Fourth of July Fun

 Independence Day is by far my favorite holiday.  Unfortunately we didn't make it out to Utah this year to be with my family.  With a new baby I didn't want to make the 18 hour drive.  So we made our own fun.

One day last week was wet and rainy, so we stayed in and made cookies and did red, white, and blue crafts.  The boys loved it!

Coen and I made these cookies.  

 My proud little helper.

 This was our breakfast the morning of the 4th.

 Marshall doesn't normally eat anything with jelly on it, but he ate this toast up!

 Coen took one bite and handed me the rest.

I took the boys out to the pool for a couple hours while John stayed with a napping Hudson in the afternoon.

I went all out for our dinner:

Layered RW&B drinks 

 The boys looked forward to this drink all week.

 And it was so worth it.  YUM-O!!!

 Another layered RW&B treat, jello.

 A delicious patriotic salad.

Rocket dogs!

 And for dessert, trifle!

Then we went to our friends, the Reinhardts' for fireworks and card games.

 Hudson and his self-declared Godmother, Emily.

Hudson was surprisingly good for the fireworks.  The first few scared him with the loud noises, but after that he did really well and was intent on watching them.  My Aunt Robin sent him this cute little Polo shirt & short set because our family is all about the flag swag when we get together on the 4th.

 Curtis & Coen.  Coen is holding his new "special alligator pillow" that Curtis made for him.  He has carried it around the house with him all day today.  Coen and Marshall like to argue about who is Curtis' best friend.

 Here in Missouri, fireworks that shoot into the air are allowed, so we got a first hand view of some good stuff, even without the rodeo back home.

We had a fabulous Independence Day, despite missing the Marshall family festivities.

A Trip to the Dairy Farm

A couple weekends ago, we went to Shatto Dairy Farm's family day.  Shatto Milk is a local farm and bottling company.  They are one of 5 or so farms in the country that bottles and farms the way they do.  They use glass bottles and do not use growth hormones.  They have the milk from cow to store in 12 hours and serve a hundred fifty mile radius.  They make flavored milk like strawberry, banana, orange dream, cotton candy, and rootbeer.  They are to die for!! 

 The hour long drive to the farm was very wet and rainy.  Despite the weather the farm was hopping with fans and we had to park and walk through a lot of mud.  Marshall was not too pleased about either the drive or the weather.

 We stood in a really long line out in the rain.  Hudson was in the wrap against me and able to stay dry, luckily.  I even figured out how to nurse him while wrapped.  Nursing at a dairy farm, now that's coming full circle!  We finally got inside and were able to sample the most delicious cheese curd ever.  Then we heard the run-down on the bottling process.

 It was very cool to see and listen to their process.  They were only demo-ing with water, so we'll have to take a trip to see the milk coming through.  I love their glass bottles and Riley even took some home with her when she was here.  Our next stop was the Shatto store where we each picked our own treat.  The boys and I grabbed some ice cream sandwiches.  A local bakery makes the cookies and Shatto does the ice cream.  Marshall had a brownie and vanilla sandwich, Coen had a sugar cookie and strawberry ice cream, and I had oatmeal raisin with salted caramel ice cream.  John chose squeaky cheese.

 By the time we got through the store's check-out line with a single cash register to serve a hundred people, the rain had cleared.  We walked out to sunny skies, a live band, and a bounce house for the kids.  We had free hot dogs and Shatto lemonade.  Then we walked to the cow barn where John asked a million questions about cow farming and Coen and Marshall swapped attitudes. 

 I loved the sides of their delivery trucks.  In fact, all of their products have witty little comments on them.

 Here's Hudson, just snoozing away in the wrap.

 We all tried milking the cow.  Marshall was a pro and jumped right in there to show us how it's done.

Even Coen sprayed some milk out on his first try!  After hearing that the cows produce 15-17 gallons twice a day, I gained a whole new level of respect for them!  Here I thought I was the dairy cow, having to nurse all the time!

We had a fun time and are looking forward to going to visit again when it's not so crowded.  Or rainy.  Oh, and when our car won't get stuck in the mud on the way out.  They had several tractors helping pull people out of the mud and the boys tying chains to the cars were absolutely 

covered in mud.  Marshall thought it looked fun.