Independence Day

Late.... but finally here.
So Wednesday the 2nd we headed down to my in-laws for the weekend and it was nice to get out of town for a few days. It was so great to be able to spend time with soooo much of Trent's family. The 4th of July is a pretty big thing for the VanderSloot fam which is awesome cause it brings a lot of the siblings up this way. There were only a few who weren't able to be there with us.

K this was seriously the cutest thing EVER. Three of Ethan's cousins were sitting on the stairs and Ethan went into the kitchen and brought back apples for each of them. They looked SOOOOO cute sitting on the stairs together but I just wasn't quick enough with the camera.
Michael decided he wanted to sit in the car with Ethan and Kaitlin....
... guess it wasn't meant to seat three.


Every year Melaleuca has a banquet and program at the Shilo Inn next to the river for the Melaleuca Freedom Celebration that's topped off with fireworks at 10. This year Trent was asked to sing the National Anthem to kick off the banquet..... and he sounded A-MAZING. I LOVE LOVE LOVE listening to my man sing and I was so proud of him. Nearly all of his siblings told him that it was the best they had ever heard him and I want you guys to know how good that made him feel.
So.... I wasn't as prepared as I thought. Brand new white shirt.... no bib.... watermelon. Yeah. Hooray for MelaPower cause the shirt still looks like new!!




My youngest brother Jason loves the 4th of July and this was his first 4th home from his mission so I was grateful to my mother-in-law Belinda for helping get a ticket for him to join us at the banquet, he had a great time.

Aren't my parents adorable?!



Another highlight of the weekend was the engagement of Eliza to Jason and I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am for them. I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!!
Me and the bride to be.
Attempt #1 at a picture of Crew and Ethan.
Attempt #2.
It was kind of a crazy weekend filled some unexpectedly early mornings, a great family fun run around the 4 mile block on Saturday, a great drive to and from Jackson with my funderful sister-in-law Sadie (BOO on Dierks Bentley for canceling! but HOORAY for some time with Jairus!), lots of great food, incredible fireworks, and 4 days with my husband's AMAZING family.
Happy belated Independence Day everyone!!!!

Day at the Driving Range

My younger brother Jacob recently graduated Utah State and decided it would be fun to go to Taiwan and teach English for 6 months. So with one week left and nothing to do he came home so spend it with all of us!!!! While I was on my mission (in Taiwan) my family got really into golfing so my Dad and I wanted to be sure Jake had a chance to go before he left (golfing's not so very big in Taiwan). So for home evening we all headed out to the driving range.


Ethan is copying the way his uncle Jason follows through with his swing.


Time for a one on one.
Golfing's not exactly my hottie hubby's forte.... in this picture he's actually retrieving the golf club that flew out of his hands mid-swing. Man I love him!! Dad and I tried not to laugh too long. (rest assured I asked Trent for permission to post about it.)
I was really proud of Trent, he got some good swings in.

Belated Birthday

My in-laws were out of town for my birthday and my mother-in-law has been so cute cause every time she'd see me she'd say something like, "I haven't forgotten.... I want to take you to lunch...." when I was happy with the phone call she gave me on my birthday!! So she called me up one evening and asked what my plans for the following afternoon were. I had none!!! So we met up at the water spray park in town along with my sister-in-law Emily and her daughter Lilly. My wonderful Mom brought Subway sandwiches and an incredibly thoughtful gift. We played in the water with the kids, ate yumminess, and rode the carousel. My sister-in-law Sadie even stopped by to hang out for a bit. It was a great afternoon. I can't even begin to tell you how much I love my family! I feel so incredibly blessed, they're all so amazing and I have felt nothing but an out-pouring of love ever since my husband and I first met. Thanks Mom, Emily, Lilly, and Sadie for an awesome day!!!! I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kids Fishing Day

A couple of weeks ago a local tree/flower nursery held a free kids fishing day. They stocked up their pond with trout, had free hot dogs and soda and a bunch of local vendors out. It was an all day thing and we were excited to take Ethan for a couple of hours. I'm glad we went as early as we did cause it got hot fast. Ethan was excited about the fish and go even more excited about throwing rocks into the pond. After a little bit we caught a sucker fish that didn't put up a fight at all. Ethan and I stepped into the water to get a closer look and after that first step into the water Ethan was fearless about walking right in, reaching down and pulling up rocks which he then threw back into the water. By the time we were ready to go his shorts were soaked. It made for a fun morning.



After being home for a bit it was obvious just how much Ethan had had at the pond.