fourth of july

You'd never know it from looking at these pictures, but this was another really hard trip for Tim.  The Fourth of July itself was a fairly good day for him, and some of our hikes were okay.  But overall, it was just a tough trip.  Thank goodness for priesthood blessings, great family, and understanding bosses!

For the Fourth of July weekend, we went to my grandma's house in California.  As always :)  We love going there!  Our only regret was that we couldn't stay longer.

Ellie was not a fan of the sparklers or the fireworks.  In fact, my grandma's neighborhood basically sounds like a war zone starting at probably 5pm, and Ellie was not a happy camper.  She spent the entire evening inside with my mom and the dog.

I thought that maybe she'd get used to the sparklers and the fireworks after a while, but it seemed like she just kept getting more and more traumatized.  Needless to say, we spent a lot of time indoors, even the next day (since the celebrating just kept going).

This next picture is Ellie trying to be brave :)

And here is my brother, Jeff, and aunt, Ginny, showcasing the fireworks.

At the end of the night, Jeff, Tim, and I had way too much fun with the sparklers.  If you'd been there, you'd have thought we were all 10 years old by the way we were acting.

There was a lot of giggling.

Too bad Ellie doesn't get very much attention when we're around family... ;)

After California, we drove over to AZ and spent some time with my family.  We ended up going home a little early, and we were all sad about that.  It was hard to go from spending time with family to going home, especially that trip.  We are sure grateful for our amazing families!