A Fun Fourth

After a hectic week for Eric at work, he was anxious for a 4-day weekend.  We had a lot of fun.  Friday we spent cleaning and shopping.  Then, the fun began when Kyle and Jessica (Eric's brother and his wife) arrived Friday evening.  Shortly after they arrived, the four of us went out to a mexican dinner and went to the movie, "Eclipse".  We all enjoyed the movie.  Kyle kept making jokes which kept things interesting, and Eric was interested in everyone's powers after the movie.  He likes the movies where people have superpowers.  Jessica and I both thought it was the best of the three.  Although, I've never cared for Robert Pattinson as Edward.  I like him as an actor.  He's good in other movies, but he just doesn't fit the part of Edward to me.  I do wish they would have let him keep his accent though, I feel like his speech wasn't as fluid and natural because he was fighting the accent.  Of course, the boys were annoyed when Bella kissed Jacob, but I was too when I read it.

Saturday morning, the boys went golfing while we hung out at home.  When they got back, we all went to the Last Airbender movie.  The kids, especially Alex, have been into the Avatar cartoon series lately.  Unfortunately, Alex didn't get to come though because he is spending a couple of weeks with my parents in Idaho.  The kids and I enjoyed the movie.  Jarem kept telling me the names of all the characters.  I think Kyle and Jessica enjoyed it as well though Eric thought there should have been more action.  I liked how they played classical music while they were using their powers.  It was very smooth and fluid and not scary.
After we got back we broke out the grill for the first time since we've moved here (that's right, it's been sitting out on the deck for nearly 2 years now without use) and made hamburgers and hot dogs.  I was surprised that it still worked, but it worked beautifully and the hamburgers was delicious!

Eric and I decided against a fireworks show this year after all the waiting and the smoke we breathed in last year.  So, we bought our own and Kyle and Eric set them off in our neighborhood after the BBQ.  It was an awesome show!  I think this will be our new tradition.

Sunday morning we went to church, napped, and hung out for a few hours.  Then we enjoyed a delicious meal at the Young' s house with the Howes' and Martinez's.  Tina is one of the best southern cooks around.  Her barbequed chicken and pork ribs are the best.  After great food and socializing, we ended another fantastic day.

Monday, we got up and headed over to the school for a little tennis.  Jessica and I just volleyed a bit and chased a lot of balls, but the boys played for real.  The girls played on the playground and Jarem ran around picking up balls.  Afterwards, we got cleaned up and stopped by Goodwill because Kyle wanted to find some fat polyester ties.  We finally found Goodwill (after my poor directions...it's not like I haven't been there 3-4 times before), but they didn't have any of the ties he was looking for.  As long as we were there though, we took a look around and found a few beauties.

Kyle LOVED these red polyester pants with the light yellow polo.  Eric found the shoes to coordinate.

Unfortunately, the shoes didn't quite fit though!  The pants were definitely one of a kind...the only ones of that color in the whole store.  He wanted them, but they were a bit big and...

Jessica was a definite no on the pants!  :)  Kyle did find another beauty of a shirt that he DID buy though (missed the pic).  And Eric tried on some shirts too which I failed to get pictures of.

Jarem found this cute hat.  In the above picture he was embarrassed because he thought I might be taking a picture to make fun of the hat.  He is very sensitive about being laughed at.  But then I assured him that he looked cute and that was why I wanted the picture and I got the smile below!

I'm not a big fan of sharing hats though, so we didn't buy it.  Jesikah did find a Harry Potter shirt which she bought and I found an old children's storybook that I bought.

Then we headed over to Kyle's favorite buffet for a late lunch: The China Buffet (over near the Sango Wal-Mart).  This place has become a must when they visit.  We all enjoyed a tasty meal after which we watched a few episodes of "The Office" on Netflix before they headed back home to Huntsville, AL.  It was a very fun weekend.  I only wish I would have gotten more pictures!