Independence

Our holiday weekend was spent doing very American things. 

We hit our pool Saturday for a quick cool-off in the 90+ degree heat.

We then snatched the two berry cobblers from the oven and headed over to our Ward Potluck, which was conveniently at the Church a very short walk away. 

Heavenly Father must still love me, because I had a day of reprieve from nausea/vomiting and actually had an appetite for all the delicious food and treats. And I kept it all down! Though, my stomach was clearly confused after a week of eating hardly anything to eating a whole plateful of actual food (not just broth, water and crackers) it grumbled at me the rest of the evening. We had a really good time getting to know some of our Church family better and sharing our news - we had people asking, "So when are you going to have a baby?" We replied, "January 6th." I also loved seeing my little Sunbeams in their natural element - sweaty, dirty, eating cupcakes and running around like crazy kids.

Eric was pretty ecstatic to get to eat good food that he didn't have to prepare for himself. The poor boy has clearly suffered from my weeks of nausea and inability to cook much of anything. Pictured here, enjoying authentic, homemade tamales. 

Sunday was Church and lots of relaxing. And another blessed day of no vomiting, though the nausea had returned. 

Eric worked Monday, the 4th of July, but he was able to meet up with me in Stanfield to take in the parade. 

While blistering in the sun (see the complete absence of clouds), we noticed a strange phenom happening. People were literally running up to the floats to get candy, they were standing halfway in the street ... it became hard to distinguish parade entries from parade "spectators." 

I loved this - Two Indian Princesses being driven around in a classic Ford Mustang by a Cowboy. 

When Eric got off work we trekked over to Umatilla to make use of the abandoned BBQ (The Lougees have been off galavanting around Utah for 12 days!) The grill master whipped up some simple, yet tasty hotdogs & hamburgers for me, Grandma McFadden and even a couple bites for Chloe. 

Eric's plate, featuring a new family tradition, "patriot jello" and potato salad. 

Chloe sat like this and watched us eat our ENTIRE meal. It wasn't annoying in the slightest. 

One of my favorite things about the 4th, SPARKLERS. Chloe barked at these, even after we put her in the house she insisted on barking. They weren't even noisy! Just one more reason I'm glad we chose a baby over a dog. 

After snagging some sno-cones from our new favorite place, The Tiki Hut, we cozied ourselves up on the lawn of the hospital and waited for the fireworks show. 

The fireworks show was okay, we were pretty tired (it was 10 o'clock, way past our bedtime) and we were very much distracted by the two accidental fires that ignited on the butte that they were shooting the fireworks off of. 

Then it was home and straight to bed. 

Yay for freedom!