July 4th and a Surprise

I have been needing to update my blog for a while now, but somehow don't get enough time to do it these days! I can't figure out why... ;)

We had a very eventful first couple weeks of July. My Dad turned 60 on June 29th, so we threw him a surprise party the Friday after (July 3rd). My whole family was coming up for my niece's baby blessing, so it was perfect. My two Aunts, cousin and family friend even flew down from Oregon to be here for it. He was a little stunned when they walked out - he definitely was not expecting them!

Randa, Terry, my dad, Donna and Pat -

The grandkids (Kylie, Makele, Chloe, Tanner and Dustin) watching Grandpa open his gifts -

The party animals -
Shawna was nice enough to host the party at her house. My dad is always saying, "I have one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel," so Shawna decorated everything with bananas. Brian even went as far as to hurry and eat a banana so he could throw the peel in front of the front door before my dad came in. Too bad my dad went and ruined things by walking in the back door! Shawna even got a monkey pinata for the kids -

Kylie got out her lamb for the kids to do a little muttin' bustin' -
Taryn put together a nice slide show with all the kids' and grankids' favorite memories of Dad. It was pretty entertaining to remember all the crazy, fun and often embarassing times we had with Dad (oh, Dad, don't be offended - you know that was your goal the whole time!).
Makele and Chloe loved swinging together -
On Saturday, the 4th of July, we all went over to Taryn's house. It was the perfect location - the parade went right in front of her house and the fireworks that night were set off right behind her house.

Dustin, Tanner, Makele, Jack, Randa, Trevor, Laney, Kylie, Aiden and Chloe waiting for the parade to start -
Cute little Brinlynn loved holding Aiden -
The cousins had a ball swimming in the backyard in the afternoon -
Dawson, Jack, Chloe, Jeff, Makele, Dustin, Tanner, Kylie and Dakoda watching Jeremy set off a few fireworks.
We set up the volleyball net and had a "friendly" game. Although we did have to keep reminding a few people who won't be mentioned that it was "just a game, Faulker." Jack stuck with it the whole time and was just in the height of his glory. He didn't want to quit even when the city fireworks began.
The peanut gallery (Landon is recovering from his hand's trip through the table saw and subsequent surgery) -
Makele and Jack both loved the sparklers -

On Sunday we all went to Laney's baby blessing, then ate lunch at Jeremy and Taryn's house afterwards. Baby Aiden put up with all the partying pretty well -
The whole famdamily -
Back row (LtoR) - Trevor, Aunt Donna, Dad, Mom, Jack, Shawna, Kylie, Brian, Jeff, Makele, Brenda, Aiden, Jeremy, Dustin, Laney, Taryn, Layne, Shan. Front Row (LtoR) - Aunt Terry, Randa, Landon, Tia, Chloe, Tanner, Dakoda, Brinlynn, Dawson.

It was so great having everyone together for the weekend. The cousins loved playing with each other, and it was nice to catch up on what everyone has been doing.