What a wonderful holiday!

I have to preface my post with my regret to so many people that were unable to enjoy the holiday as much as I was. I know of 2 families in particular, one whose little gal is recovering in a hospital limiting what they were able to do and another who said goodbye to their 2 year old after a long struggle with a congenital heart defect. There are many more who are missing loved ones or who are away fighting for our freedoms. I cannot express how grateful I am to live freely in this country and to have busy healthy children. That said, we had a great weekend! Thanks to some last minute schedule additions I was able to have the whole day off, the first holiday I have had off in years. We lazed around in the morning and then had a BBQ with Lowell's family. I was pleased with how my JELLO desserts turned out and would be happy to share pics but my camera battery died while I was uploading them and the plug is at home. Argh! I have SO many good pics to share, the boys have finally given me some good ones but they will have to wait until tomorrow. You'll have to suffice on what had already uploaded. After a good dinner and time to chat we did fireworks at grandma and grandpa's house, the least flammable location due to some of our high flying (slightly less than legal) pyrotechnics. The boys loved it, they would run up and watch as each "fireboom" was lit and then run away laughing. They loved sparklers of course, and the big booms too. We had a few firecrackers that were vehicles, so those were a hit. Just a good day. Then the next morning we went to the zoo with my brother-in-law, his wife, and my nieces. That went well as well with the boys being fairly well behaved and getting good and worn out. Sunday was just the usual day with some fun at grandma's house and plenty of sticky faces after some Jello pudding pops. Man I wish those pics would have uploaded! And my favorite part of the day, when I was putting the boys down and having some fun. I let them take some pics of each other and they turned out great. I am so thrilled to have some good pictures. Funny the things they will do for each other but not for me. Today was just the gym, swim lessons (everyone loves Carter's laugh and Cyndel my sis is quite popular, our teacher asked her out--she is a doll I must say) and then off to work. So that's all for the weekend, doesn't sound as fun on here but it was just a nice weekend off, and a good time to be thankful for all that this country means to me and my family.