4th of July quick recap

On the morning of the 4th, we were woken up to bombs blasting in air here in Midway. I forget that every year our city shoots off bombs/cannons of some sort at 6am. Scares you right out of bed. I drove my kids over to Oakley to attend the 4th of July parade. I've been going to this parade practically every year since I was a baby. My kids and I love it and Cody stays home, like usual, because he hates parades. As long as I still get to go, no big deal. : )

 We had a BBQ with my family and one of Cody's cousins and her husband at our house that night. Midway puts on an amazing firework show for a small town and we have perfect seats on our front lawn. We did some sparklers and let the kids stay up for the fireworks off Memorial Hill.

Brett, Alysa, Cody, Dan

Grandma Sue and the babies, Blake and Ethan.

The following day we drove to the cabin, had dinner, and went to the Oakley rodeo. I must have failed to take a single picture, because none can be found. Maybe next year we won't have such wiggly worm children. 

And their you have it, short and sweet.

Blake's birthday and Nacho

I can't believe how far behind I still am on our blog. I just realized I never blogged about the 4th of July, so that should be coming up next. 

Our cute Blake turned two back on 7/11. I took him and the other kids to McDonald's for lunch and we went to 7-11 for our free Slurpee's. I was super lame and bought cupcakes at Walmart. He didn't care though and ate his right up. He got some outside water toys and that's about it. Blake is so sweet and such a good baby. He is a thumb sucker much to Cody's dismay. We purchased the stuff you are supposed to paint on their finger to get him to stop, but it does not work for him. He must like the bitter taste because he wakes up sucking his thumb no matter how much I put on his finger. His sucking is affecting his mouth, and pushing his teeth forward, so we'll have to find another way to get him to stop.

 Our family and a few others in our neighborhood were invited to a Nacho party back in July. I haven't seen Nacho Libre in years so I borrowed it from a neighbor so that I would "get" all the inside jokes and songs. Cody wanted to go in costume, so I made him a monks costume and he made his necklace. Unfortunately I didn't have a curly wig to add, or else he really would have completed the look.

 We had a fun night of eating taco salads, corn on the cob (with mayo and chili powder), watching Nacho Libre and hanging out with friends.

Grant Family Reunion

July was the month of family. My Mom's side of the family had their annual Grant Family reunion at the Reid Ranch. Not everyone was present, but here are the majority of us. There are 89 of us so far in the family. I'm on the right side of the picture, yellow shirt, Cole in arms, with the red fro hair.

 We did all the usual activities at the ranch. Archery, pony rides, swimming, paddle boats, rockets, hot tubing, mini golf, learning about ancestors, etc. My Mom and aunts came up with a bunch of activities to keep the kids entertained. Heidi and Kurt were good sports and agreed to get dressed up in toilet paper.

 Making rockets to launch with Grandma Sue.

 My brother is an engineer for ATK and has always loved building and launching rockets. He brought one that was pretty sweet to watch.

 The ranch is very into safety. It's required to wear helmets and life jackets while riding the horses. Too many sue happy people out there. The kids don't seem to mind.

Aubrey and cousin Halle.

Golfing is not a hobby of ours. : )

Happy on the swings.

Calderwood Family Reunion

The annual Calderwood Family reunion was held in Downey, ID this year at Downata Hot Springs July 26-27th. Each of the siblings takes turns each year to plan out the reunion. This was the first year we've been to this location. The food was excellent and we had a wonderful time visiting and catching up with family we see maybe once a year. Cody's cousin was diagnosed with lupus about a month before my tumor diagnosis, so a lot of time was spent talking about the past years medical experiences. Thank goodness we are both in remission now.

Borrowed from Laurel's blog

We packed up the truck and headed north for the weekend. We sold our camping trailer back in April and are back to tent camping until we can afford a newer trailer. We have 2 tents and put the kids in one and Cody and I in another.

The air temps were perfect for camping. We actually had to wake our early risers up in the morning.

A lot of sports talk with these men.

This is Aubrey's second cousin Kate, whom she refers to as her new cousin Kate. We camped next to Cody's cousin Russell and family and our kids are similar age and they played in the trees, playground, sand, swam together and enjoyed the outdoors.

A highlight from the trip, especially for Tucker, were these cute baby birds holed up in a tree next to our campsite. The Mom bird would fly back and forth all day to feed them.

Borrowed from Laurel's blog.

On our drive home we were able to stop off and see some of our dental school friends in town from Georgia - Bryce and Amy Carter. Bryce and Cody were lab partners in school. We've each had 2 kids since we last saw each other 4 years ago. Amy and I were told that one of us would have the most kids out of our dental school friends. She's got me beat. 5 to 4. It's not a contest though - no more Calderwood babies. : )

Tracy Aviary and Friends

Awhile ago I purchased a groupon to Tracy Aviary, a local bird place. It's basically a zoo full of birds. I haven't been since I was a kid and since Tucker is still in his animal phase, we figured it would be fun. Plus it is very inexpensive when compare to the zoo. It's only $4-6 a person and I had 2 for 1's. Tucker has inherited a nice SLR camera from Cody's work and he took pictures until the battery died.

 This was Cody's favorite bird. The color was amazingly bright! It's called the Scarlet Ibis.

 My kids have trouble staying on the paths. It's much funner to chase the birds when you're in the water with them.

 I have been extremely blessed this year/summer to meet up with old friends and loved ones. None of us are happy about the excuse to get together, but it's always fun to catch up and see each other. This picture is of my clogging family. These Mom's and daughters taught me clogging for 20 years. I danced with them since I was 8 until I moved to Maryland. 2 of these girls were on America's Got Talent and 3 still clog and teach. I've traveled the world with them from Utah, Idaho, California, Mexican Baja Cruise, eastern Europe, Tennessee. I have so many special memories with these ladies.

Leann, Lindsey, me, LaChere, Cambria, my Mom, Valerie

 My first haircut - the mullet is gone! I now have an actual style that I can maintain and play around with. My hair grew in a lot on the sides since my previous hair post.

 I buy these little pills every month for a whopping $3200. Thank goodness for fundraisers, insurance and cancer foundations that help me cover the costs. So far they seem to be working, so for every $200 pill I pop, hopefully 200 cancer cells are being killed off.

 This is my friend Melissa and her newest baby. We met in Maryland when our husbands were going to school. It's fun to be able to see friends that pass through.