Fourth of July EPIC Post

Our Fourth of July Adventure began on July 1st. We spent the morning getting ready and left at nap time (I highly recommend this tactic for parents traveling with children). For those of you who may not be able to picture what a drive from Palm Springs to Las Vegas looks like, let me enlighten you:

It took us roughly 4.5 hours - we made excellent time. By the time we arrived at our destination - Courtney and Bret's - we were totally ready to get our fun on! We attended the 4th of July festivities at Court's last year, but we decided to stay at a hotel. This year we had the pleasure of staying at our dear friend's home and it was amazing. Not only is their home gorgeous, but Julianne had unlimited access to Chunko and Buddy (or Bud-o and Chunky as she sometimes called them).

Julianne "walking" the dogs. My foxy friend Courtney is in the background!

Bret reading "Sylvester and the Magic Pebble" to Julianne. That book is a classic!

Saturday was an especially lovely day. Since Kasiah's arrival, I haven't had much time with my first precious baby angel, the princess Julianne. Courtney and Bret live near all sorts of neat places to eat, so I took Juji on date. First we had a turkey and cranberry sandwich at The Great Harvest Bread Company:

The "Cheese" face lives on.

Next, I took Juji for some frozen yogurt. We tested lots of flavors before she decided on a chocolate/vanilla swirl with these toppings of her choice:

Isn't our girl lovely?

It's common knowledge that gifts are a sure way to a girl's heart, so after filling my baby with delicious delicacies I told her should could pick out *anything* she wanted from Super Wal-Mart.

This child is definitely her father's daughter - she chose one of the most expensive things she could find! A Cinderella Dress!

This is Julianne reading with Sarah in her Cinderella dress (which only lasted one night without being torn...we exchanged it for Snow White the next morning!):

Here are some photos of the festivities preparation:

Zac and Ryan:

Kevin:

Mama and Gaga:

Courtney and Kasiah:

Me and the Wee One:

Ryan, Ty and Dan:

And a rare family shot:

The party was totally fabulous. We had fun swimming, dancing, eating and jumping in the jumper!

My buddy Ashlee and Julianne:

The thunderstorm that rolled in during the middle of the party was AMAZING! I totally went swimming while it was coming down and felt like I was 10 again. Bret and I both commented how it reminded us of Flagstaff in the summer when the monsoons began.

The amazing desserts, made by Erin. She is the one cutting the cake.

A quick story about the cupcakes...

For the past week since this party, Julianne has been asking us, "Do you remember when Chunko ate my cupcake and I cried? And I said "NO CHUNKO!" and Courtney got me a new one? But Buddy didn't eat my cupcake. Only Chunko."

Yes, Julianne. We remember. We all remember.

Speaking of J-Bones, she took this photo. Bret was just making sure her finger didn't cover the lens.

The LONG drive home. Seriously, almost 8 hours. We stopped A LOT. Like I said at the beginning, it's best to leave at nap time, not the middle of the morning!

We had the best time with all of our dear friends! My apologies for drowning you in pictures, but Kasiah just learned out to crawl...my time is limited!