There Is GRACE In The Hills: Freedom!

God has given us ultimate (ETERNAL) freedom and I am so thankful for his love and mercy. Independence Day (July 4th) is such a special holiday as we reflect on our country's history and the many men and women that sacrificed to make it a free nation. THANK YOU to our soldiers (and their families) that serve and protect us!

So, how did we spend the weekend? Well...we started the weekend coming home from a work trip (we tagged along with Collin to Denver). Those are nice! We got to play, see him every night and go to a Rockies game with him!

Collin & Madelyn at the Rockies game

So, we did that for a couple of days and came home Friday to get to work...on Saturday, we hosted Collin's management team, trainees, and families at our home for a cook-out. So...we (Collin) had a yard to mow and we had food to prep and a house to make pretty! All of this, we did VERY well and were ready as we watched the storm roll in Saturday evening...and it RAINED on our event. So, we modified and had dinner inside (burgers, hot dogs and the works) and visited inside until the storm passed. Then horse shoes and the 'wee' and sand box were used outside! :)

Sunday brought a fun day...celebrating our freedom with our church family in the morning, napping and heading back to church for the evening Block Party! It typically goes along with the city's fireworks display and makes for a great show but this year was different...fireworks were postponed until fair time due to delayed wheat harvest. It was still a WONDERFUL time...great food, games for the kids and fun time visiting! Madelyn LOVED the evening playing with friends!

Celebrating freedom!

Mommy & Madelyn...Daddy in the side

Monday brought an early day...we took Maggie (she's almost 6 months old now) to the trainer's in Nebraska. We will see her in a month...for a visit! Collin is so excited because she'll be back and ready for ALL of pheasant season! And I am excited that she'll be back for the holidays. We made the trip easily and had a great drive, stopped to change Madelyn out of pjs at a park that was closed (for the holiday) so we stopped at the closed gate instead. Once at the trainer's, Maggie was SO EXCITED to see the other dogs and jumped around...a good sign for her attitude there. It was a quick drop off visit and 15 minutes later we were back in the car. So, we planned to stop at Cabela's on the way home, to get out of the car and enjoyed our time wandering through the store. I even found some goodies in the 'bargain cave'! :) Then we decided to eat our 'picnic' lunch we brought along (since there's not much between here and there) at the pond in front of Cabela's. They have a nice pond, lots of geese and ducks, and a picnic area. It was WONDERFUL! We had a relaxing drive home and still had most of the afternoon...you know, it's amazing how much you can get done when you get up and moving at 5am!