Monday, July 6, 2009

Happy Fourth of July!

Last Thursday we made the long trek over to Salem. We made the trip because Shad's Uncle Doug was going to be in town for the holiday weekend and we wanted to see him. We knew it was going to be a very full weekend with many people to see and even more that we just weren't going to have time to see. So I apologize to all of our great friends that we didn't see and those that didn't even know we were coming.

We started by attending a summer potluck with our community group from our home church. We had really great food and an even better time visiting and catching up. Hannah and Josh had a blast jumping on the Clausen's trampoline! I have always found them to be dangerous but now I am considering trying to find a mini trampoline for Hannah's third birthday next month. You could hardly get her off the thing! I wish I would have had my camera, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

On Friday morning I met with my friend, Amy, from Mom 2 Mom and she helped me find inside and outside colors for our house. Our renters were just about moved out so Shad was able to do a walk through with them that morning also. I was so thankful to have an interior decorator for a friend. Amy was a huge help! I am also thankful that Greg knows a guy that is a house painter. It's hard to believe that it is time to start gearing up for the move back home. And it sure will be nice to have a freshly painted house!

After eating lunch and visiting with Grandma Connie, Greg, Michelle, Norah, Jonnie and Rylee I headed over to my parents' house with Hannah (Shad and Josh met us a little later). We had Wallery's Pizza for dinner, a McBride tradition. I hadn't had Wallery's for over 6 months! Shad and the kids got to meet Baby Franklin for the first time. And he was there in all his glory with his white, fuzzy head. What a little doll!! Josh, Hannah and Lilian played on the slip-n-slide that my sister brought. They had a blast and had even more fun after Abby showed them how to actually slide on it. Josh could get about half way down on his knees. Hannah and Lilian just stuck to crawling under the sprinklers. Too cute! Then we enjoyed some fireworks a day early. It was a great time and I wish we would have had more time with my family.


















(Unfortunately I think I forgot that I had a camera this weekend, so these are the only pics that I took. Bummer!)
Saturday we headed out to Brad and Shiela's for some hanging out and dirt bike riding. They have a track and trail system behind their house and invited a bunch of friends to come out and enjoy them. It was a lot of fun even though I got all suited up, had a freak accident right in front of everyone, crashed right into Shiela, knocked her into Michelle and proceeded to break the perch for my clutch lever. Totally embarrassing not to mention stupid! (It's a good thing Josh can't read, so I can use the proper word without being chastised by him.) STUPID!!! I still maintain that the new boots that Rick and Mel gave me were so stiff that I couldn't get to my front brake lever. And I am sticking to that! (For any of you that don't know, the front break lever is used with your right hand!) Needless to say, even though Brad was able to NR the perch back on, I was too wounded (emotionally) to get back on my bike. So I sat... We didn't get to stay as long as we wanted to (story of the whole trip) so we were off again. We stopped on the way back to see Uncle Steve, Grandma and Grandpa at the nursing home. The visit was quick, but it was good to see how well they take care of Steve! I know he enjoys family visits, too.
After really fast kid baths and adult showers (sounds naughty, doesn't it, adult showers?), we were off to Greg and Michelle's for a 4th of July BBQ. Oh look! There's Doug and Jennifer! Yes, we were in town for a day and a half before we actually saw them. They took their kids to the coast to camp for the very first time. It was a lot of fun seeing them and hanging out. Connie made an awesome potato salad and Jonnie made some ridiculous fruit salad! I only ate 3 servings of each! We visited, watched the kids almost kill each other with the Barbie Jeep, played Botchie Ball, visited, argued about nothing (a Huber tradition), watched the kids get cranky due to lack of naps and staying up too late the last 3 nights, then it was finally dark! Time for the "good" fireworks! I don't know where they came from, but we had 'em! :) It was quite the show with Shad, Greg, Dan and Doug! What is it about fireworks and grown men that throws all safety rules out the window? They had fireballs flying everywhere and at each other! Great entertainment to say the least. And Shawn kept up his pyroness by bringing out his cannons. Talk about deafening! We had a blast! (All pun intended!) I was so happy that Mom, Dad, Gabe and Jeremy made it over to see how crazy their daughter/sister/aunt's husband and in laws are when it comes to fire! They had fun too! We finally got the kids to bed by 11:30.
Sunday morning we got to attend our home church and boy were there a lot of changes since we had been there around Christmas. So great to see our church thriving! Poor Hannah is so used to being in class with her brother here in our desert church that I had to go rescue the poor teachers from a crying 2 year old. After the service we got to visit with some friends here and there. We ate lunch are out favorite Mexican place, then it was time. Time to pack up and make the trek back. Along the river and through the state to our house we go! Hannah slept for 5 hours! She was so tired. Josh ate crackers and dozed at the same time. He was pooped too!
Shad and I had a really great weekend with everyone and really wished we would have had more time with everyone we saw and time to see the people we didn't see! I am so thankful that we have a house to come home to so very soon and so many friends and family waiting for us! I hope you all had a great 4th too!




No comments:

We're Going to Bulgaria...Soon

When we were filling out our adoption applications 4 years ago, we had no idea what we were getting in to.  And as we have been waiting for ...