Independence Day (Round 2)

This was our second year driving CTI equipment in the Wamego 4th of July Parade. Hudson loves tractors so he was delighted to join us in the parade. 

This year we drove a swather. 

Cheese!

The boys' facial expressions in this photo crack me up :)

Hudson was very serious and all business during the parade. He waved when we told him to, but spent the majority of the time being pretty solemn. Ollie didn't do as well. He wanted to be on Riley's lap and Riley wasn't comfortable with that due to the squirrely-ness of the swather. Oliver wasn't having that so he spent half the parade throwing a fit.

After the parade we went back to CTI to grill, hang out, and wait for the fireworks to start. 

(I didn't do a very good job at taking pictures of everybody there as we were all hot and hungry. We had a big crew with my family including Eric's girlfriend, Sarah, and Haley's boyfriend, Dalton. Kaylee was the only one missing.)

These two little boys loved the fireworks that people in town were shooting off.

I 

The firework show started at 10 pm which was way past Ollie's bedtime. He fell asleep right before they began and slept through them all. I throughly enjoyed the baby snuggles. 

Independence Day (Round 1)

We had a full house this Independence Day.  With July 4th being on a Monday, we made a weekend out of it.  My whole family was able to join us with the exception of Kaylee.

Here were our Sunday festivities:

The weather was somewhat cool for July which allowed us lots of time outdoors.  

Ollie experimented with his first firecrackers, poppers.

I hear closing your eyes when you throw them makes them louder.

 

 

You can't help but smile as you watch these two videos, I'm certain of it :)

The boys had a fun time playing.

 

 

 

One of my dad's specialties (and often requested by us kids) is kabobs.  

 

 

Assembly always takes the hands of many and a bit of time, but it is well worth it.

 

 

       

There were no leftovers, which there never are when it comes to kabobs.

Homemade ice cream and Oreos were next up on the menu and it's safe to say that Ollie approved.

 

After a long day, these two cuties shared a bath :)

I'd say they are both pretty cute.

Bobby Bones

I've been listening to the Bobby Bones Show on the radio for quite some time.  I'm not sure when I started listening, but I think the station in Manhattan started broadcasting it this past school year and I was hooked.  I have a 35 minute drive to school each day and I really look forward to listening to Bobby and his gang.  (Lunchbox is my fav, he is hilarious).  I got in the habit of telling Riley about the funny things that they talked about...and then Riley started listening to it too.  I leave earlier in the morning than Riley does so we often talk about what each other heard on the show that morning.

Bobby recently wrote a book which Riley gifted to me for our recent wedding anniversary.  The book meant a lot to me because Riley typically isn't very good with gifts (and he is the first to admit this).  I usually have to tell him exactly what I want and he doesn't typically try to even think of anything himself.  Often I end up buying my own present.  This anniversary he did really good in buying me the book.  The cost wasn't much, but I specially told him that it was one of my most favorite presents simply because he thought of it on his own.  (I never mentioned wanting the book, but he knew I would like it.  And I did.)   It didn't arrive in time for our anniversary, so he printed a picture of the book and placed in the card he gave me.  He was very thoughtful about the whole thing.  Brownie points :)  I stayed up way past my bedtime the day that it arrived and read the whole thing.

Anyway... Bobby's Bones was scheduled to do a comedy show in Salina at the Stiefel Theatre.  I purchased tickets for Riley and I to go together.  This was to be a surprise for his Father's Day gift.  I ended up having to tell him prior to Father's Day because he brought up seeing how much tickets are and going together.  Great minds think alike, I guess.

So this past Friday, we dropped Ollie off with Jaime and Shelby to babysit and headed to Salina to see Bobby.

 

The Show began with an opening act of Nikita Karmen.  She was an awesome vocalist and played several of her own songs.  (Last time Bobby was in Salina, Kelsey Ballerina opened up for him and has since become quite a star in country music.  It will be cool to see if the same happens with Nikita.)  Bobby came out for his comedy show and it was awesome.  He interacted with the audience and we had lots of laughs.  The night concluded with Bobby bringing out Eddie and they played some of their Raging Idiots parodies.  We had a great time and were glad that we were able to go.

Of course, no date night would be complete without a trip to Menards.  I swear, we should buy stock in this place with as much as we spend there :)