54 Crazy Hours and Pops in the Sky

My Grandma DeYoung "moved on" last month.  It was going to be a quick in and out trip so I left the kids at home with friends and flew out to UT for the funeral.   I was gone a grand total of 54 busy hours. It was a tough drive away from home, great little stint in UT with family, and a happy drive back home.  It was a nice service and I'm glad she finally got her wish of being back with the love of her life.
I thought the best part was seeing almost all of my cousins!  I don't think I've seen that many of them all in one place since my Grandpa DeYoung's funeral almost 15 years ago.  We were missing 1 Bodine who has chosen to disown her family, 1 DeYoung who is on a mission, and 1 Layton who is serving in the US Army and is stationed in Germany.  It's pretty amazing how my family can come together and jive like we see each other all the time!

 The kids had quite a varied response to fireworks this year:
We had people over for a BBQ on Friday the 3rd.  Mark bought some fireworks to do with friends in the street.  Poor Rachel was caught off-guard and alone for the first loud firework.  Mark brought her back inside to me clinging to him and visibly shaking.  I convinced her to come back outside with Dean and me only for her to be terrified and begin crying again.  Dean took his cue from her and decided he didn't like the fireworks either.  I tried to get them to watch from the window, but ended up giving Rachel the choice of watching the "pretty" lights or going to bed.  She responded very enthusiastically "Nap, nap, nap."  We got her changed into her PJs and went back outside to tell Daddy "night night".  By the time we made it back into her bedroom Dean was in bed with the covers over his head.  I put Rachel down to change Dean into his night diapers, turned around and she was balled up in her bed with her hands covering her face and ears.  Poor kids.

After an Independence Day morning at the Farmer's Market, getting crepes from our favorite food truck for breakfast, and swimming with friends, we decided to give it at least one more good effort to see fireworks.  We packed up and went to our traditional spot in Downtown Bentonville with tons of other church members.  Our plan was to have everything packed up before dark so if the kids didn't like the fireworks again we could leave at a moments notice.  We lucked out and Rachel ended up quite mesmerized with the "pops....pops sky."  Dean was so tired he just rested against my chest during the whole show, but he watched.   4 days later Rachel is still bringing up the "pops, sky, pops, pretty".  They will get one more chance to enjoy fireworks during the UT Pioneer Day Rodeo.  Hopefully it will go more like round 2 than round 1.