The 4th of July...A Dinger & Baird Family Extravaganza!

The Fourth of July is amazing in Meridian! Our ward has a magnificent breakfast with made to order omelets and pancakes. The girls LOVE a good breakfast...I LOVE that I didn't have to make it! Little Livy wore the dress that Katelyn wore this year...mind you it was a little big, but I cinched it as much as I could...it was too cute to miss out on!

This year we had the Bairds join us for our Fourth festivities.  There was a pool party for all the girls. Can you believe that there were 5 little girls in our pool! It was so fun! Caroline and Megan showed us how to line up the little trampoline for some jumping in the pool. Can you tell that they were having fun?!

Although Katelyn didn't get in on the water fun, she thoroughly enjoyed the antics of the other girlies! There was also lemonade to enjoy and shade to beat the heat! I just want to eat little Sarah up...she is only a few days younger than Brooke.

Jason was the BBQ master...we had some delicious grub...who doesn't like a little good ol' American food?! We had kabobs, hotdogs, a pasta salad, fruit salad and veggies with dip. Yummo. We ate in the shade and I took a few pictures of the only little man, so outnumbered by the little girls! I caught a shot of cute little Megan on the swing...isn't she a doll too?! That is Jessica up in the corner with the little man...and there is even one of me!

What is a BBQ without a little bit of pink, tutus, leis and modeling?!

While we waited for it to get dark the adults played games and the kids ran around having a blast and watched shows. Katelyn went to sleep and we went out at about 8:30 to check out the scene. We took the kiddos out to throw the poppers. I bought them each a box. Our neighbors provided the pyrotechnics this year. Our neighbor TJ (a teenage boy...need I say more?) spent his life savings on a huge display of legal fireworks and then our neighbor Sean (crazy pyro and teenage boy at heart) supplied us with the less legal ones.

All the girls lined up on the curb...including some little girls we collected from neighbors...and we watched the pre-show of fireworks that we didn't use last year. They were pretty lame, but the kids thought that they were pretty cool.

Then we all sat on the curb to enjoy the rest of the show. Check out TJ's collection! Brooke wasn't a bit scared this year, and she clapped after each one was shot off...Tori on the other hand did fine with all the legal stuff, but got a little nervous as the night went on and the illegal stuff boomed. Do you see her face!? Classic! Look...I got a picture of Sam too! Oh, and there is a picture of Jason and I too!

The Bairds left at about 9:30 and suprisingly, the girls did great and wanted to stay up to watch. As the night went on the legality of the fireworks waned...and we slowly creeped up the driveway and ended up watching from the car where Tori felt it was a safe distance from such shenanigans.  We had a BLAST (pun intended) this fourth and we were glad to spend it with good friends! Next year I will remember to blog this sooner so that I can remember more details!

Summer Shenanigans

Goodness gracious my hydrangeas have blooms...periwinkle beauties, popped up and this year I took advantage of the amazingness!

On to the shenanigans...I found these two beauties with their play dresses on in the pool! WHAT?! It was pretty hilarious, especially since Brooke is really not all that fond of water on her face. Instead of getting mad I decided to document their silliness.

On the first day of July we took some pictures of the girls in their dresses...we were outside enjoying our shade and I began to click...Tori of course went all model on me...she is silly. Please notice the blue toes...she LOVES her toes painted!

I only got one picture of Brooke before she was off gallivanting in the yard...but I did catch a picture of her first painted toes...she finally sat long enough for them to dry...she chose pink with sparkles. She always has her princess heels on!

Baby K....a doll...need I say more? Look at her cute little piggies...she had a lot of fun playing in the grass and I had a lot of fun trying to make sure she didn't eat it...well, too much of it anyway! check out those LONG lashes!

The Visitors

When my sister visits, I feel whole...is that weird? I don't think so! Jason always sees how long it takes Lora to get me giggling so silly that I cannot breath (which it didn't take that long). Life is just so much better when Oscar, Livy, Jake and Lora are around, although such close quarters for 9 people (especially when more than half are kids!) isn't a recommendation, but we endure it because the amazing fun that comes out of it!!!! We wait in deep anticipation until they arrive and when they leave I am in a funk for days because I miss them so much! But there is sunshine on the horizon...current events are making my future much brighter...vague? Yes! But not my news to share!
Mind you, these are not the only pictures...Lora, the photographer, took the amazing ones and will be featured on a later blog!
Sisters or Cousins?

Livy and Tori have a relationship like Lora and I when we were kids...it is hard to share when you are so little, but they love each other...it is fun to see Brookie getting in on the action too. Livy was sweet with both of them (although there were some serious throw downs...and some serious attitudes from all of the above mentioned girls), I am so glad that they are developing friendships. We welcomed Chocolate Chip Brownie (the little horse) into our home a few weeks ago. She was given to us by one of our neighbors and Livers and Tori were on that thing non stop one afternoon. It was even a hotter item than Liv's pink Barbie Corvette! And who doesn't love PJs (or in Brooke's case a dress and heels) and morning of phone games. The girls loved watching Livy and Oscar play video games.

 Case of the Stolen Camera

Oscar, Livy and Tori all had their hand in these lovely masterpieces (taken from a stolen camera several times during the week)! It is always fun to see what captivates their mind. Oscar wanted to take (and did...all pictures are not showcased) about a million (mostly blurry) pictures of Katelyn. Livy wanted to take pictures of people, herself and our backyard. Tori took pictures of Livy and Oscar. FUN!

Swimming!

Although Brooke was still a little scared of the pool at the time, that did not leave Tori and Liv dry! It was really warm when the Olesens came, so we visited Settler's water park and had fun in the backyard pool. Could they be any cuter?!

Community Oven Pizza

This is one of our all time favorites (a bit of Olesen Dinger tradition), a visit to Community Oven Pizza. We cannot resist as close to authentic Italian pizza as we (Jake and I) have found in the USA? NOT me! The girls love it because they get to make their own pizza and watch them bake right in front of them...this time Oscar enjoyed a huge bowl full of pasta...and we, as adults, love stuffing our faces full of the best pizza around (not to mention we had some tasty appetizers too!)!!! Plus they serve you delicious, fresh from the oven, chocolate chip cookies (well, the kids get them with their meal, and the adults "share" delicious morsels snuck from their unsuspecting children)....yummy!

We enjoyed our time together (our favorite time was at about 8:30 each night when all the kids were tucked in...and we got to hang out, just the adults, and play games or talk). I cannot wait to see them all again, which this time it will not be as long of a wait (insert an exuberant burst of excitement here!)!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What is to come? The water park, the zoo, and other fabulous happenings during our lovely visit! Miss you Olesens! See you soon!!!