July 1st FUN!!!!

This year Jill and Emily had the bright idea for us to be in the parade this year. They wanted to do a Paxman Float! We all agreed. The idea was a zoo float and it was called the, "Paxman Family Zoo"!! Mom and Dad were the Zoo Keepers. They followed behind on the quad. We also decorated that. So we all got together the night before at the farm. I decided to pull the trailer out and we'd camp out at my parents place. That way it didn't really matter how late we stayed up decorating. I'm so glad we decided to do that. It was so nice to be able to just come from the shop and go straight to bed. I stayed there till about midnight then I was done!

We woke up on July 1st and everyone ate breakfast and got ready for the day. We had to leave pretty early to get the float to town and for all of us to get there and get on the float. The kids were beyond excited about being on a float. Each of us had bought some candy to throw and we gave some to each of the kids. We told them not to throw to much at a time because it wouldn't last very long. We got everyone on the float with their animal hats and then we had to wait. The judges came around and we actually won 1st place. To say that Emily was excited is an understatement. She was jumping with joy! Ha ha ha! It made us all laugh!!

Look at all those cute animals locked in the cage!!

The Paxman Family Zoo!!

Evan made a pretty cute polar bear!!

Look at all those cute tigers holding the one lion!! So cute!

This little animal was tuckered out! Ha ha....you're a cutie Nate!

And there's the front of the truck. Yup most of those stuffed animals are my kids!

Yay, FIRST PLACE!!!

Showing the kids that we won first place!!

DJ was loving that we won money too!! ha ha!

Oh the cute little bear woke up!!!

The (almost) whole Paxman Family Zoo!!

The amazing zoo keepers!

Look at these two cuties!!

Brent and Emmett. He didn't want anything to do with his animal hat!

Kim, Ari and Cam!!! They look so fierce!! ha ha!

Evan was going to drive Emmett and Grandma around! Ha ha!

Then it was time to go! Away we went. Well we had waited so long that the kids were super excited to finally be able to throw some candy. Some of them ran out after the first few blocks! ha ha! I threw a few candies at a time, so mine lasted almost the whole time! It was fun to wave and yell hi to people. Mom and dad were behind us with the quad. They also had Emmett on with them. He was in heaven! It was a fun time! Once the kids ran out of candy DJ decided that it was up to him to entertain the people we were going by. So he would stand up and yell, "We Won 1st Place!" over and over!! People would cheer him on. So then he decided to start doing his muscles poses! What a crazy kid. The kids were laughing at him, which made him go even crazier. He was even dancing. It was a fun day in the parade!

After the parade we headed out to the farm for the annual Paxman Lunch at my parents house. We each brought a salad and they provided buns and meat. It's always fun to see cousins that I haven't seen in a while. I got to visit with Mark and his wife Lavonne. I saw them the night before at our 20 year high school reunion. I can't believe I'm that old! Ha ha! Seriously though it was so weird. So fun to see friends that I haven't seen in forever. It was a fun evening. But I loved sitting down and talking and laughing with Mark. Then Jessica showed up and we had fun catching up too. We talked for quite a while. Fun to see them!

I gathered all the Paxman siblings of my dad together with their spouses and took their picture together. They all make me laugh! It was fun taking their pictures. We were missing Lloyd and Scott, plus Randy's wife wasn't there either.

After everyone left we hung out outside and Cody brought out the little quad and motorbike for the kids to ride around on. That was a huge hit. It was funny to watch them drive around. Plus I drove dad's quad around and gave the littles a ride. Emmett and Nate love riding on the quad. They cry when I stop! So funny!

DJ loved driving the little quad around. He was in heaven!

Cadence finally got the nerve to try the motorbike. It scared her at first then once she figured it out she loved it. She probably drove around the house 10 times. So funny!! Way to go Cadence!

She was loving the motorbike!! Ha ha!!

Grandpa helping Abbi put on her helmet! So cute!

Brianna tried the motorbike and loved it too. She just zoomed around!! Ha ha!

Abbi crashed on the motorbike earlier and really bruised up her leg and ribs. She crashed hard. It scared her really bad, so she decided to stick with the quad. Poor girl. I wasn't there when it happened. She was telling me about it and teared up. She can be a tough cookie until mom is there to hug her then the tears come! Love her!

It was a beautiful day out and we just had fun hanging around outside. Mom and dad had some fun games to play outside and the kids had fun playing on the swing set. It was nice to hang out with family!

Hanging out at the swing set. That's little Nate. He is such a cutie!

Abbi and Grandma playing a yard game!

DJ waiting on the trampoline for his next turn on the quad!

Emmett loving all the candy the kids got from the parade! We filled a baggie full of the different candies that we threw for each of the kids!

We then had supper and then headed into town to go swimming with the Paxman Family. Ron Thomson rents the pool every year for that. So that was fun to go swim. It was a hot day, so perfect for a swim. After we swam we came straight home. I was exhausted. Like beyond exhausted. I could barely function. The kids were a little disappointed that we weren't taking them to the fireworks. But we promised that we would take them to the Magrath Day Fireworks. So that worked! Then we went to bed. Yay!! So tired! It was a good day!!