Happy Birthday Tay and America

 It's been a year and she definitely belongs in the family.  She's opinionated already and will let you know when you're wrong and she's right.

 It's been fun having Tay in our house a couple days a week this past year.

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 It's Uncle Sam's birthday and we gathered in Pine Valley in the morning to celebrate (and bend over and pick Sage).

 Garden update

 Up at the Wells cabin, we broke out the bow 'n arrows...

 polished up our porch sittin' skills...

 look out!

 After struggling with the bow and arrow, Laynee said, "I just don't know how Catniss does it?"

 In the evening we met down at Grandma Sullivan's house for the pizza and fireworks.  This is Jake.  He's a pretty rad little dude.

 He told me he could get me a shirt like his for my birthday.

 Grandma still hosting rockin' parties...when this one is over, the preparations for Christmas eve begin.

 Traci, Max, and Co. made the trek from Bountiful.

 Lauri, Lucy, and Co. made the trek from Henderson and if you notice, the rain is starting to come down.  It was huge drops and poured nicely for all of about 10 minutes.  It felt so good.  The kids just kept playing basketball and the adults (at least some of them) moved from the shade of the tree out into the open to enjoy the rain.

 The smell and the feel of the warm summer rain took me back to my childhood when we used jump on the trampoline in the rare summer down-pours.  We didn't care if there was lightning - it just made it more exciting.  The street in front of our house had a depression where water would gather and I remember sitting and splashing in it with my little sisters like it was a tub of warm bath water.  I can't think of many things that smell better than desert rain.

 This year we watched the fireworks in style on the roof of the Udvar Hazy building at Dixie College courtesy of Professor Wells.

Livin' large