Fourth of July weekend.......Chuck full of family and Celebration!

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile, I got a comment on that this weekend (eh-hem, Mitch), to which my reply was that I wanted to keep the post about the voting on there until it ended. So, as soon as I'm done with this, it's going right back up there!

I kind of like it when the Fourth falls on a Sunday, because then you get the entire weekend plus Monday to celebrate! Heck, I even saw a few fireworks going off tonight on my run!

The weekend started off with a grand get together at my Grandparents' Andrews, which was also partly a goodbye to my cousin Ashlee and her family, who are moving to Virginia very soon for her husband Eric to finish up school. There are exactly 3 great-grandchildren in the Andrews family right now (but, very soon to be 4 in Sept) and they're all living in Utah. But, sadly, Ashlee and Eric will be taking their cute little Lily with them when they go. Much to our dismay, but to the undeniable delight of Ashlee's parents (who currently reside in Virginia) who will finally get to be close to their only (but not for long) grandchild! We're sad to see them go, but know their onto greater adventures and new beginnings! We love you guys!  

Some pictures from Saturday's barbeque:

Em on the swing

Lily on the slide (isn't she adorable??)

All three adorable grandkids, that's Lily (Ashlee's), Miles (Alexis's) and of course Emarie!

I take no credit for none of the kids looking in this one (my mom took it), but there is some better ones of the 3 of them coming up!

Em loved Lexi and Jonny's new puppy! And, I think the feeling was mutual! Or else Jasper just really liked chewing on Em's blanket!

He kept sitting behind her, then she would lean back on him! Isn't he SOO cute?? Makes me miss Sequoia, but only a little bit. For those of you that don't know her, she was our Weimeraner that we had to give away, since she was too much energy and intelligence for us to take! I will have to see if I can find a picture of her, because seriously, they look a lot alike! However, Jasper is not a Weimeraner, he is a Blue Great Dane!

Usually the tradition at the Andrews is to watch the Stadium of Fire fireworks, since they have a perfect view from their backyard. But, sadly Emarie refused to take a nap that day, and the show wouldn't have been over til around midnight, and then we would have been stuck in traffic for another couple of hours for a normally ten minute drive! So, we skipped it. Hard to think that we were in Vegas for fireworks this time last year for the annual Chromosome 18 conference. We are really sad we are not making it to Tulsa this year for it. I'm hoping will be able to make it next year though, it will be in Indianapolis, in case you were wondering.

On Sunday, we went to yet another barbeque at my grandparents Wilde's. Yummy dinner, followed by a "heated" game of Croquet (yes, the Wildes are very competitive!)

Pictures from the Wilde's Barbeque:

It's all just fun and games! Oh by the way, I suck! Haven't played in about 15 years, and it sadly showed! I actually got second place the first time, but only by default! Dead last, the second time, thanks to my oh so nice grandfather!

Melissa (cousin Quin's wife) is smart to be a spectator!

And Deb and Craig playing in the forefront!

More spectators (my brother, Connor and Grandma), but don't worry, they both joined in the next game!

My cousin Craig and my grandparents beloved dog Dexter, poor thing, kept getting in the way!

Uncle Bob, grandpa, and Jen

Not too crazy about this of me! But, Jen was the one to point out that it was a great action shot! Yet, I'm sure that ball didn't go too far out of the frame! And that's Mitchell next to me! He was "going for second" at this point ;-)

Connor, Grandma and me

Em had a blast watching everyone! Aunt Debbie holding her

Favorite moment from this night: Everyone telling Connor to hit grandpa during the game, and Connor's ball careening toward my grandpa's feet, who jumped away just at the right time! Everyone laughing hysterically, me stopping for a moment to exclaim, "We meant grandpa's ball, not GRANDPA!"

Maybe one of those things that you had to be there for......still funny!

And the holiday continued on Monday when we took a trip up to down town SLC to see my aunt Amy and uncle Jason's new house, and all meet together for one last sendoff for Ashlee, Eric and Lily. This time we were joined by my cousin Brett (Ashlee's brother) and his adorable girlfriend Rebecca. And actually, we will be seeing Brett go soon too, as he has been accepted into a very prestigious, paid internship in London. He will be leaving for that in January! Yes, exciting things for a lot of my cousins! These two, already mentioned, plus another got married last month (mentioned in a previous blog post), and another about to have her first baby in September. Wish I could join them with some exciting things, but I only have sad things to add (will get to that later).

Anyway, after looking at their beautiful, 100 year old (but very nicely updated) house, we all took a short walk to have dinner at Barbacoa, a Mexican grill much like Cafe Rio and such.

Pictures from Mondays events:

Really NOT crazy about this one of me, but Em looks cute, and it was the only one I got of the two of us together.

Uh oh, neither one of them are going to like this! Oh well, I think my generations before me are just beautiful! As you can guess, that is my mom and grandma! Love you lovely ladies!

Brett and his girlfriend Rebecca and grandpa (who had an unfortunate meeting with the garage door earlier that day! See his poor nose!)

And the rest of the clan: aunt Amy, uncle Jason, Lexi and Miles, Eric, Lily (love that smile!) and Ashlee

As you can probably tell, Amy was a little less than thrilled to get her picture taken, hope she doesn't kill me for posting it! I think you look cute Amy!

It was really hard to get all 3 kids to stay in one spot for the picture!

Em, Lily and Miles

Even though they both have funny looks on their faces, I still love this one of Em and Miles!

And we finally managed to get a somewhat decent picture of the 3 of them! Well.....at least they're all sitting right?!!

So, you may have all noticed the lack of Steve in recent posts. Well, I may as well announce, since a lot of you know at this point anyway, that Steve and I are separating. It is the reason we are selling our house, and well, the reason for a lot of things lately. I'm not going to delve into the details at this time. All you need to know, is that we are working this out the best way possible, for all of us, especially Emarie. 

Oh, and Steve and Emarie did spend some time with the Peters' side of the family, but the pictures from that are on another computer, and so I will have to post them later. Peters family, I want you all to know that I will always think of all of you as my family, no matter what. 

And, that's that. Sorry to put a damper on things, but I had to say it.