So happy it is 2009!!

We had a fun 4th of July yesterday. I was remembering last year at this time. It was my first full day in the hospital, and my first day of chemotherapy. I am filled with gratitude that I made it through all of that, and that it is OVER. It doesn't seem like a year ago, the time has really flown. It is still hard for me to think very long about my transplant experience. I guess time has blunted the memories a little, but not by much.
Anyway, yesterday instead of sitting in a hospital bed all day, I was able to celebrate this holiday with my family! I made a Walmart run (by myself! always a pleasure) in the morning for last-minute items, and then the boys picked up the house (it wasn't too bad), and helped Ben pick up in the backyard a little, and then we had our friends the Talbots and their 5 kids over for a proper American celebration: Stuffing our faces!! The kids all burned off their calories by running around in the backyard swimming and riding scooters. The adults? Well, let's just say it's a good thing today was Fast Sunday. :-)
Our pool's filter has been malfunctioning for a while, and Ben has been working hard to fix it. I'm so glad he's able to do stuff like that. He's kept it working well enough for the boys to keep swimming every day for the past few weeks. Yesterday was another scorcher, and so the pool was a must. Ben rigged up a homemade filter with hoses pumping water from the bottom of the pool, through some towels, and back in the pool. Very impressive!
We left about 9:00 PM to try to see some fireworks. There was a big display at a park not too far away. There had been a carnival and concert there all afternoon, and as we drove down the road still a couple of miles away from the park, there were cars lining both sides of the street. I started to become doubtful of our chances at getting close enough to see anything. But, sometimes it pays to be very late. As we approached the turnoff to the road the park is on, the fireworks started, and we realized that right where we were was a perfect spot to see them! There was an apartment complex right on the corner, so we pulled in and parked illegally in front of a dumpster (lots of other people had the same idea we had, and there were no parking spaces). Ben opened the sunroof on his car, and the boys got up and sat on the roof of the car and enjoyed the show. It was a pretty good display, although my standards for fireworks shows will forever be too-high because of growing up watching the huge Rose Bowl fireworks show every year. The boys loved it though. Mosey kept saying, "These are the BEST fireworks I have EVER seen!!" The best thing was that as soon as the fireworks were over, Ben started the car up, and we were one of the first ones out of there! No sitting for hours in a traffic jam getting out of the park. (Siblings, do you remember 6 years ago when we went to the Galaxy soccer game and fireworks with Daddy and we were stuck in the parking lot for HOURS (well, it seemed like that) after the show and Daddy was all freaking out and trying to find a shortcut out? That was funny.)
We got home late, and the boys went upstairs and looked out their window for another half hour at the smaller fireworks going off in people's yards. It was a good day.

Here are the results of my attempt to get a cute picture of the 3 boys in front of the 4th of July decorations on our mantel. They thought they were really getting away with something by being totally silly in these pictures. Little do they know that I love this sort of authentic silly picture better than a posed, smiling-by-the-fireplace picture any day! (Not that I never try to get those pictures, it's just that for memory's sake, I want to remember *this* about 4th of July 2009 more than anything else). Yes, I am cheesy and made my boys wear red, white, and blue.




Joseph and his best friend.


Mister knew the best place to hang out. Under the table!


We had a huge spread of food. What did Mosey put on his plate? Strawberries and Doritos. That is all. He knows what he likes!


Brigham loves watermelon. Good thing, because we got a huge one!


Some of the fireworks. Ben thought I was nuts bringing my camera to the fireworks show. He asked me, "Are you really going to be going back to look at all these pictures of fireworks?" I told him it was more about the challenge of capturing fireworks on film (well, digital sensor anyway). It's not easy!