I'll let these pictures speak for themselves.....

Independence Day

Hi all! Sorry it took me so long to get this up, but I finally have it.

Our 4th of July was a BLAST!!!!! Early in the morning we went to a town 30 miles away for a parade, and then we had some of our church (about 50 people) over to our house for the afternoon.

All of us at the beginning of the parade.

After we went to the parade, we drove a few miles to a nearby park where the local firefighters were hosting a water day! They would point their hose up in the air and spray all of us. It was fun, but I chose to get wet. not soaked. They also had something that looked like a big clothesline. There was a barell in the middle, and different groups of firemen stood on each side with their hoses. They both started spraying and whoever got the barell to the other side using the water pressure from the hoses won. It was really neat to watch.

After we had been there for a while, we went home to finish getting ready for everyone to come. A little while later our pastor and his family, who had been at the parade with us, came over to help us get set up. Their oldest daughter Ava and I spent a while wrapping red, white and blue streamers around the posts on the front and back porch. After that we tied balloons on the posts. It looked really nice... for a while. (You'll see why in a minute)

Right about when we finished setting up, another family came. Then we pretty much just sat around and talked. (And laughed when Azlan started making jokes:) ) Later another family came. And then another. And another.

Here are some pictures from our day.

Mr. Addleman giving a presentation to the younger kids about what the 4th of July is about.

All the younger kids colored paper plates and hung streamers from them for decorations.

A bunch of the older kids and some of the adults went out front to play basketball.

Will decided to try out Hannah's hula-hoop:)

Hannah holding one of the new babies at church, Calvin.

Later it started raining really hard. We were all having a lot of fun playing in the rain.

I got more wet playing outside than I did at the park:)

A lot of the kids started bobbing for apples. And Hannah got SOAKED.

See what I mean? Soaked.

Mrs. Addleman giving instructions for the bucket races.

So, that sums up our 4th of July! Again, sorry it took me so long to put it up.

Kayla

Busy

Hi everyone!!!! Sorry I haven't posted much recently. Problem is, there hasn't been anything to post about until Wednesday, and since then I've been so busy I haven't had time to post.

On Tuesday one of our friends had a baby!!! Her name is Esther, and she is so cute!

Because of Esther's birth, on Wednesday, some of us from the church went to the their house to clean. It's something we do every time a baby is born. We all go over to the person's house and do things like dishes, sweep, mop, things like that. We also put streamers all over the place as well as other decorations. It's a lot of fun.

On Thursday the Mama and baby came home from the hospital, and we went to bring them dinner. We got to see Esther in person, and she is such a sweet thing!

On Friday we went to my grandma's house. There was someone there that we hadn't seen for a year. Our aunt and cousins!!!!! They live in Doha, Qatar currently, but come to visit every year. They'll be here for about 2 months! Last year they were only here for 1 month. We had such a good time. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring the camera inside with us :(  But since they'll be here for 2 months, I can guarantee that I'll have pictures.

On Friday afternoon we also went to some friends house. We haven't seen them for a LONG time, so it was such a nice treat to see them! They live only a few miles away, and have donkeys, turkeys, goats and chickens. I had a lot of fun with their oldest daughter.  I was showing her how to knit, and showing her one of my blankets that I was working on. Then we just sat on their porch and talked all night. It was so nice.

Abigail and I

Sarah and Lillian

Zack and Lillian

I love this picture.

On Sunday, we went to my grandma's house for Father's Day. We didn't celebrate Father's day last Sunday because now that my aunt and cousins are here, we wanted to celebrate it with them. It was a lot of fun, we went swimming, grilled, and just plain had a blast. Unfortunately, the only pictures are on my aunt's camera, so I have to ask her to send them to us.

Today we had a really nice surprise. Our friends the MacDonald's stopped by! Apparently they were in the neighborhood and stopped to say hi. They had perfect timing, because just as they came , we were in the middle of making lunch. So they had lunch with us, and then we played for a long time. Jonathan, Will, Hannah, Sarah and Lee were playing with Jonathan's Star Wars light saber, while I was teaching David and Wes to play chicken foot. (a domino game) 

(Sorry for the glare on this one)

Eventually people ended up watching a video that Jonathan and Hannah were working on making this morning.

Well, that's all for now. I'll try to get back on a regular posting basis. Okay?

                                                                                ~Kayla~

So sweet.....

Note: This post is in pictures, but I do have to give a little explanation. These pictures were taken on Thursday as we were getting ready to go swimming at my grandma's house. Which is why they are wearing what they're wearing.

Kayla

Fellowship With Friends.

On Friday we had some great friends come over for dinner. We had such a fun time.

Left to Right: Annabeth, Wes, Hannah, Lee, Sarah, Will and Jonathan.

I was trying to take a picture of Annabeth, and she was jumping up and down which made for a pretty cool (and funny) picture.

Lee.

Eating chocolate mousse and fruit for dessert.

Now, before you see the next picture, I have something that I think is pretty exciting. On Thursday Hannah and I got new violins!!!!! The ones we had were so bad, we couldn't play them, so Hannah and I used our money we had saved up to buy new ones, this time online from a store that some friends had recommended. They are excellent!

Mrs. MacDonald helping tune ours.

Mrs. MacDonald also was teaching us how to spin our alpaca fleece, which we had from this and last year's shearing. We just didn't know what to do with it. David was fascinated with the carding.

Such a sweet picture.

There is so much room in the girl's room, that we all went to play in there. Sarah, David and Lee all dog piled on Wes, and Will and I were tackling Jonathan. It was one of the best parts of the night. I was laughing so hard.

Well, that's all for today! Thanks MacDonald family for coming over. We had a blast!!!!!

Kayla