4th of July, Derek's birthday and boating

Sadly, I forgot to bring my camera anywhere with me all weekend. We were so busy, I don't know when I would have taken any pictures anyway. My sister in law, Melissa and I got this crazy idea to sell cotton candy during the parade in Provo. It was crazy! We tried to make up a bunch early the day before, but half way through the day, we broke a machine. A nice fellow that Melissa knows took her machine to work on it and gave her a loaner that was a commercial grade, so that we could keep going. Melissa has three machines. One commercial and two smaller ones. One of the smaller ones is the one that broke. I guess they just aren't made for how much we use those things. After we got the loaner, we decided to transfer everything up to Provo to get set up for the parade the next morning. We made cotton candy until about 10:30pm. Derek decided to stay out all night. He had the tow truck until about 2 or 3am, so he figured why come home and then get up about 5 to save a spot for our cotton candy stand. It was really nice of him to stay out for us. We had a stand set up at the apartments that Derek does maintenance for. Right on the parade route. We had my parents sit with it during the parade. They didn't sell much there, but some. Those of us walking the route did a lot better. We were one of only two vendors that were selling cotton candy. Provo high was the other and they only wanted a few blocks of the route, so the rest was ours. Almost a mile of the route! Derek and I went together with two wagons. The girls sat in one that Derek pushed while I pulled a second one. It's exhausting work, but so worth it. We have been trying to raise money for my nephew Kyle, to be able to go to the Scout Jamboree next summer in Washington DC. He will be gone for 3 weeks and will also go to New York. Yes, I am completely jealous. We have almost raised all the money for him. We are going to have another yard sale in August to try to get the rest, plus maybe a little spending money.

After the parade, we walked for a little bit through the park. There were so many people there, that we couldn't push the stroller through. We bought some yummy doughnuts. Then my Dad had me arrange some dinner plans to celebrate Derek's birthday (the following day, July 5th). Derek's favorite restaurant is Mi Ranchito. (Actually with as much as he takes us to Chilli's, I'm not sure anymore which one is his favorite.) So we headed over there for a great Mexican birthday dinner. Derek was so stinkin tired by this point that he kept falling asleep at the table. I kept taking the girls to the bathroom. Seriously I was in that bathroom four different times. Twice for each girl. Guess you could look on the bright side and say that they didn't get dehydrated during the parade being out in that hot sun! Anyway, the food was great and we had a fun time. Derek wouldn't let them sing to him though. He said he was really tired and he didn't want them to. Oh well, we still got some fried ice cream.

That night, we went to JD and Melissa's house for some fireworks. My parents gave Derek his birthday presents while we were there. He got jumper cables for the motorhome. Read here to find out why the gift was so 'fitting'. A dolphin seat cover for his car. He loves dolphins. Some t-shirts and a pair of pants. And a rug type thing that you put in front of your motorhome door. I am not sure what to even call it. A mat? It's really big!

The fireworks were postponed for about 15 minutes while it rained. Then we were right back out there and the weather stayed good. The girls enjoyed the fireworks. The funniest part was when a guy who was totally drunk out of his mind, literally, came walking down the middle of the street and didn't even flinch when he walked right through our burned out fireworks. He seriously knocked a bunch over, but he didn't look down or even blink. Further down the road, Melissa and I were laughing at him because he almost walked right into a trailer. He was zig zagging all over the road. We were half tempted to call the police. I heard they changed the public drunkenness law, but what if you are a danger to yourself? He did make us laugh though. Hope he made it where ever he was headed safely.

The next day was Derek's birthday. I got up with the girls and went and bought Derek some McDonalds for breakfast. Then my Dad called and asked if we could come have some KFC for lunch before we were heading out to go boating. So, we went to JD and Melissa's house and ate some lunch with everyone. Then we headed to Derek's towing boss's house. Dave and JaNell (The towing company owners) took us out boating for Derek's birthday. It was so much fun! I am scared of the water, but I will go out on a boat. I just won't do the tube or anything like that. Dave and JaNell were super nice about me not wanting to do anything else but sit in the boat. Most people when they hear you are scared of something, seem to hassle you about doing it anyway. I loved that they were pretty care free about it. It made me so much more comfortable. I did put my feet in the water off the back of the boat with the girls, but I was terrified to go all the way in the water. JaNell took some pictures for us. She said she will email them to me. I will post them when I get them. We were pretty tired after all that. What a busy weekend.

The next weekend, we celebrated Derek's birthday with his family. He told them he wanted money for his birthday, which is usually what he asks for. His Mom made a really good ham for dinner. Then she always sends us home with any leftover birthday cake. Derek came home from work on Tuesday and told me that he wanted to use some of his birthday money to take us out to Chilli's. (See, not sure which one is his favorite.) He didn't have his eye on anything in particular for his birthday, so he said he would rather spend some time with us as a family. It was really nice going out.