4th of July Weekend

Nick had a 4-day weekend this past weekend, and it was absolutely wonderful! It was pretty rough getting back to normal today though. I know I had a hard time getting up early! Thankfully, we're going on vacation in only a few days!

Some friends of ours went out of town and needed someone to watch their dog, so we helped them out:

Bruno

He is pretty laid-back, but it was definitely interesting adding another dog into the mix. Plus, being a Golden Retriever he sheds like crazy! Our Roomba didn't know what hit it. The dogs all got along fairly well, except Rufus would randomly get jealous if Bruno got near Nick. So we had a few little tiffs here and there, and definitely some barking on Scout's part. Even though it wasn't too bad, if we were thinking about a 3rd dog anytime soon, we definitely are not anymore. It was just a little too chaotic. Although it definitely helped us appreciate the peaceful moments!

Thankfully, it finally stopped raining, so we were able to spend lots of time outside. The dogs definitely loved doing a lot of this:

Relaxing in the backyard

And Scout's favorite part of Bruno coming over was this:

Giant bone!

He didn't quite know what to do with himself.

We did a lot of relaxing and hanging out with the dogs this weekend, but we also had an opportunity to go to a local rodeo:

Nick all cowboy'd up

It was the 86th year this rodeo has gone on, and it was very impressive! Our absolute favorite part was the mutton busting, which is when little kids basically cling on to sheep for dear life. Don't worry, they wear helmets and protective covering, and most of them only lasted a few seconds. It was also awesome because they brought in a little kid to be like a rodeo clown and he just loved chasing down the sheep. So cute!

They also had some amazing girls who did trick riding on horses and ponies. At one point, one girl rode two horses "Roman style"- standing up with one foot on each horse. It was amazing how daring and crazy they were!

They also had miniature bull riding, which was where kids like 7-10 year old kids would ride miniature bulls. I just can't believe how hard-core they were. And, of course, all the normal rodeo stuff was awesome too!

For the 4th, we ended up cooking up a tasty BBQ and buying a bunch of little fireworks and setting them off in the backyard.

Mmm, BBQ!

Nick thoroughly enjoyed playing with fire and explosives if you couldn't tell:


Thankfully, we bought a bunch of "Black Cats", a.k.a. firecrackers:

Nick holding some Black Cats

All in all, a fantastic weekend! I know it meant a lot to both of us that Nick was home this year to celebrate, and it was really cool being in a state that loves America so much...even if it's only a tad more than it loves itself, ha ha. But seriously, the freedom we enjoy in this country meant so much more considering how much we have personally endured for it.