was in charge and he had all the girls help him. Beau and Pearl were the most excited to help. Pearl told me later, "I love explosions." (That's comforting.) It was a really fun night just chilling with friends and fire.

Happy Fourth of July to all my patriots. Maybe we'll get some more fireworks for Pioneer day since I think June likes explosions too. :)