celebrating the 4th!

glad to have our daddy back home with us, we enjoyed the weekend at home together and then we headed down south to sierra vista for the 4th of july with the whole varga clan getting together.  makes for a full house!

the varga's ward had a pancake breakfast (complete with bacon, eggs, sausage, fruit...you name it!) with a flag ceremony followed by a 4th of july parade.  of course cody took a spill in the middle and needed a bit of a band-aid rescue (it was legit).

we still had a great time watching, but i couldn't believe it was so hot so early!!  i was sticking very firmly to the shade.

it was a great time to wear our flag shirts from our bishop reunion again.  we missed out on making the tie-die flag shirts since we arrived later in the weekend. 

ryan took the boys swimming with all the cousins while bonnie napped and i watched.  they had a great time! 

after lots of discussion among families, we determined a good place for firework watching and arrived with some time to kill.  the older boys ran a 'store' out of the back of grandpa's suburban, handing out full-size candy bars and gatorades...but mostly eating said items out of view of adults. 

bonnie and atlas mostly stuck to exploring the blankets as they weren't huge fans of the grass. 

this picture capture's isaac's whole weekend.  he was almost always to be found near grandma.  he definitely loves both his grandmas!! 

and the blue gatorade mustache had to be captured.  although, we could have caught it for a day or so after :) 

we had a huge area of the field open to run and play in.  

someone from church stopped by and handed out glow sticks to all the kids.  everyone loved them!! 

cody and owen were about attached at the hip the whole time we were there.  i think these boys will have a great time together at the reunion next summer.

atlas and bonnie were both enraptured with the fireworks. 

even without coaching, we could hear bonnie 'oooo' and 'ahh' 

farrah's family left early the next morning, leaving ethan for a visit with grandma and grandpa.  he put ryan and sean to work playing in the pool for most of the afternoon.  many, many chicken fights happened. 

bonnie wasn't so thrilled with the big pool, but she was quite content when grandma got her a little pool all to herself.

it was a fun few days with the family.  a bit rocky at times, but we're glad we could see everyone - especially since we haven't seen burklund's since they moved back east and they'll soon be up in washington!!