4th of July in Hermiston

For the second year in a row we spent the fourth of July in Hermiston at Emily's house. We arrived Thursday night and spent the rest of the weekend relaxing- we sat around, ate delicious food, and talked. It was heaven. Oh and there was a small inflatable pool in the backyard so the kids had a great time too. When you've lived in an apartment as long as we have, having a yard for a weekend is a luxury. Mark also came up with some of his kids from Boise. They are always fun to be around too.

 All the cousins! In a backyard! With an inflatable pool! My kids were in heaven!

 Also, a piano! It's so fun to hear Ben play and Teddy was loving it as well.

Friday we lounged around and went no where and did nothing but chat and eat. I read magazines and Ben got to read a book he'd been wanting to read since we went to the Virgin Islands (we both packed books on that trip that we didn't even get to crack open because we were constantly trying to keep our kids from falling into the ocean). 

Saturday (the 4th) we celebrated in good ol' Stanfield, Oregon. It's a small, small town by Hermiston that does a Fireman's breakfast and parade. I love small town holiday celebrations. Everything is simple and you don't have to battle the crowds.

Fireman's breakfast! Mark and Darren had done a 5K run that morning.

The parade is the best. Everyone who has a tractor, truck, four-wheeler or horse can be in it and everyone throws candy. Nayeli was loving it!

Ben teaching Nayeli how to charm the people into throwing you candy.

 Wearing the hat our neighbor Anita (Nana) gave her for the parade.

 Teddy in Ben's hat

With my siblings! I love them! Emily is 28 weeks pregnant with her fifth and she hosted us amazingly.

My sweet boy striking a pose worthy of a boy band photo shoot

 Emily and family

Emily and Gabe

Nayell with Derek, Emma and Ellie

 Get the candy!

Our nice shady spot- and no, the Playboy truck is not ours :)

We love the 4th of July!

Teddy was so dirty by the end after eating a mixture of dirt and tootsie rolls 

(I couldn't tell which brown was from which).

 

After all the candy she ate, I'm pretty sure this is the face Nayeli made all day.

After the parade, we headed home and relaxed some more. Emily had let all her kids pick a treat on Pinterest that they wanted to make. She made some delicious pretzels that she asked Ben to do some product photography on.

My name is Nayeli, and I endorse these tri-colored fourth of July jellos.

In the afternoon we did more pool time, with Ben and I getting in on the action.

Such fun cousins

We stayed Sunday to go to church, then drove home after lunch. We really had the best time! Thank you Emily and Darren for hosting us and feeding us like kings! It was wonderful!