Fireworks and the color Purple

Our 4th of July began with our Ward/neighborhood's Independence Day pancake breakfast. Its pretty cool as our ward sponsors the event but invites the entire neighborhood so we get many of our neighbors there with their kids.

Braiden and the 2 other Cub Scouts there performed the flag raising ceremony. Braiden was very proud of him self since this was his first time doing it and he really had no help from any leaders. He just winged it.

Paige was all decked out in Red, White and Blue of course. You wont see me in any of these pics because, as you will learn, I was covered in purple. (And I had just woken up so I looked like i had been beat up).

After the breakfast the kids all get to participate in the "Parade" that follows a fire truck around the neighborhood, however, this year there was an emergency so the firetruck did not make it. It turned out to be an interesting parade. I think the kids were a little baffled as to why they were allowed to ride their bikes in the street this one time. Paige and Cameron love their little Red Wagon. Braiden wishes he was 3 again so he can ride in it.

That evening we went to a BBQ at friends house and then went home and did our own firework extravaganza in our driveway. It always amazes me how men seem to be born with this "pyro-maniac" tendency. No matter what age, they are more than excited to get in there and try to catch something on fire. Not Paige!! When those fireworks started, she bolted in the other direction. I caught this shot right before she pretty much headed for the hills.

SO remember when I told you that I was covered with purple? Well, this is why. See that lovely color on the wall behind Eric? And see Eric's look of "Please don't ever make me stay up until midnight, drawing 75 stripes on walls with you again"? Well that is what we did over our 3 day weekend. Beginning Thursday afternoon when I got off work through Saturday evening, we painted Paige's room for the final time until I move out of this house. I really mean it this time...

I got this brilliant idea to paint stripes in her room. Originally I was just going to do purple. Then I decided to do two shades of purple, one for the lower walls and one for the upper vaulted part. THEN- I made the mistake of looking through the idea books at Home Depot and saw these great striped walls and thought "How hard can it be?" HA!! How hard? So then I was talking to my friend at work about faux painting and thought "Hey! I should rag paint the stripes!! I AM A GENIUS!!

Well about 20 hours, 6 rolls of tape and 40 bruises on my legs later...the end result is adorable!! And so are Paige and Cameron in this picture..

I am so happy with the results. Believe it or not, purple is actually a very versatile color. You can put anything from pumpkin orange to fire engine red to cotton candy pink with it and it all looks cute. I remember that my mom always made sure that we had cute rooms while we were growing up. That is one of the things I looked forward to the most about having my own kids. Paige better appreciate my bruises and broken nails. If I could do it all over again, I would have gone to interior design school. Helping save lives is good and stuff but making people's houses prettier would be a super fun job...maybe

I had to throw this in too. Paige fell asleep in the car the other day with her sunglasses on upside-down. In case you were wondering, I broke out the camera and took this pic behind my head whilst driving 80 mph on I-15. Anything for a good blogging op.