Happy 4th of July!!!

We had a great first 4th of July with Rylee! (It is sad to think that the firsts are becoming fewer and farther in between.) But it was fun to think back to our lives at this time last year. We were so hoping Rylee would be a 4th of July baby (just because I was so sick of being pregnant!) but when she didn't come we told ourselves at least we would have a baby for this year's Independence Day. Little did we know that she would fly right through the baby stage and be on her way to full-grown adult by this year! Rylee had several other firsts along with her first 4th of July celebration:

We took our first trip to the outdoor pool in Logan on the 3rd:

Rylee had a ton of fun splashing and soaking everyone ... including herself!

She looked so cute in her little swim suit:

It took all three of us to keep her under control! She loves grandma best:

She was so interested in everything going on that she wouldn't hold still at all:

Another first was that she learned to blow bubbles!! We thought it would take her a while to learn and we would just start teaching her this trip so she would be familiar with it when she starts swim lessons. But after only a few times of showing her she had it down! Now she wants to blow bubbles in EVERYTHING! This little girl is way too smart for her own good...

Later that night we staked out our spot at a nearby park to watch the stadium fireworks:

Once again Ry was crazy and we ran all over the park chasing her for hours:

Another suprise was that Rylee drank from a straw for the first time! We thought we were safe just letting her play with the straw, that way she thinks she is getting whatever we are having and she is happy. When I gave her my slurpee, though, she grabbed the straw and started sucking stuff up! Unfortunately, that means we will have to start sharing EVERYTHING with her:

Yet another first was Rylee's first big-girl meal. We went to sizzler for lunch on the 4th and they give free kid's salad bar and drink to kids under 3 so we decided to try it with Ry and see what she thought. She ate a ton of food and loved every minute of it. (She is getting so grown up!!)

Guess we need to still work on the table manners, though...

Later that evening we got ready to do some fireworks of our own. And Ry wore the cute 4th of July outfit that Grandma Alderman bought for her. (The only way I could get a picture of her in it was if Chad held her down!)

Then Rylee got to have her first up-close fireworks experience:

This picture was just too good to pass up. Look at that mischevious look:

She thought all of the fireworks were just hilarious! We have seen babies that cry at fireworks, and babies that just don't really seem to care, but never a baby that laughs ... until now!! (And the bigger the sound the harder she laughed!)

She was pretty enthralled by all of the lights, though:

So overall we had a fantastic 4th of July weekend!!! There were lots of suprises and lots of firsts (and with my camera fettish we managed to catch pictures of most of them!)

HAPPY 4th OF JULY!!!