4th of July/Ireland's Birthday re-cap

We headed down to Richfield this weekend for the annual 4th of July festivities. Ever since I've known Jason (10 years), I think we've gone every year except twice (one of those I was in labor with Ireland).

Anyway, we got down there to his mom's on Friday afternoon. The kids had fun running around with their cousins in the backyard & Jason had fun going on a long ride with his brother on their dirt bikes. It was great to see everyone. Ireland went to sleep at 8pm, which was terrific! McKinley on the other hand...she has always had a hard time sleeping anywhere but home. Plus she has had this dry cough for like a month, so she just tossed & turned and talked & coughed while I laid in bed with her for an hour & a half before she finally went to sleep. NOT FUN! We made a midnight run to Walmart to get her some medicine for her cough, so that helped a little, but the fact that she didn't get to sleep until 10:30pm was really frustrating, because I knew that she was going to be tired & ornery & overtired the next day.

Saturday was the 4th. Ireland woke up at about 6:30, McKinley woke up @ 8am. Jason made his yummy pancakes for everyone & then we all got ready for the big parade. Grandma Devenish gets matching 4th of July shirts for all the grandkids & they were all so cute. The parade was fun - the kids all love all the candy & we were all grateful for Jason & Jeff that they had set out chairs for us the night before so we could be in the shade. McKinley was tired by about 10am. Looking back, I probably should have taken her home right after the parade, but we went to the park & they played on the playground while Jason found & caught up with some old high school pals. We went back home at about 12:30 & I tried to get the girls to sleep with no luck, so I went for a drive & they both zonked out, but when I tried to get them back in the house to sleep, they both woke up! Grrr. Oh well. Later on, we had a great BBQ, slip-n-slide, pool, & water balloon fun! Ireland went to sleep at 7pm, but woke up at 9:30pm when the big fireworks were going on, which was rigth about the time McKinley said she was tired & wanted to go to bed, so I took her, but she didn't fall asleep until about 10:30. She slept between us that night & was kicking & coughing most of the night. Irleand went to bed about midnight. So... you can see we were a bit off-kilter with our sleep schedule. I sure wish my girls would sleep better away from home :(
It was a great time with family, though, and we got some fun pictures!



Sunday was Ireland's birthday & it started with our traditional crown & breakfast. We went to sacrament meeting & then she took a nap & we woke her up about 3pm & had her birthday festivities, complete with a slideshow DVD from her past year, yummy cake from grandma (thanks again!), ice cream, & presents! She got wonderful gifts including cute dresses, a baby with a car carrier, a stroller, a puzzle, more cute clothes, and some small dolls. We took off for home about 7pm & McKinley fell asleep about 8:30. Ireland stayed awake ALL THE WAY HOME - and was still jabbering when we got home about 10. Here's to hoping we get back to a regular sleep schedule before our next trip this weekend.

Below is a slideshow with scrapbook pages from Ireland's birthday book and pics from her birthday.