Happy 4th of July!

The 4th of July in Meeker is my absolute favorite holiday. I can only remember 6 or 7 times in my life when I wasn't in Meeker on the 4th. Emotionally now, it's a hard holiday because my grandparents aren't there with us and so much of the 4th is associated with them. We had a really good time with all the cousins though and I look forward to all of the new memories we are creating with our family. This post has been a long time coming but if only you knew the number of pictures I had to sift through. It's ridiculous but, as you will see, there are too many good moments not to share. It started with the trip from Denver. Millie had been asking about Lucy the whole way from Amarillo and was very excited to wrap her arms around her.

The drive to Meeker was longer than necessary due to the 500,000 people trying to get to the mountains for the long weekend but we made it without any issues. My brother was not so lucky and had a crazy bypass story that I'm sure they wish to forget. While the cousins caught up on life (best place for that is sitting on top of a hay bale), we made sure everyone had a bed and sorted through some boxes that needed unpacking.

 The next day entailed an early morning fishing lesson.

 And then some practice

 Matalley caught her first fish (wouldn't hold it and barely touched it...see photo) and was hooked on the fishing gig. She was determined to catch as many as she could.

 Emily caught a good size trout.

 And they were slippery little things.

 I got to fish too. It had been a while.

 But I had success! And Matt's glasses kept sliding down my nose so this is my Janis Joplin look.

Jimmy joined us for a walk but didn't do any fishing.

 Millie had a good talk with Uncle Mikee

 And Grayson helped his little sister by getting the slime off the hook

The younger girls appreciated the mule ride more than the fishing. Millie with her arm around Lola.

 And Lucy with her hands clasped

There were 4-wheel rides.

 Movie time during the rain storms.

 Conversations with YiaYia

And forced hand holding to make up from disagreements.

I got an early birthday celebration

 Which included a sunset watching party on top of the old field

It was breathtaking, spacious skies, waves of grain (still green from the rain), purple mountains and all.

 It was perfect.

The next morning was the 4th. Unfortunately the way the holiday fell this year, we all had to go home on the 4th so we missed out on the evening Meeker activities. The morning activity (parade) was well represented by Dodds/Lanoha/Sadler patriots...

We even managed to visit the bum lambs at our cousin's place.

 And get to the parade ON TIME!!

And then Matt, Millie and I journeyed the LONG ride all the way to Amarillo. We saw fireworks in about 4 small towns on the way home while the other kids stayed in Denver to begin a week of fun at Y&B camp. We were thankful to have had such a great weekend to start the week.