4th of July

 Our 4th of July looked similar to last year's. We tried to invite some friends over to swim, but people already had plans. That's what happens when we ask last minute. I was so focused on our trip that I didn't think much about what to do for the 4th. We slept in late and then the girls and Curtis and I did some swimming in the afternoon/evening. The boys just played a lot of video games. I don't know why it's so hard to get the boys to swim this year. I don't let Milo swim every day because of the hair but I decided he could this time. He loves the water a little too much. There was once he jumped in when no one was outside. Silly puppy.

We almost didn't buy fireworks this year, but last minute, Curtis went to the firework stand and bought some. Like last year, we got invited to the Gale's back porch to watch the fireworks all across the Tri-Cities. Then we did our own fireworks after we got back home.

Milo got to swim too.

We saw a fire that started. Later we found out it was some dry bushes that caught fire from fireworks.

Back at home and doing our own. All fountains. We bought the kids Pop-Its but they don't seem interested in those. It's been 20 days and they still haven't used them. We're not buying those again next year.

Alice let me wear her fun headband while she wore her noise earmuffs.

These two were in charge of firework lighting this year. The boys were party poopers this year and didn't even come outside. Jack did go to a friend's house in the evening though, so I can't remember if he was even home when we lit fireworks.

This was Milo's first 4th of July and we were worried how he would handle all of the noise, so we bought him some calming treats for dogs. He can be a scaredy cat sometimes even when we're going on walks. He actually did really well, but we did not let him come outside while we were doing fireworks. We also watched "Independence Day" after we did fireworks, but it was getting so late that we had to turn it off and finish the next day. Half of us were falling asleep.

That same weekend, I saw a post on our ward Facebook page of someone offering a free dresser. It still looked in great condition, so I jumped on it. I mostly liked that it had some storage space on the top section. I was hopeful that it would fit mine and Charlotte's sewing machines. It not only fit both of them easily but also my sewing (tackle) box and Charlotte's little box. It turns out, that's what the previous owner used it for as well, her sewing machine! 

I finally have a nice place to hide my sewing materials. I put fabric and other things in the drawers.

I could use the door as a sewing table. That's what the previous owner did. I love it!

The very same day that we got the dresser (it was on a Sunday, but it was free), our A/C quit working. Fortunately, a guy from our ward was able to come look at it and help us figure out the part we needed to get. Unfortunately, because it was the weekend, we couldn't get into the right store that would have the part, a capacitor, until Monday morning. It did not help at all that we are having 100+ weather the last few weeks. We pulled out all of our box fans, which was 5 and opened our windows that night. Curtis drove to one place first but they didn't have any. He had to wait for another place to open a little later to be able to check there, but thankfully he was able to buy the last available capacitor and get it installed Monday morning. By evening, the house was feeling cool again. The timing was perfect because our friends, Monica and Seth (along with 5 kids), were coming to visit for a few days and coming that same night.

It got uncomfortably warm in our house without the A/C.

When I had gone to choir practice that Sunday afternoon, I had told my friend ShaRae about our A/C problem and she offered that we could come cool off at their place if we needed to. We ended up taking her up on her offer, except Garrett stayed home. The rest of us went over and played games with their family. It was a lot of fun! Like I said, they are one of our favorite families! One member in our bishopric even offered his house to us if we needed it because they had just left to go out of town for the week. We did not take him up on that offer, but I thought that was super nice of them. We love our ward!