Wyoming on the 4th!

We ended up doing so much for the 4th of July and all of it was so fun!

We finally took family pictures with Ethan's family and I think they will turn out so cute. (I'll post the HUGE family pic of all of us when they get developed)

Unfortunately, one of the children in the clan would not stop crying the ENTIRE time throughout the picture taking process . . . ugh, so annoying. What's worse--it was our little guy. HA! I tried so hard to sing in his ear, tickle his underarms, bounce up and down, and even promised him gum when we got to the house, and nothing would work. I guess there's no match for fatigue and hunger. I know when the pictures come back, Ethan and I will just start laughing at the site of our screaming child amidst all the oth

er smiling faces. Can't wait :-)

Eth caught a great shot of his beautiful sisters--I love these girls.

(Hannah, Melissa, Mamma Jan, Marie, Michelle)

I absolutely LOVE these pictures of the little boys and the men in Wyoming. No doubt these little tykes will later end up like their Daddy's someday :)

There's something about seeing these men on horses walking up the dirt road that makes me happy. Seeing a Father with his sons doing something that they all love is so great to me. I guess I just love seeing men do manly things together and spending quality time together.

What a neat picture--thank you for posing horsies.

(Ethan, Pappa Hyde, Cody)

Can't be a Wyoming experience without a little bit of four-wheelin' and razor ridin'! Michelle let her little kid excitement out when she drove this thing haha- so funny!

And of course the horse riding for the little kids. It was fun watching Wyatt get wide eyes as the horses orbs made contact with his. He wouldn't stop making his hilarious horse noises every time we saw one :) Man, horses are beautiful animals aren't they?

The funniest part is that Wyatt didn't especially like riding on the horse. He only went around the circle twice and that was good enough for him. It still made for a great picture though!

This is Ethan's eldest brother, Justin, holding the newest addition to our Hyde family--his son

FIREWORKS!

Out in the cold :)

This is the first time I've celebrated the 4th of July with Eth's family, and I must say I was impressed with their firework fun! They actually got some of the HUGE fireworks to shoot off so it was really cool. We had a lot of fun as you can see.

Okay, but I HAVE to share the funny thing that happened.... So some of the guys were in the field lighting all the fireworks. All was going well and there were some very large fireworks in a row, and then all of a sudden there was a break in the

action. (After one firework malfunctioned and headed straight for the house, and one landed 30 ft. away from Ethan's face haha!) From the field we heard, "Don't worry! We got one more firework, we just can't light it."

So they moved behind us onto the road and all of us were sitting with anticipation for the grand finale firework.... we're all staring at the dark sky, waiting..... waiting....... waiting....... and then there it was! Hahhahahahha I don't even know how to describe it. It sloppily shot into the sky, leaving a trail of squiggly orange sparks, and when it reached its highest point, there was a little POOF, and like three small streams of red and white dropped down from the sky and disappeared in like .2 WE LAUGHED SO HARD! I

t was the most pathetic firework to end on haha. Ethan and I were dying.

POND FISHING

This was so much fun! We had like 4 tiny fishing poles for kids that we used to fish in this pond. All the little kids took a turn, with their parents help, and ALL OF THEM CAUGHT ONE! It was so cute to watch them catch the fish and then scream with delight. All of us cheered really loud when each kid caught one-it was exciting for them.

So cute :)

Eth was so happy that he and Wyatt caught one together-- WYATT'S FIRST FISH!

Wyatt was so excited about the "FSHH" in the water, but didn't really know what to do when it was out of the water haha.

This was such a fun activity to do with the kids and it definitely turned out to be a success! That night we fried up all the fish and ate em' too. That's how you do it up at the ranch.

Ok........... I CAUGHT ONE TOO! I was just as thrilled as the kids were! I've only gone fishing a few times in my life and the last time I went I was very young, so this was a big deal for me. I got so excited when I felt a little tug on the fishing pole- I said, "Effie I got one!" just like a little kid. It was also quite funny trying to reel the crap out of that tiny fishing pole to get my fish in haha. This catch just made my day.

Don't worry, we measured each fish to find out who caught the biggest one. I was almost positive that I had caught the winning fish, only to find out that I got beat by my two year old niece hee-hee. How appropriate.

I always love getting together with family for holidays; especially the 4th of July. I love getting into my patriotic spirit and I really get emotional every year when I think about it. I love singing the songs about our country and I realize how blessed I am to live here in America. It was a wonderful weekend full of family and love. That's what it's all about.

WHAT AN AWESOME 4TH OF JULY!

Man, I love Wyoming.